MATCHDAY GUIDE | Revs vs. Orlando City SC (July 13, 2024) Jeff Lemieux posted: Tuesday, Jul 9, 2024, 10:14 AM First of three games in 8 days before the Leagues Cup break.
ORL has won 3 of their last 4, scoring 13 goals in those 4 games. They are currently 7th in the East, 5 pts ahead of the Revs (ORL has played 2 more games than NE).
Preview | Revolution reset after busy week to host Orlando on Saturday night Nick Boonstra posted: Friday, Jul 12, 2024, 09:28 AM
Someone asked if this was an indication of bad training practices, this list certainly points that way.
With half the starters out injured, my expectations were to not lose by too much. I am impressed with the youngsters and third stringers playing so well. Veroni was great when he poached that set up by DeJuan. If we can just keep up the pressure for 45 more minutes, maybe we won't lose. 15 minutes into the second half and Orlando has scored twice, we don't have the energy to last 90 minutes.
In terms of the talent actually on the pitch, Porter is probably getting as much as he can out of what he has to work with. The injury list plus Onalfo allowing the club to enter a season without any striker depth is certainly up for discussion. Supposedly Gil and Borrero are likely not to play the next match either as neither was in training this past week. Ugh.
Hard to be critical with so many injuries, but I'm gonna do it anyway. The kids filling in are playing well, which mitigates the injuries, but this team is 21 games into the season, and they are still missing easy passes, throwing their hands up in frustration with their teammates. If they haven't learned Porter's system by now, they never will. Out shot 15-8, SOG was 7-3. Gallese was never really challenged beyond 2 shots: the goal, and Panayotou's mazy run and shot that went just wide. Gallese was credited with 2 saves, and they were both easy. Yes, Vrioni can score when given a world-class assist like the one from Jones (or Buck vs ATL), but those opportunities don't come often enough. ORL scored 3 and forced Ivacic into some hard saves. The Revs don't do that. They can only win on the occasions that they manage to finish the few chances they create. Which makes them a very frustrating team to watch. Vrioni has scored 5 of the teams last six goals. All the injuries on offense seem to have helped him (2 goals in first 15 games, 6 since), but he can't do it alone.
A couple of complete random thoughts: The Revs looked pretty good in the first half. Then they came out in the second half and it looked like they were trying to bunker to protect their 1-0 lead. Bunker for a half with that defense is not a very smart way to play. After the Revs game, I caught the end of the Canada and Uruguay game. Canada scored the go-ahead goal with 10 minutes to play. Does Canada try to bunker or slow the game down with 10 minutes to go and protect their 1 goal lead...hell no! Jesse doesn't play that way. It's full-on attack for the last 10 minutes. Oh, and they leave Luis Suarez unmarked and all alone in the box, nothing bad can happen here. smh I'm starting to think that there aren't any very many coaches who can actually manage a game. They all seem to think that their one way to play is the only way to play. Pretty sad.
In fairness to Jesse, Canada also do not have a very strong defense. So playing the attack to defend game at least makes sense for his personnel