Concacaf Champions Cup: New England Revolution crushed Costa Rica's Alajuelense, 4-0

Four goals in the span of 27 minutes allowed the New England Revolution to crush visiting Costa Rican side Alajuelense 4-0, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions Cup on Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium.

Because this was Revolution’s third game in less than a week, Coach Caleb Porter was forced to tinker with his starting eleven. He left off several players who had started Sunday’s home loss to Toronto FC, namely captain Carles Gil, Henry Kessler, Andrew Farrell, Emmanuel Boateng and Noel Buck.

“It’s difficult, extremely difficult, because you're not conditioned to do it,” Porter explained during Tuesday’s game preview with the media. “I mean, it’s not really made, this game, to be played every two days, three days, like we're doing, but especially when you're not conditioned early in the year to do it.”

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But as time went on, the absences of the starters who were rested was not noticeable. The Revolution, after an initial phase that saw the team struggle to overcome the high pressure from the visitors, built a comfortable cushion for the second leg, which will be played on March 14 at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium, in Alajuela.

Alajuelense got off to a better start and had an excellent chance to gain the lead in the ninth minute. Carlos Mora’s cross from the right found Joel Campbell unmarked at the far post. But the former Arsenal player, who had a short spell at Lisbon’s Sporting, fired way too high and not on frame.

Three minutes later, Goalkeeper Henrich Ravas saved the Revolution. On a direct free kick, outside the area, Celso Borges fire a hard, arching shot, that curled around the wall, but Henrich Ravas stretched all the way to his left and, with his left hand, pushed the ball over the end line.

At this point in the game, the Revolution were having huge problems in trying to get out of their zone because of the visitors’ high pressing. The game was also a bit rough, as in the 17th minute Nacho Gil was struck in the face by a high elbow from Ian Lawrence, but Mexican referee Adonai Escobedo showed only a yellow card.

Gradually, the Revolution grew into the game and had two dangerous approaches, signaling that they were figuring out the visitors’ plan. In the 27th minute, Nacho Gil set up Ian Harkes, but his shot was deflected. Right after, it was Esmir Bajraktarevic setting up Harkes for a hard shot, but Costa Rican goalkeeper Leonel Moreira prevented the goal with an amazing save. 

One minute later, the Revolution finally took the lead. On a quick counter, DeJuan Jones, near the line on the left, lifted a cross towards the far post. Nacho Gil jumped but couldn't reach the ball, but Nick Lima, who had been trailing the play, sprinted in and blasted a first timed shot into the net. Leonel Moreira had no chance.

By now, the Revolution had figured out their markings, started to connect passes and played with more pace and more determination to gain control of the game.

The second goal came in the 41st minute. It was another quick counter, with the ball reaching Nacho Gil and his pass rewarded the exquisite cut by Tomás Chancalay, who controlled the pass with his first touch and then fired a low shot that went in between goalkeeper Leonel Moreira and the post.

In the second half, first it was scoring, then controlling

For the second half, the visiting team changed a striker, with Jonathan Moya replacing Fernando Lesme.

But coach Andrés Carevic's strategy was ruined almost immediately because the Revolution made it 3-0 in the 47th minute. Nacho Gil’s pass found Esmir Bajraktarevic in the heart of the area and, as he tried to spin, defender Edward Cedeno deflected the ball with his hand. Referee Adonai Escobedo, who was right on top of the play, promptly signaled for a penalty shot. Tomás Chancalay converted with class, a powerful shot that gave Leonel Moreira no chance.

The rout was confirmed in the 55th minute. Chancalay stole the ball inside the Alajuelense half and changed flanks, finding Nacho Gil, who controlled the pass and played it to Nick Lima. The Revolution full-back sent a low, bending cross between the visiting central defenders and found Esmir Bajraktarevic, who was unmarked at the far post and easily pushed the ball into the empty net.

The Revolution nearly scored again one minute later, but Leonel Moreira’s great save denied Tomás Chancalay's header.

Right after that coach Andrés Carevic made three changes, with Joel Campbell, captain Celso Borges and Aaron Suarez giving way to Michael Barrantes, Diego Campos and J. Venegas

Caleb Porter used the opportunity to refresh the team and also exhausted his substitutions. In the 60th minute, Matt Polster was replaced by Noel Buck and Ryan Spaulding, Bobby Wood, Emmanuel Boateng and Andrew Farrell also saw some minutes of action.

The Revolution, whenever the visitors tried to shake up the game, were able to calm the situation by exchanging passes and maintaining possession to prevent Alajaelense from finding paths to their goal. Frustrated, the visiting players then opted here and there for long-range shots that never threatened Henrich Ravas.

In the post-game press conference, Porter was asked if he was surprised by winning so easily despite the absence of star playmaker Carles Gil.

After saying “no,” he explained that Gil’s absence was “why we opted to change our formation.”

“We had one day to prep. We thought the 4-3-3 would work well in this game, without Carles,” he added. “I thought it gave us really good tempo in possession. I thought our speed of play was excellent, our spacing, and rotation was really good. I was really pleased that we were able to get a clean sheet and score four goals.”

Despite the lopsided score, Porter warned that Alajuelense is a good team.

“I’ve watched them play a lot and they’re very good with the ball,” he said. “I thought in the first 10 minutes they looked dangerous. Obviously, the first goal, I think, kind of broke the game open for us. It gave us some confidence and life. For us, it’s a great result, especially considering that we had one prep day and a quick turnaround.”

Porter also told fans and his players not to expect an easy evening next week, when they move to Estádio Alejandro Morera Soto, in Alajuela, for the second leg.

“This next leg is going to be extremely difficult, extremely difficult,” Porter said. “They’re going to throw the kitchen sink at us. They have, in some ways, nothing to lose. The fans are going to be difficult. I know the environment there. I have a lot of respect for the Costa Rican players and the league as a whole. Certainly, the [Costa Rica] National Team has shown that with some of their World Cup appearances.”

Revolution drop MLS home opener

Despite playing before the second-highest crowd for a standalone home opener in club history - 29,293 fans - and totally controlling the closing minutes, the New England Revolution fell, 1-0, to Toronto FC on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.

The Revs were coming off a convincing, 3-0, victory over Panamanian side CA Independiente, to advance to the Round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions Cup. But prior to kickoff, Coach Porter received some very bad news as both forwards were unavailable - Giacomo Vrioni, who picked up two first half yellow cards in last week’s season opening, 3-1, loss to D.C. United, and Bobby Wood, with a knee injury. As a result, Tomás Chancalay had to slide into a forward slot and that took away some fire power, further demonstrating that the team needs to find another forward because their two top strikers from the last two seasons are no longer with the Revs.

Gustavo Bou, who had 42 goals in 95 games with the Revs, was not offered a new contract in December, and Adam Buksa, who netted 29 times in 64 appearances, was sold to French side Lens. Vrioni was brought on to try to strengthen the forward line, but he has managed only 6 goals in 25 games and has yet to demonstrate that he deserves a Designated Player contract.

The only goal of the game came in the 27th minute and it involved the two Italian internationals from Toronto, both European champions in 2020. Federico Bernardeschi, on the right, took a hard shot but the ball bounced off a Revolution defender and found Lorenzo Insigne unmarked, on the left. He first surveyed the scene and then lifted a perfect chip shot that landed just under the top left corner, giving goalkeeper Henrich Ravas no chance.

Insigne’s goal was named ‘Goal of the Matchday.’ Insigne is the highest-paid player in MLS, with an annual salary in the range of $15 million, and Bernardeschi earns more than $6 million, so the salary of the two likely exceeds the Revolution’s entire budget.

Just prior to the goal, the Revolution should have had an opportunity to take the lead, had it not been for referee Wesley Costa’s somewhat blurred vision. In the 22nd minute, Esmir Bajraktarevic was trampled by defender Deybi Flores, inside the penalty area. Initially, Costa -one of the alternate referees, as MLS officials remain in an impasse with the league over a new financial package, making it necessary to turn these games over to replacement officials - did not call the foul. But the Video Assistant Referee Greg Barkey called Costa and advised him to go to the monitor to review the play. He did, but, incredibly, after reviewing the replays, which appeared to indicate that Esmir Bajraktarevic had been stomped on, stood by the initial decision.

After the conclusion of the match, when questioned by the pool journalist, Costa replied that “the referee observed the defender cleanly playing the ball, and no foul was committed.”

In the closing minutes, the Revolution completely dominated and ramped up the pressure, creating several clean chances. But visiting goalkeeper Sean Johnson was outstanding - first denying a long-range curling effort from Carles Gil, then stopping Nacho Gil's header and finally, in added time, he amazingly managed to deflect a shot from Matt Polster.

Play again Saturday in Atlanta

The Revolution will play their fourth game in the short span of 10 days on Saturday, when they travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face Atlanta United. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.

“You would have liked to have the bye week like Atlanta has when we play them this weekend,” Coach Porter lamented during his mid-week preview. “That would have helped, but those are things you’ve got to manage in this league. We’ve been playing teams in the league that are completely fresh, that get a full week, in Atlanta’s case two weeks to prepare, and we're basically just recovering in one day and preparing one day to play. So, there’s no excuses. You’ve got to find a way to get it done in this league, and these are the challenges when you're in the Champions Cup.”

While the Revolution have already played five games, including three in the Champions Cup, Atlanta has only played once, a 1-0 loss to Columbus Crew on Feb. 24.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Concacaf Champions Cup: New England Revolution crushed Costa Rica's Alajuelense, 4-0