Richie Williams to Revs after squandered lead: “Learn from it and get better”
The New England Revolution are now in the home stretch of the 2023 MLS regular season with only eight games left to play. Last week, the Revs claimed four points from two matches, enough to maintain their second-place positioning in the playoff race, but the team came away feeling like they let an opportunity to collect all six points slip through their fingers.
“We feel like we’re definitely in a good position, second place in the East,” Revolution Assistant Coach Richie Williams said during his Wednesday appearance on Zolak & Bertrand. “[We’ve had] some good results over the last week, [but they] could have been slightly better.”
On Saturday against Austin FC, New England was seconds away from earning the win when second-half substitute Christian Makoun had an opportunity to dribble into the corner and kill off the waning moments of stoppage time. Instead, Makoun attempted an ambitious chip shot from long range, which fell short of the goal line and sparked Austin’s last-gasp counterattack, which resulted in Alex Ring’s equalizing goal at the death.
“We gave up a goal on basically the last kick of the game, which was unfortunate,” Williams told Zo, Hardy and Beetle. “We made a mistake at the end of the game… We have to move on, we have to learn from it and get better.”
The positives? New England now stands as the last remaining MLS team without a loss at home as their record at Gillette Stadium improves to 10-0-4. However, the Revolution won’t be able to rely on ‘Fortress Foxborough’ in September, as they prepare to go on the road for three straight matches. Over the final eight games, the Revs will enjoy home cooking only three more times.
“We had a bunch of injuries, so we’ve had a lot of guys step with a bunch of reserves coming in and doing a really good job for us,” Williams said. “We still feel like we’re in a good place and we’re going to go on a tough stretch with three road games now.”
New England’s match at Minnesota United FC kicks off at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV or listen on 98.5 The Sports Hub, where Brad Feldman and Charlie Davies will have the call.
