Instinctive attacking play by Dor Turgeman, Luca Langoni have carried the Revolution back into contention

FOXBOROUGH — After all the planning and preparation, the Revolution’s 2-1 victory over Minnesota United on Saturday night came down to one-on-one individual enterprise.

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In the third minute, Dor Turgeman put a stepover move on Michael Boxall, earning a penalty kick; it took two minutes of VAR reviews before Carles Gil converted. And, in the fourth minute of the second half, Luca Langoni’s steal in the center circle, led to a give-and-go with Turgeman before Langoni finished from the right side of the penalty area.

Then, it became a matter of all-out defending, backed up by Matt Turner in goal.

Those instinctive plays by Turgeman and Langoni symbolize the difference in the Revolution’s play compared to a year ago. Sometimes, relying on instinct leads to more dynamic, and less predictable, attacking. And reduces the team’s reliance on Gil.

Also factoring in to the Revolution (8-4-1, 25 points) being ahead of last season’s pace, when they were 5-4-4 (19 points) and seven games into a nine-game unbeaten streak:

▪ A front-loaded home schedule. They have a 7-1-0 record at Gillette Stadium;

▪ A drop-off in Eastern Conference competition;

▪ Distancing from the past. The roster includes only three players from the 2023 season, marked by the dismissal of coach Bruce Arena. The Revolution actually performed well under Arena, but his successors struggled with the roster they inherited, until the arrival of Marko Mitrovic this year.

Though much of the roster, including Langoni, arrived during Caleb Porter’s two-year stint, Mitrovic worked quickly to make the Revolution his team. He is getting the best out of the squad with a formula combining both tactical adjustments, and a balance between formations and allowing freedom to improvise.

Turgeman started the season on the right wing, but has moved into a single striker position due to the loss of Leo Campana (lower body injury). Though Turgeman (two goals) is not scoring as expected, he has earned two penalty kicks and added three assists. He also draws defenders. As Boxall and Minnesota discovered, opponents simply have to double-team Turgeman, even at the risk of leaving space for other attackers.

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Langoni’s improvement results from a less constricted role. Langoni has three goals and six assists, after posting five and four in his 38 previous games. Mitrovic is expecting even more.

“Luca has those decisive moments and he’s developing them,” Mitrovic said. “When we speak about Luca, we just have to understand that he has the right intentions and he’s very focused on getting better day after day. You can see progress, but I don’t think that Luca is satisfied. I strongly believe that Luca will just keep working and getting better.”

Following a two-year roster revamp, Revolution management hoped Mitrovic could turn fortunes around. They seem on the right track, but progress is about to be interrupted. After a visit to Charlotte FC next Saturday, the Revolution will not compete until July 22, after the completion of the FIFA World Cup. When they get back on the pitch, Gillette Stadium will return to artificial turf — a surface not likely to benefit the team’s new-found possession style.

The Revolution will end up playing 10 of their first 16 matches at home. They need to pile up as many points as possible before going into a stretch with just two of nine games at Gillette from Aug. 15 to Sept. 26.

There have been setbacks, but the Revolution have recovered. They opened with one win in four games, found a rhythm, and went on a seven-game unbeaten streak. There was a disappointing performance in a 3-0 defeat against Nashville SC last Wednesday, but questions were answered against Minnesota, and the Revolution (1.92 points per game) stand third behind Nashville (2.31) and Inter Miami (2.00).

“When we met on Thursday morning in the locker room,” Mitrovic said, “I saw a very hungry group that knew that we could have gotten a better outcome [against Nashville], and that was hungry to come and play tonight and earn the win.

“I think the game, overall, was not easy. I don’t think there is a team in this league that will have an easy game against Minnesota. They will make games very difficult for every opponent, and we knew that. I’m very happy with how we recovered both physically and mentally from the game on Wednesday.”

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