The New England Revolution will look to carry the momentum from a season-opening victory into their home opener against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.
The Revolution scored in the final minutes to pull out a 1-0 win at Charlotte FC last Saturday. The Dynamo allowed the decisive goal early in the second half and didn’t equalize in a 2-1 loss at FC Cincinnati that day.
The Revs (1-0-0, 3 points) appeared headed for a scoreless draw until Henry Kessler’s goal in the 89th minute proved to be the difference against Charlotte.
Brandon Bye got the ball along the right wing and slid a pass toward the goal that deflected off sliding defender Bill Tuiloma’s leg to Kessler, who drove it past goalie Pablo Sisniega.
Charlotte had a chance to equalize two minutes later, but Kerwin Vargas’ header off Andre Shinyashiki’s cross hit the post, enabling New England goalie Djordje Petrovic to open the season with a shutout.
“I thought our team showed great composure for an opening game that we knew was going to be challenging,” Revolution coach Bruce Arena said.
“They came at us hard for 90-plus minutes. Our guys kept their composure and created some chances and were solid throughout the game.”
The Dynamo (0-1-0, 0 points) were on the wrong end of a one-goal game in their opener under new coach Ben Olsen.
After Sergio Santos gave Cincinnati a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute, the Dynamo equalized when Tate Schmidt headed Hector Herrera’s corner kick into the back of the net in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
“Our set pieces were fantastic,” Olsen said. “I thought Hector was fantastic and thought he was the best player on the field.”
The game didn’t stay tied for long. Cincinnati took the lead for good when Obinna Nwobodo scored in his MLS debut.
Houston had 19 shots but just seven were on target.
“The difficult part of this match is we take away nothing from a points standpoint, but I will say I was very encouraged with the performance itself,” Olsen said. “Much of what we worked on the last six weeks came to fruition and caused (Cincinnati) a bunch of trouble throughout the game, but it still hurts to get nothing out of it. I’m disappointed but encouraged.”
Houston defeated New England 3-1 in the teams’ last meeting on Sept. 14, 2022 after New England owned a 6-0-1 mark against the Dynamo in their previous seven matches.
–Field Level Media
