Bye and Borrero shine, Wood gets debut goal, Revolution win 3-0

FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution (2-0-0, 6 pts.) defeated Houston Dynamo FC (0-2-0, 0 pts.) in a 3-0 home opener victory on Saturday night.

The match kicked off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough to a crowd of 13,176.

The Revolution deployed a lineup in their season opener last week with an average age of 24.9 years old (third youngest in MLS over opening weekend). The Revolution this week made two changes to that lineup.

The team started their lineup in a 4-1-2-1-2 (4-4-2 diamond) formation with Đorđe Petrović starting in net with a backline of (left back) DeJuan Jones, (center backs) Dave Romney and Henry Kessler, along with (right back) Brandon Bye. The midfield consisted of Matt Polster (central defensive midfielder), Noel Buck (left central midfield), Club Debut Latif Blessing (right central midfield) with captain Carles Gil in the attacking midfield role. The forward roles were manned by (left) Dylan Borrero and (right) Bobby Wood.

The match began with Houston starting from the midfield kickoff and easily marching up the field toward the revolution defense. Houston’s first key moment on the attack happened quite early in the game. In the 7th minute, Houston defender #22 Tate Schmitt administered a left footed cross into the revolution penalty area which was successfully found by a jumping Iván Franco. His headed effort was straight down the middle of the field and caught by Revolution goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović.

As the game progressed, The Revolution began to play with more prowess and managed to get a couple of attacking opportunities that led to yellow card offenses. Houston’s #25 Griffin Dorsey (18th minute) & #20 Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla (24th minute) obtained yellow cards for harsh fouls on Revolution forward Dylan Borrero & defender DeJuan Jones.

Entering the 35th minute, both teams had chances as Houston’s Griffin Dorsey took a shot outside of the box that was easily saved by Petrovic. Less than a minute later, the Revolution began the counterattack that led to a left footed Carles Gil cross into the box towards forward Bobby Wood. The ball passed Wood and managed to find Brandon Bye in an advanced position who managed to blast the ball over the bar and into the stands. Following this opportunity, Houston goalkeeper #12 Steve Clark was given a yellow card for time wasting.

Six minutes later in the 41st minute, the Revolution jumped on the score sheet as right back Brandon Bye’s give and go pass in the attacking third with captain Carles Gil led him to have a through ball down the right flank of the field. Brandon’s first time low driven pass into the box was touched by Bobby Wood and managed to find forward Dylan Borrero, whose right footed effort snuck by Houston goalkeeper #12 Steve Clark.

.@BorreroDylan with a banger to open the season at home! pic.twitter.com/QlHZe7e2H1

— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) March 5, 2023

With the Revolution leading 1-0, Houston had one more major attack in the first half as the 47th minute, a right footed cross by #11 Corey Baird found #16 Hector Herrera at the top of the box. His shot flew just inches over the bar and the first half ended with New England leading 1-0.

The Revolution kicked off the 2nd half on a sore foot as 20 seconds into the second half, Revolution midfielder Noel Buck received a yellow card for stepping on heel of Houston’s #11 Corey Baird.

7 minutes later, in the 52nd minute, captain midfielder Carles Gil sent a pass down the left flank that managed to split 3 defenders. The pass that found left back DeJuan Jones was one timed and low driven across the 6-yard box of the penalty area and found Revolution forward Bobby Wood whose right footed effort from close range found the back of the net. This goal is Bobby Wood’s first goal in a New England Revolution uniform and came in his debut start for the club.

Bobby Wood finds the back of the net for @NERevolution

New England has now won its first two matches of a regular season for the first time in the club's 28-year @MLS history! pic.twitter.com/A06w5y6Aur

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 5, 2023

The Revolution continued to keep knocking on the door as once more they had another attacking opportunity. In the 61st minute, forward Dylan Borrero’s trapped a cross in the box and managed to take on a defender and obtained a close-range left footed effort which was saved by Houston’s goalkeeper Steve Clark.

Following this chance, Bruce Arena looked toward his bench and made his first substitution of the match bringing on midfielder/defender Christian Makoun to replace Noel Buck. This change shifted the Revolution into a 4-5-1 formation.

Just two minutes later, the Revolution scored once more.

In the 64th minute, Dylan Borrero on the left flank began dribbling down the left side of the field. He dribbled directly toward Houston’s defender #22 Tate Schmitt. Dylan managed to turn Schmitt not once, but twice, three in a matter of three seconds followed by a left footed cross into the box targeted to the back post. The ball found midfielder Latif Blessing who tapped the ball to defender Brandon Bye who was atop of the right flank of the box. Bye took a left footed touch to set up his right foot and his poorly taken shot was deflected by Houston’s #6 Artur and sneaks by a motionless Steve Clark.

That's three for @NERevolution thanks to Brandon Bye! pic.twitter.com/a7DeTyflLG

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 5, 2023

Entering the 69th minute, Bruce Arena made two more substitutions and brought on DP forward Giacomo Vrioni and midfielder Emmanuel Boateng to replace the two starting forwards, Bobby Wood and Dylan Borrero.

One eye catching substitution for fans in this match was in the 77th minute when Houston Dynamo made a substitution that brought on former Revolution midfielder Luis Caicedo. The midfielder played 4 years in New England before he moved on to Cortuluá in Colombia back in 2021. He had signed for Houston Dynamo FC on February 23rd, 2023.

Following this, in the 87th minute, Houston’s #4 Ethan Bartlow entered the referee’s book after a hard tackle on Emmanuel Boateng registered himself a yellow card. Just 1 minute later, in the 88th minute, Revolution defender DeJuan Jones also received a yellow card.

The final moment of action for the match was in the 90th minute, when midfielder Emmanuel Boateng found midfielder/defender Christian Makoun atop of the penalty area. His left footed effort struck the bar after a strong save from Houston’s goalkeeper Steve Clark.

The match ended with New England comfortably winning 3-0. This result puts New England as one of the six remaining teams that are yet to draw or lose a match in MLS play.

This match marks a variety of milestones for the New England Revolution across their entire team and its history. This is first time in the 28-year history of the New England Revolution that the team has started with two consecutive victories and also began a league campaign with back-to-back shutouts since 2006. The team also now stands with a 17-6-5 all-time record in home openers.

For the coaches and players, Head Coach Bruce Arena collected his 50th regular season victory with the team. Goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović made his 25th appearance for the club across all competitions and finalized his ninth career shutout for the club, which is seventh in club history. Defender Henry Kessler surpassed the 6,000 MLS minute milestone.

As the team looks forward to next week, a few players are facing some major upcoming milestones in their MLS careers. Team records dictate that goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović is now just 7 saves away from 100 career saves with the team. Defender Dave Romney is now 2 appearances away from his 175 total appearances in his career. Defender Omar Gonzalez is 27 minutes away from surpassing the 22,000 MLS minute milestone. Forward Justin Rennicks is 43 minutes away from surpassing the 1,000 MLS minute milestone. And finally, Captain midfielder Carles Gil is now just ONE assist away from surpassing the 50-assist mark in his MLS career. This assist would equal former New England Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen’s mark for second-most assists in team history. Carles is averaging 0.50 assists per 90 minutes over his Revolution career, which is the third best mark in MLS History.

The New England Revolution (2-0-0, 6 pts.) are off to to face the defending 2022 MLS Cup Champions Los Angeles FC (1-0-0, 3pts.) at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, March 12. The match kicks off at 10:30 p.m. ET on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

(Editor’s Note:  For more of Burt Granofsky’s photos, click on the link)