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Revolution v. FC Viktoria Plzen: Three thoughts

Those goals look familiar, and two other thoughts.

By Seth Macomber

The New England Revolution played their second preseason game on Friday, drawing FC Viktoria Plzen 2-2.

Cristian Penilla and Brian Wright grabbed goals for the Revs while Carles Gil and Diego Fagundez earned assists. Viktoria collected two late-game goals to bring the game back to level terms.

Here are three thoughts from the affair, which wasn’t streamed.

  1. The Revs scored both of their goals in transition, which is something we saw a lot of in 2018. In the 35th minute, the Revs won the ball on the right before finding a centrally-located Gil. Gil moved the ball to Penilla, who was on the left flank rushing towards goal. Penilla made easy work of the rest to give his team the lead. A similar play unfolded in the 73rd minute when the Revs forced a turnover and played Fagundez. Fagundez found Wright, who tallied his first preseason goal. Both of these moments looked very similar to what we saw in 2018.
  2. The second goal that the Revs conceded also looked familiar. Viktoria earned a penalty in the 82nd minute and cut their deficit in half when they converted from the spot. That goal was what it was. More interesting to me was the goal scored in the 85th minute. A long ball over the top created problems for the Revs, who had to scramble to get reorganized. Viktoria took advantage of this by sending a low cross through the box. This opportunity was finished at the far post by an unmarked runner. Again, we saw similar things in 2018.
  3. Let the competition between Gil and Fagundez begin. Friday marked the debut of the Revs’ newly-signed Designated Player, who played 45 minutes in the center. Gil reportedly had a nice outing, which was capped by an assist. At halftime he was replaced by Fagundez, who also got on the score sheet. In 2018, Fagundez was the Revolution’s first-choice to play as the No. 10. He now faces heavy competition from Gil. One will play in the middle, while the other will likely move to to the wing. My guess is that Gil will by the No. 10 while Fagundez plays opposite of Penilla.

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