The New England Revolution remained unbeaten in Concacaf Champions Cup play with a 1-1 draw against LD Alajuelense on Thursday night at Estadio Alejandro Morea Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
The Revolution recorded a 4-0 win over LD Alajuelense in leg one of their Round of 16 series on March 6 at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution advance to the quarterfinals with an aggregate score of 5-1 and will square off against reigning LIGA MX champion Club America, the top-rated club in the tournament. The Revolution outscored their two opponents 9-1 in four games.
“Obviously we are aware that our next opponent is one of the best teams on the continent and can compete in the world with the best teams,” said Revolution head coach Caleb Porter. “They have a big budget and huge talent and massive fan support so it’s a great opportunity for our club to play against a team the caliber of that.
“We are pleased to advance in this prestigious tournament with a lot at stake. It is a massive tournament and it is important to us and you can see that in the four games we’ve played.”
The Revolution (0-3) will look to secure their first MLS victory when they host reigning Eastern Conference champion and Supporters Shield winners FC Cincinnati on Sunday (2 p.m.) at Gillette Stadium.
“We are focused on the league right now, we’ve got a game in two days that we need to win at home,” said Porter. “We will start think about and look at and scout Club America once that game is done.”
The Revolution played their seventh of eight games in 26 days and Porter made significant alterations to his Starting XI from the lineup that got blitzed 4-1 on March 9 at Atlanta United FC.
Porter did not start team captain Carles Gil at the 10-spot, striker Giacomo Vrioni at the top of his 4-2-3-1 scheme and steady Dave Romney at center back. Ryan Spaulding got the not at left back in place of DeJuan Jones. Vrioni came off the bench in the second half and scored on a fine individual effort to tie the match in the 81st minute.
“We had a plan coming into this game knowing that we are behind in the league and the Sunday game is really important too,” said Porter. “We felt being up 4-0 in the aggregate to rotate so that we were not only fresh in this game but fresh for Sunday.
“We had a plan to start Tomas (Chancalay) and bring on Giacomo so we could get a good push from each guy. It couldn’t have gone any better for us to get a result.”
The Revolution gave up their first goal of the tournament in the fourth minute on a connect the dots exchange by Los Leones in the penalty area. Forward Johan Venegas got under a cross in front of the Revolution cage and headed the ball back to midfielder Celso Borges, the Leones’ captain.
Borges wheeled and fired at Ravas, who made the stop but could not control the rebound. Midfielder Carlos Moro got behind the Revolution backline and slammed the ball inside the right goal post for his eighth of the season against all competitions.
Venegas got behind the Revolution backline in the 22nd minute but his shot hit the left post and, less than a minute later, Ravas made a diving save on Moro to keep it 1-0. Alajuelense outshot the Revolution 12-1 and 6-1 in shots on target in the first half.
“They came out flying and we knew they would throw everything at us and then they get and early goal,” said Porter. “It was one of the best environments I’ve ever been in, the supporters here are incredible, they cheer in every play and chant all game.
“It was a great experience for the guys to come on the road and play in this environment. Then to go down a goal and then kind of compose ourselves, bend but not break.”
Los Leones started the second half strong. Borges had a free kick from just outside the box in the 48th minute but his shot sailed over the crossbar. Leones head coach Alexandre Guimaraes substituted in three plays in the 55th minute to maintain maximum pressure on Ravas.
