New England Revolution x FC Cincinnati
New England Revolution started the season 0-2 and had every right to feel sorry for themselves walking into their home opener on Sunday afternoon. Instead, they put six past FC Cincinnati and tied their largest margin of victory in MLS history. Six-one at Gillette Stadium. First time scoring six goals since 2004. Marko Mitrović's first win as head coach. The kind of statement performance that makes you forget the winless start ever happened.
The weird part? Cincinnati scored first. Gerardo Valenzuela in the 19th minute, nice run and a well-placed finish, and for a second you could feel the air go out of the building. Here we go again. Another disappointing afternoon. Another week of wondering what's broken.
But the Revolution didn't lose heart. Six minutes later, Brayan Ceballos headed in the equalizer off a Luca Langoni corner. Just like that, one-one. Panic averted. Then Dor Turgeman gave them the lead in the 31st minute, Langoni with the assist again, and suddenly it felt like maybe this team remembered how to play soccer after all.
Three minutes into stoppage time, Ceballos scored his second header off another Langoni corner. Three-one at the half. Ceballos bagged his first career brace — dude had one goal in 29 appearances as a rookie last season, now he's got two in 45 minutes. Langoni had three assists in the first half alone, tying the club record set in 2017. Three helpers. In one half. From a guy who spent most of last season on the bench.
Second half? More of the same. Alhassan Yusuf made it four-one in the 53rd minute, heading in a rebound after Roman Celentano couldn't hold onto a Carles Gil shot. Yusuf's first goal of the season, third in 44 career appearances. Just casually adding to the pile.
Cincinnati got reduced to ten men in the 69th minute when Valenzuela picked up a second yellow, which basically sealed whatever small chance they had of clawing back into this thing. Griffin Yow scored in the 87th minute — his first goal in a Revolution shirt, Gillette Stadium debut — and then Peyton Miller capped it off two minutes later with a rocket into the roof of the net. Miller was making his season debut after missing the first two games with an injury. Came off the bench and immediately scored a screamer. Because why not. Everyone else was doing it.
Six-one. Five different goal scorers. Four headed goals, the most in a single MLS match since Red Bull New York in 2016. Matt Turner made seven saves and moved into second place on the club's all-time goalkeeper wins list with 47. Diego Fagundez came on late in his first Revolution appearance since 2020, got an assist on Miller's goal, and passed Shalrie Joseph for second most regular season appearances in club history. The whole day felt like a victory lap disguised as a home opener.
For a team trying to figure out what this season might look like under a new coach, Sunday wasn't just about the scoreline. It was about how they responded after going down early. About finding goals from everywhere — center backs, midfielders, wingers, guys making their debuts. About Langoni finally getting a chance to start at his preferred right wing spot and absolutely torching Cincinnati's back three with pace and delivery.
New England's home opener record improved to 18-8-5, including 14-6-5 at Gillette Stadium. Cincinnati dropped to 1-3-0, though they've got bigger things to worry about — they're up 3-0 on aggregate heading into the second leg of the Champions Cup Round of 16 against Tigres on Thursday.
Six-one. First win of the season. Tied the club record for goals and margin of victory. After starting 0-2, the Revolution just dropped half a dozen on a playoff team from last year and made it look effortless. The kind of performance that makes you wonder if maybe, just maybe, this season might not be a complete disaster after all.
[Photography by Yannick DePina]
