N.E. Revolution sign Brazilian midfielder Dylan Barreiro from Clube Atlético Mineiro, introduce new goal keeper
The Revolution announced they had signed 20-year-old midfielder Dylan Borrero from Brasil’s Clube Atlético Mineiro of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and signed him to a three-year MLS contract with a one-year club option, pending receipt of his P-1 visa and International Transfer Certificate (ITC).
In the press release, the Revs noted that he was signed “under Major League Soccer’s U-22 Initiative,” which aims “to promote further investment in young players.”
“Dylan Borrero is a young attacking player we have followed closely over the past year,” Revolution Sporting Director and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. “His technical ability and pace are assets which will complement our attack. We are excited to welcome him to the New England Revolution.”
Keeping with MLS tradition, there is no mention of a transfer fee, but various media outlets have reported that the Revs paid a $4.5 million for Borrero.
The Revolution had already announced on April 6 they have acquired 22-year-old goalkeeper Djordje Petrović from Serbian SuperLiga club FK Čukarički for an undisclosed fee, but had been waiting for receipt of his P-1 visa and International Transfer Certificate (ITC).
The documents have already arrived so on Tuesday, Djordje Petrović, who is expected to replace U.S. international Matt Turner, who will be joining Premier League side Arsenal this summer, was officially introduced to the media in a virtual press conference.
“I’m really grateful to be here and very well welcomed here,” said Petrović during the introductory conference. “We just came from a trip to Washington and I’m very pleased with the organization, my teammates, with everything, and I think I’ll be ready to play once I adjust and adapt a little bit more, because as you know, my English is not perfect.”
Asked about Coach Bruce Arena, Petrović responded that he had “heard a lot about him prior to moving here. That’s one more of the reasons why I decided to come here. He is an excellent coach, and he won a lot of trophies. I’m excited to work with him.”
New England Revolution lose again, 3-2 at D.C. United
The expected bounce from ending a four game losing streak the week before did not materialize and the Revolution returned to their losing ways by dropping a 3-2 decision to D.C. United, on Saturday night at Audi Field.
The loss dropped the Revs to 13th place and saw them plummet again in the league rankings, falling three more spots to number 22.
The result continued a scary trend, with the Revolution dropping games to teams that were either struggling mightily or looking for their first victory. And in each of those losses the defense allowed three goals, a sharp contrast to last season’s recording breaking campaign. It first happened on March 16, when they blew a three goal cushion and were bounced from the Concacaf Champions League by Mexican side Pumas Unam (3-0); continued three days later when expansion side Charlotte FC registered their first ever MLS victory (3-1); surfaced again on April 9, when Inter Miami entered the game with just one point through their first five games and a league-low negative-10 goal differential, but came away with a 3-2 victory, and happened again this week in a, 3-2, loss to a last place D.C. United team that had lost four consecutive games and fired head coach Hernán Losada during the week.
Interestingly, the Revolution struck first in this game, in the sixth minute. On the left flank, space after passes from Andrew Farrell and DeJuan Jones, Emmanuel Boateng found room for a long cross that sailed past the far post, but found Carles Gil. He smartly cut towards the net and then dropped a pass back, onto to the path of Brandon Bye, who first timed a blast that slid past keeper Jon Kempin and landed just inside the near post.
But gradually the hosts began to regroup and stormed back behind the play of Greek international Taxiarchis “Taxi” Fountas, who was signed in late March.
The tying goal came in the 26th minute. The Revolution failed to clear the ball, lost possession inside their half and allowed it to reach Julian Gressel, near the right sideline. His cross was headed by Matt Polster, but right to Fountas, who first timed it just inside the far post.
Fountas set up the second goal in the 39th minute. After a give-and-go with Gressel, he lifted a perfect cross to a wide open Michael Estrada, who easily headed it into the empty net.
And Fountas closed out the scoring for D.C. in the 43rd minute. Chris Dirkun’s pass was deflected but Fountas was able to control it just outside the area. He then cut to his left, avoided a couple of defenders and fired. Knighton got his hands on the ball, but was unable to spot the shot, which veered off his hands and landed inside the net.
At intermission, Revolution Sporting Director and Head Coach Bruce Arena did not hide his frustration with what he had seen from his team in the first 45 minutes.
“Well, there were clearly some individual mistakes. I think on two of the goals, we turned the ball over, probably in the middle third of the field. Arena said in his post-game conference. “We made some technical mistakes, clearing the ball, I think, on the first goal. [On the] second goal, we did a terrible job dealing with the player in front of the goal. Give them credit. Good cross, have to finish it, but really poor marking on our part. The third goal, again, I think we turned the ball over. One on one in the penalty area, they get the shot off and our goalkeeper is not able to save the ball.”
Henry Kessler replaced Omar Gonzalez after the break and the defensive improvement was noticeable. The Revolution then began to pressure the local side and gave the first warning in the 56th minute when Bye’s cross found Buksa, but his shot was deflected.
Fountas was replaced in the 60th minute, as he is still not totally fit because he had only played one game in 2022 for his former club Rapid Vienna.
“He [Fountas] just understands the game very well,” said Chad Ashton, D.C. United’s interim coach in a bit of an understatement. “He’s a difference-maker, obviously. He hasn’t played in a while, so to see him be that sharp and be emotionally bought in to the group that much is really exciting.”
Soon after, Bruce Arena sent in Jozy Altidore to increase the pressure and was finally rewarded in the 86th minute when Buksa headed in a free-kick from captain Carles Gil.
But despite a final push, as referee Marcos DeOliveira added eight minutes to compensate for time taken mostly to tend to injuries to United’s players, the Revolution failed to get the equalizer and suffered their first loss to DC in their last 10 games. Jon Kempin had a couple of important saves in the closing minutes, denying Buksa’s efforts.
It was clearly another frustrating game, another loss, against a team that had been in last place, and dropped the Revolution to 13th place. After the match, coach Arena acknowledged that his team was again penalized for their mistakes.
“We really didn’t play that bad. But, boy, we made some really poor mistakes and they cost us dearly,” Arena said. “And again, we’ve conceded an awful lot of goals and just some really poor play. So, you know, we deserve to lose the game. We fought hard in the second half, tried to get the equalizer at the end.”
There was also a slight incident in which Carles Gil was seen in a heated exchange with coach Arena near the Revolution bench.
“That’s between us,” Arena answered when asked about what Gil was shouting. ”Just talking about some things on the field that we need to get better obviously, and he needs to communicate with some of the players. Carles played a good game, obviously, he is a guy with a bulls-eye on his back and teams put a lot of attention on him, and it’s not easy. We need other players around him to step up a little bit more to take a little bit of pressure off Carles.”
The reality is that the Revolution have already registered as many losses this season (5) as they did in 2021.
Host Inter Miami CF tomorrow
Revolution returns to action tomorrow, when they host Inter Miami CF, at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. and fans can follow the game on WBZ CBS Boston or myRITV (Rhode Island). On the radio side, 98.5 The Sports Hub (English), 1260 AM Nossa Radio (Portuguese) have the call.
The last time the two teams met, on April 9 at DRV PNK Stadium, Inter was a side in disarray, but the surprising 3-2 victory over the Revs, turned things around and Miami has won all four games played since.
Leonardo Campana, on loan from English Premier League side Wolverhampton, was the star in that game, as he scored all three goals in his starting debut, and he now has five goals and one assist, to lead Inter Miami’s recovery.
“He is going to be a top player. We want him to go to the World Cup. That’s his goal, and he’s just gotta keep scoring and scoring,” said Miami head coach Phil Neville. “Last season when I was looking at all the other MLS teams, you look at Castellanos at NYC, Buksa in New England, Josef Martinez – every team seems to have a striker that scores goals. Every team seems to have a striker that is their figurehead, the anchor that you can always rely on through good and bad, whether you’re playing good or whether you’re playing bad, to create and score something, and he is becoming that.”
