The New England Revolution’s season has taken a full Jekyll-and-Hyde turn — from unstoppable to unraveling.
New England fell, 3-1, to CF Montréal on Friday night at Gillette Stadium, extending its winless streak to nine games — a sharp reversal from the nine-game unbeaten run in regular season play that came before it.
Tomas Chancalay opened the scoring for the Revolution (6-11-7, 25 points) in the third minute, but Montreal (4-15-6, 18 points), which entered the matchday with the league’s worst record, stormed back behind goals from Prince Owusu, Dante Sealy, and Lynn, Mass. native Olger Escobar, who the Revolution traded to Montreal in the offseason.
The result tied the Revolution’s second-worst home winless run in club history — seven games, originally achieved in 2011. The club’s all-time record for most consecutive home games without a victory is nine, achieved in 1998.
“The guys are obviously down, but we’ll keep fighting,” Revolution head coach Caleb Porter said after the game. “There’s no quit in this locker room, and I’m certainly not a quitter. They’re not quitters. We’re going to keep going, keep doing our jobs, keep fighting, and giving everything we have.”
Once again, the Revolution got off to a promising start only to see their advantage evaporate.
On the opening goal, Carles Gil took advantage of a Montreal giveaway and sprang Chancalay with a precise through pass, the Argentine attacker going in alone on net before slotting his fourth goal of the season past goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
Owusu equalized in the ninth minute with his 11th goal of the season. The German striker took possession of Dawid Bugaj’s cross from the right side of the box, held off defender Wyatt Omsberg, and then fired past New England’s Aljaz Ivacic.
Montreal completed the comeback in the 36th minute, as Sealy pounded Caden Clark’s layoff into the back of the net after slipping through New England’s defense. Escobar capped the scoring and dashed New England’s attempted comeback by smashing Luca Petrasso’s cross into the roof of the net in the final minute of second half stoppage time.
“I thought halftime was much better, but we gave up two goals before we were able to adjust. You’ve got to give credit to them,” Porter said. “Obviously, I have to do a better job getting that information in…but in the end, we lost two goals probably because of it. We’ve got to adjust on the fly better.”
Friday was supposed to be a kind of “get right” game for the Revolution, given Montreal’s poor form and a full week to prepare for the match. But the Revolution’s tendency to concede shortly after scoring, which has dogged them all season, returned once more.
New England turned up the pressure after halftime and came close on numerous occasions. Luca Langoni’s low-driven shot was handled by Sirois (48th minute), and five minutes later, Sirois made a sharper stop at his near post on Chancalay’s deflected cross from the left side of the box.
Gil let fly from outside the box in the 70th minute, but his effort crushed off the crossbar; Langoni’s bid in the 85th minute got cleared off the line by Joel Waterman following a scrum in the penalty area, and second half substitute Maxi Urruti’s deflected attempt from outside the area sailed wide of the right post seconds later. Chancalay flashed a header wide in second half stoppage time, as the Revolution dropped to 2-7-2 at home this season.
New England has 10 games remaining on the season — including six more at home — but its playoff hopes are rapidly dying. The club will now commence a two-week break before returning to action against DC United on August 9 at Gillette Stadium.
“Whether we won the game or lost the game, the story would be the same: we have to win the next one,” Porter said. “That’s the mindset.”
On Friday night, patches of fans chanted “Fire Porter” for the second consecutive home game. Porter said his focus remains on the team, not anything happening externally.
“We just keep taking it one game at a time,” Porter said. “For me, nothing external ever affects me mentally. I’ve been doing this a long time — I’m a professional — and in the end, I do my job every day to the best of my ability.
“I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. But I always reflect on those. My message to the group is that we stick together and keep going. This isn’t the time to point fingers or assign blame. We’re all accountable. We all have to take ownership. That’s just part of the process.”
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