Carles Gil hits milestones as Revolution rally past Columbus
· Yahoo Sports
FOXBOROUGH – New England captain Carles Gil reached two significant career milestones in the Revolution’s 2-1 victory over the Columbus Crew on a raw Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
Gil made his 200th MLS appearance and scored his 50th goal on a penalty kick that broke the 1-1 deadlock in the 85th minute. Gil became the second player in club history to register 50 goals and 50 assists while extending the Revolution’s home win streak to four games. The Revolution improved to 4-3-0 and will resume MLS play at Atlanta United FC on Wednesday night.
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“As long as those milestones help us to move forward and achieve what we have to achieve we have to celebrate them,” said Revolution first year head coach Marko Mitrovic. “Making great results and creating some records for history is always great as long as it helps us achieve our final goal.
“I am happy for Carles. He is a great professional and he deserves and has earned this great achievement. We celebrated his career.”
Mitrovic made only one change to the Revolution’s Starting XI that blanked D.C. United, 1-0, on April 11. Ethan Kohler started at central midfield in place of Jackson Yueill, who did not appear on the roster against the Crew. In an early substitution, Peyton Miller replaced center back Brayan Ceballos in the 17th minute.
“With Brayan, he had some groin issues and we will know more Monday,” said Mitrovic.
The Revolution tied the game, 1-1, on a set piece in the 54th minute. Playmaking forward Luca Langoni arched the free kick from outside the box and into the middle of a contentious crowd in the penalty area. Striker Dar Turgeman skied and headed the ball past Crew keeper Patrick Schulte and inside the far post for his second of the season.
“We practice that and we work a lot on those situations,” said Mitrovic. “Every player in the box has certain roles and our players have certain roles and when it comes to set pieces, it’s how good he (Langoni) will put the ball there.”
The game turned ugly in the 69th minute when Crew central midfielder Andre Gomes inflicted a hard, retaliatory takedown on Gil. A scrum immediately ensued and intensified when Revolution keeper Matt Turner left his cage and confronted Gomes at midfield. Both Gomes and Turner were issued yellow cards by referee Timothy Ford when order was restored.
“There are always emotions on the field,” said Mitrovic. “I think of us as a family and I love these players and that was how I felt at that moment. They went against Carles and it was an organic reaction from the players.
“In those moments we can’t lose our emotions and overreact. But when it comes to our captain, we have to protect him.”
Both teams misfired on quality scoring chances early in the first half. Turgeman’s uncontested bid from the middle of the penalty area in the 11th minute sailed inches over the crossbar. Crew right midfielder Hugo Picard missed wide on an open shot from the right half of the box in the 13th minute. Turner deftly denied Picard again on a shot from close quarters in the 23rd minute.
Turner lost his bid for a third straight clean sheet on a nice transition rush by the Crew in the 25th minute. Speedy striker Diego Rossi made a deep charge down the right flank and fired a cross through the penalty area. Midfielder Max Arfsten collected the feed, pivoted and booted it past the diving Turner for his second of the season.
The lead emboldened the Crew to mount a sustained assault in the New England zone during the final five minutes of regulation and four minutes of stoppage time.
“The short successes always help in the long term,” said Mitrovic. “We were down 1-0 against a very good team and we won, 2-1. We had some very good situations in the first half where we felt we were just being patient and setting up on the field for us was very good. Keep executing those simple passes and rotations we had on the field and having control of the game and creating scoring chances.”
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