New England Revolution captain Carles Gil might recover in time for playoff game 2 on Nov. 8

A physically aggressive Philadelphia Union side showed their muscle in a 3-1 victory over the New England Revolution in the opening game of their Round One Best-of-3 series, played on Saturday night at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The Revolution actually got off to a decent start but suffered a damaging blow in the sixth minute when captain Carles Gil got fouled by Union forward Mikael Uhre after he dribbled past him. The Revolution were well aware that the Union would be very physical with their captain but expected referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere to control the situation. But he failed miserably on this play, as Uhre made no attempt to play the ball and focused solely on taking Gil down. Yet, Lauziere allowed him to escape unscathed and kept the yellow card in his pocket.

Unfortunately for the Revs, their captain would have to leave shortly after and his absence cannot be underestimated as Gil, the 2021 Landon Donovan MLS MVP, led the team in scoring this season, with 11goals and 15 assists.

“We were trying to tell him [the referee] to watch out for Carles,” central defender Andrew Farrell said after the game. “Obviously, there are certain players in the league who are important for each team and Carles is that guy for us. And we wanted to protect him… Unfortunately, they got him a couple too many times."

Interestingly, Philadelphia’s strategy to deal with Carles Gil was not surprising. In his game report for the Philadelphia Inquirer, writer Jonathan Tannenwald saw something that the referee did not.

“In the sixth minute, Uhre stepped in against New England star playmaker Carles Gil to try to take the ball. There seemed nothing unusual about the challenge at first, but when Gil tried to cut to Uhre’s left, he found Uhre’s right shoulder stretched out into his path. If it wasn’t entirely cynical on Uhre’s part, it certainly didn’t look accidental either,” Tannenwald wrote. “Gil ran right into that elbow, crashed to the turf, and was injured.”

The Revolution responded the right way and were very close to grabbing the lead in the ninth minute. Ryan Spaulding, near the left sideline, dropped the ball back to Mark-Anthony Kaye, who had room to make a run. Once inside the area, he fired on target, but Union defender Damion Lowe was able to deflect the shot. The rebound came right to Noel Buck and the young midfielder fired a first-time volley that beat keeper Andre Blake but crashed against the crossbar and bounced out. That rebound came to Kai Wagner, who headed it out, but the ball bounced to Tomás Chancalay and he blasted it towards the empty net. Damion Lowe saved the day again for the hosts as he moved to his left and headed the shot away.

Philadelphia struck back in the 16^th minute and grabbed the lead. Revolution defender DeJuan Jones chased a ball that was heading over the end line, for what would have been a corner, but Jack McGlynn sprinted to challenge and blocked DeJones’ clearing effort, which rolled towards the Revolution net. Keeper Jacob Jackson stormed off his line, collided with and knocked down Julian Carranza, who had sprinted in an effort to get to the ball. Jack McGlynn then caught the loose ball and dropped it back to Mikael Uhre, who lifted a cross targeting Daniel Gazdag. But he was unable to reach it and the ball sailed harmlessly over the end line.

Referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere apparently believed that Jackson had touched the ball and never called a foul. But the VAR, Edvin Jurisevic, had a different view and suggested that Lauzière should go and review the play. He did and, after watching the replays, decided to call a penalty kick, which Daniel Gazdag converted to give the hosts the lead.

“A tough call there with the penalty, he’s [Jackson] making a play on the ball,” Peay lamented after the game.

In the 23^rd minute Carles Gil, who had tried to shake off Uhre’s harsh tackle, was finally forced to leave the game and was replaced by Bobby Wood.

Things took a turn for the worse for the Revolution in the 26th minute, when the hosts doubled their lead. Kai Wagner received a return pass from Jack McGlynn, sprinted towards the end line and crossed to the edge of the 6-yard box. The ball bounced off Revolution defender Dave Romney, forcing Jackson to make a difficult, reaction save and then landed right into the path of Uhre, who pushed it home.

Tempers flared after that and the Revolution picked up three yellow cards in just eight minutes, as Bobby Wood, Andrew Farrell and Tomás Chancalay were all cautioned by referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere.

In the 37th minute, Philadelphia struck again. Nathan Harriel was fouled by Tomas Chancalay, who drew a yellow card on the play. The free kick was taken by Kai Wagner, who lifted a tense cross towards the far post, where Harriel was somehow able to shed his marker and then headed the ball past a helpless Jacob Jackson.

“We talked about it all week in training, about attacking set pieces, and trying to do the same exact thing as [at] New England — just onside,” Harriel told the media. “It was great to get a goal against an opposition [that was] very dangerous. I wasn’t really marked at all.”

“It is obviously simple, we can’t make our own silly errors that cost us goals,” said Clint Peay during his post-game comments. “We have to be more buttoned up on how we deal with certain moments and not giving silly fouls in and around the box that provides them opportunities in the box.”

The Revs nearly grabbed a small lifeline just prior to intermission. In the fourth minute of injury time, Matt Polster set up Tomás Chancalay, who fired from long range, but keeper Andre Blake dove, stretched all out and, with his fingertips, pushed the ball over the end line just as it was about to sneak in just inside the far post.

Revolution gets new life in the second half

In an effort to bring more life into his attack, after intermission Clint Peay brought on forward Giacomo Vrioni to replace midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye, and the change seemed to bring a bit of a spark.

But, without Gil, the Revs struggled to create scoring opportunities.

The goal finally came, in the 68^th minute, when Vrioni stripped Nathan Harriel off the ball and served Gustavo Bou. The Argentine striker run towards the area, weaved his way between two home defenders, Harriel and Jack Elliott, and then blasted a hard shot that landed just under the crossbar.

The goal gave the Revs a lift and they nearly got back into the game a few minutes later.

In the 75th minute, Tomás Chancalay gave way to Nacho Gil, basically because he was carrying a yellow-card and twice came very close to seeing the second yellow. At the same time, Emmanuel Boateng replaced Noel Buck. Within seconds, Boateng's cross found Bobby Wood alone in the middle of the box, but the Revolution forward just barely got to the ball, allowing Andre Blake to parry the shot, which struck the post and bounced out.

Before the final whistle, there was still time for one more incident. In the 86th minute, Vrioni arrived late and fouled Harriel near the halfway line. The referee admonished the Revolution forward, but Philadelphia midfielder José Martinez was not happy and got into a shoving match, Wagner and Wood also exchanged words, causing a delay that lasted more than three minutes. Referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere Martinez also cautioned Martinez.

In the post-game conferences, the Revolution players and coaches, still angered with the injury to Carles Gil, expressed their disappointment with the way the game was officiated.

“I think at the end of the day, it’s a difficult game. Tensions are high, teams are competing and it’s not an easy game to officiate. I’ll just leave it at that,” Peay said.

Obviously, the captain’s status is the biggest concern in everyone’s mind.

“We’ll have to reevaluate Carles [Gil] in the next day or two and see where he is,” Peay said. “He just took a knock, and it was enough to limit him, so he had to come off for it, but no real prognosis yet.”

But, on Wednesday, Peay provided an encouraging update during his

appearance on the Zolak and Bertrand program at Revolution flagship station, 98.5 The Sports Hub

“I think he’s fine,” Peay said. “He’s back with the team in training. I think he just had a little bit of a scare there with the injury he took in the game, but all is good.”

Philadelphia Union’s Kai Wagner is being investigated for racial slur allegation

According to various media outlets, MLS has opened an investigation into allegations that Philadelphia Union defender Kai Wagner directed a racial slur at Revolution forward Bobby Wood during the playoff game.

Both clubs declined comment, but MLS issued a brief statement: “MLS is aware of the allegation that a player used discriminatory language toward an opposing player, and a review of the matter is underway.

The League has been working with the MLS Players Association and Black Players for Change on a process to address these types of allegations and will have no further comment during the pendency of the review.”

The allegation was first reported by Pablo Maurer and Tom Bogert of The Athletic and then by ESPN. The sources indicated that Wagner used a slur directed at Wood’s Asian-American heritage and apparently made it in Wagner’s native language, German. But Wood played in Germany for 10 seasons, so he easily understood what his opponent had said.

What happens next is not clear at this point.

The Revolution went through a similar traumatic episode when their then head coach Bruce Arena was placed on administrative leave on July 30 after he was alleged to have made “inappropriate and insensitive remarks.” Major League Soccer investigated the complaint and on Sept. 9, after “certain” allegations were confirmed” by the league, Arena resigned.

It will be interesting to see if MLS follows the same approach and places Wagner on administrative leave, taking him out of the second game, which will not be played until Nov. 8.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: New England Revolution playoff game 2 on Nov. 8