Revs II suffers first defeat of 2022 MLS Next Pro season

New England Revolution II faced off against Isaac Angking and Columbus Crew 2 on a chilly Sunday evening.

Fans got to see Djordje Petrović get his first start since coming over from Serbia and Marcos Dias also got his first start after appearing off the bench last week against Inter Miami CF.

It didn’t take long for someone to find the scoresheet as Crew 2 were the first team to strike. After Petrović made a great save on a two-on-one, Marco Micaletto found the back of the net for Columbus in the 12th minute

It was a reminder that Petrović is still a young goalkeeper. He showed some nerves coming off his line. Crew 2 scored once again in the first half off a deflected shot in the 36th minute and once again in the 38th minute. Petrović was hesitant coming off his line and the ball squirted past the Serbian goalkeeper. Then to make matters worse, Noah Fuson scored his second goal of the match for Crew 2 in the 43rd minute.

Petrovic entered the half allowing four goals on an xG of 1.17. While Petrovic struggled, the back line wasn’t great either. A new-look center back pairing of Pierre Cayet and Trevor Zwletshoot struggled with Ben Reveno playing right back.

Revolution II made two subs at halftime with Jack Panayotou and Sean O’Hearn coming on for Esmir Bajraktarevic and Noel Buck. Then in the 61st minute, Many Silva came on for Dias. Finally in the 73rd minute Colby Quiñones came on for Ryan Lima and Hikaru Fujiwara came on for Jake Rozhansky.

With the halftime changes, Reveno returned to center back and Zwletshoot played as a defensive midfielder. With Reveno and Cayet as the center backs, no goals were allowed.

Ryan Lima had the best chance of the game for New England sending a volley over the net in the 34th minute. New England had only three shots and zero on net entering halftime. Revolution II also had a total team xG of 0.2.

New England’s attack struggled throughout the match. They missed the clinical ability in the final third to get the ball in the back of the net.

With the loss, Revs II suffered their first defeat of the 2022 season and is now 3-2-1. They face Toronto FC in Canada on Saturday at 7 p.m.