By DJ Harding
The New England Revolution played FC Cincinnati in 120 minutes of preseason action on Tuesday February 14th this was the fourth of five pre-season friendlies in florida.
All five Homegrown Players on the Revolution roster saw action on the day, with Esmir Bajraktarević, Noel Buck, and Damian Rivera each starting. Buck and Rivera played 75 minutes each while Justin Rennicks and Jack Panayotou played 30 and 45 minutes, respectively.
Latif Blessing and Matt Polster played together in central midfield for the last 45 minutes to end the match
Defender Andrew Ferrell and forward Bobby Wood each made their pre-season debuts. Farrell started playing 45 minutes. Wood played 30 minutes in the second period at the forward position, while Giacomo Vrioni and Jozy Altidore each contributed 45 minutes on the day.
2023 MLS SuperDraft selections Joshua Bolma and Victor Souza both made appearances for a fourth straight preseason match. Bolma started and played 45 minutes, while Souza replaced Andrew Farrell and played 30 minutes during the second period.
FC Cincinnati would shut out New England scoring in minutes 8, 37, 41, and 55. When asked about the match Midfielder Joshua Bolma said “I think overall we did pretty good except for some petty errors that we had, especially in our own third. I think as a group, it’s starting to come together. We can play, we can move the ball around, and at least we want to play through pressure and everything. But sometimes, we have to be mindful of just getting up sometimes and then regroup and go again. Overall, I didn’t think it was that bad. I thought we were able to control the game, it was just those few errors where we tried to play through pressure a little bit and got caught in our own third. So, I think that’s something we should keep working on and get better at.”
The Revolution will conclude the 2023 preseason on Saturday night, when New England visits Orlando City SC at Exploria Stadium. The club’s final match of the 2023 preseason kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET. New England then returns home to prepare for the 2023 MLS regular season opener on Saturday, Feb. 25 at Charlotte FC (7:30 p.m. ET).
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