One Shining Moment from the Revs’ 1-0 loss to the Red Bulls

The New England Revolution lost their third straight league game on Saturday when a strange own goal gave the New York Red Bulls a 1-0 win. But we’re not here to talk about the negatives because One Shining Moment is all about the positives.

Sebastian Lletget almost found the back of the net in the 63rd minute, but there’s so much more to talk about. Let’s take a look.

Let’s start by praising Adam Buksa’s hold-up play. The Polish striker has developed into a true No. 9 as he’s regularly available as a target. Here, he receives a pass from DeJuan Jones. Recognizing that there’s not much he can do with the ball, Buksa plays Brandon Bye.

Bye wants to move the ball out of pressure, so he finds Matt Polster, who opens his hips to find Maciel. Maciel—you guessed it—opens his hips to successfully move the ball to the other side. The play of the center midfielders is simple and effective. Their goal was to keep the ball moving.

The ball is now back to Jones, who is ready to advance up the field. He decides to play Buksa, who is now operating as a high target. With his back to goal, Buksa opts for a beautiful one-time pass to Ema Bo

I like how Boateng flairs wide because it makes life difficult for defender Sean Nealis. Boateng now has space to run forward and torment the Red Bulls’ backline. Boateng ultimately executes a low, centering pass.

The pass doesn’t look like much at first, but then Lletget arrives on the scene. Lletget likes to pop into good spaces during unexpected times. The midfielder almost had a goal, but goalkeeper Carlos Coronel was there to make the block. My only critique is that Lletget’s first touch is a bit heavy.

So there you have it. Saturday’s game was a frustrating one for the Revs, but we wanted to highlight at least one shining moment.