5 takeaways from the Revolution’s season-opening defeat

New England Revolution

New England has a long way to go under new head coach Marko Mitrović.

By Hayden Bird

February 22, 2026 | 11:31 AM

5 minutes to read

The Revolution began the 2026 MLS regular season with a 4-1 loss to Nashville SC at Geodis Park on Saturday night in what was an immediate reminder of the back-to-back losing seasons the club has been desperately trying to turn the page from.

A pair of Nashville goals in the opening 16 minutes ensured that whatever plan new head coach Marko Mitrović wanted to unveil in his New England debut quickly went out the window. Instead, the Revolution spent much of the evening chasing the game.

Judging the performance — and what it may portend for the season — is difficult mostly due to the plethora of defenders missing from New England’s back line. Three of the projected four starters were out and a fourth (Ilay Feingold) was curiously left on the bench until a late second half substitution.

Further analysis of that and several other factors are included in takeaways from the game:

Testing the defense’s depth in the opening game of the season

With starting center backs Brayan Ceballos and Mamadou Fofana along with left back Peyton Miller ruled out, Mitrović was dealt a tough hand in the opener.

In came 33-year-old Andrew Farrell, adding to his club record for appearances (345). Partnering with him at center back was Keegan Hughes, making his ninth career MLS appearance. Will Sands was inserted in Miller’s place, and — somewhat conspicuously — recent signing Ethan Kohler started at right back ahead of Feingold.

The rest of the lineup appeared more to be along the lines of preseason predictions, with Matt Polster and Brooklyn Raines playing behind Carles Gil in midfield. Griffin Yow and Dor Turgeman flanked Leo Campana in the attack. Matt Turner started in goal.

A comprehensive defensive failure

Over the course of a disastrous first 45 minutes, New England was cut open by Nashville in (to borrow an American football phrase) all phases of the game.

The first goal, surrendered in the fifth minute, came from a corner kick. Defending set pieces was an issue for the Revolution in recent years, and that continued on Saturday when Nashville’s corner was allowed to bounce twice in the box, slowly working its way to the foot of Nashville’s top goalscorer, Sam Surridge. Kohler was a fraction too slow with his last-ditch clearance attempt.

The second goal came from a Revolution turnover, with a loose pass from Gil recovered by the home team and quickly dispatched across field to Nashville midfielder Warren Madrigal. Though Madrigal arguably used his right arm to receive the ball, the play was allowed to continue. A rapid Nashville counter culminated with Surridge popping up at the back post just ahead of Farrell. His initial finish was skillfully saved by Turner, but the U.S. international could only deflect it sideways. The ball hit the post and bounced in for the second goal.

Nashville made it 3-0 before halftime by finding yet another method of defeating New England’s defense. Beginning with a long ball from Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake that Revolution defenders failed to properly deal with, New England could only watch as the ball was worked around before yet another opening was found.

Nashville left back Andy Najar completed a give-and-go with midfielder Patrick Yazbek, cutting the ball back inside. Yet again, the Revolution’s makeshift back line was a half-step too slow. Madrigal and Hany Mukhtar beat Farrell and Kohler to the ball in a quick sequence, with Mukhtar smashing the third goal into the roof of the net.

The lone true bright spot of the night arrived in the 47th minute when Gil popped up in a rare pocket of open space in the attacking third, and played a characteristically perfect pass to Campana that just evaded the Nashville defense. The 25-year-old Ecuadorian center forward volleyed it into the low corner to pull a goal back for New England.

The momentary Revolution respite was swept away less than two minutes later when Madrigal capped another sweeping move from Nashville. After a quality pass-and-move sequence, Surridge’s attempted finish was blocked by a Turner kick save, but passed into the net by Madrigal to make it 4-1.

Lineup decisions

Coming into the season, one of the questions facing the New England roster was its depth. So it was with apprehension that fans scanned the Starting XI before kickoff. Seeing Farrell making his first start in a regular season game since July 2024 was a testament to the team’s stretched depth chart.

Still, the decision to bench Feingold for Kohler at right back invites postgame questions. Kohler, though a clearly promising 20-year-old, was beaten in the second minute down the wing by Mukhtar (resulting in a cross that was only blocked on the goal-line by a nice Turner save). It was an ominous start, and signaled a difficult debut in which Kohler struggled defensively.

Feingold, meanwhile, was a head-scratching omission. Though he was himself far from perfect as a defender in his MLS debut season a year ago, the 21-year-old showed himself to be an asset, especially in the attack. The Revolution missed an element of that on Saturday.

In addition, dropping midfielder Alhassan Yusuf to the bench felt conspicuous in a midfield that lacked aggression and verticality. The continued bench role of club-record signing Luca Langoni — a phenomenon that began in 2025 — is an ongoing subplot. Can Mitrović get more out of the 24-year-old Argentine?

Here we go again?

For fans looking to re-engage with a team that has largely been bereft of hope since the exit of Bruce Arena in 2023, Mitrović’s debut on Saturday was a disaster. A roster already showing its weaknesses was thoroughly beaten by a team that (admittedly) could end up being one of the better sides in the Eastern Conference in 2026.

Luckily for Mitrović and New England, the MLS season is long (some would in fact say too long). But in the context of a team looking to find its feet, time will be important. The first step will be getting at least some of the starting defense back in the lineup.

Beyond that, Mitrović will need to find a balance between trying to implement his system with the realistic challenges of trying to get points in MLS games on a week-to-week basis. Though much of the attention (and blame) will correctly go toward the struggling defense, the Revolution were equally unable to create more than a handful of chances against Nashville. Any turnaround, like Saturday’s defeat, will have to be comprehensive.