When D.C. play New England, it’s time for us to talk with Jake catanese and our Revs friends at The Blazing Musket to learn about where the Revolution are right now. For our answers to their questions, check them out over there!

The District Press: Pre World Cup the Revs were flying, and post-World Cup the Revs are stumbling, what’s going on up there?

The Blazing Musket: t’s a two-fold problem. The first, New England is getting almost no production at striker with Leo Campana basically injured the whole year and Dor Turgeman struggling to find the back of the net. Now yes, Dor did net in back to back games against Atlanta and Montreal recently but probably should’ve had two or three against the artists formerly known as the Impact. Since there was basically no depth behind these two, New England did address that with the loan/permanent signing of RSL/USYNT forward Marcos Zambrano and former SKC striker Wilson Harris who netted a few days ago in Toronto.

The other problem has been injuries. Not having Luca Langoni has been a big deal as it’s unsettled not just the Revs winger depth but their fullback depth as well. Wonderkid Peyton Miller usually is the starting left back but has found himself playing up top, something he does for the USYNT quite often, and while I think he operates better coming from the deeper spaces, he’s been just fine though he left the most recent Toronto game with a possible concussion. Normally the Revs would be just fine on the fullback depth chart thanks to the rebirth of Will Sands this year, but starting right back Ilay Feingold has been out long term as well, forcing Matt Polster into that starting role with Ethan Kohler now cemented as one of the starting centerbacks.

I think the Revs will be fine overall, they thoroughly outplayed Toronto and just simply couldn’t score and were undone by an own goal and a thunderbastard. But if this team is going to be elite at some point in the next year or so, they are going to need production from that striker spot. They won’t be able to rely on scoring by committee like they did in the first half of the year.

DP: Safe to say that Luca Langoni has seen some ups and downs this season. I know he’s injured for this one, but how strong and/or concrete were the rumors of his departure last month?

BM: I’d like to think the interest was genuine, Anderlecht over in Belgium in particular seemed to have at least picked up the phone a few times, and with the Revs knowing the Jack Harrison signing was imminent if there had been a legit offer I’m sure the Revs would have had some serious thinking to do.

That being said, I think it would be really neat to see as much of Harrison/Langoni as the Revs starting wingers over the next year and then see where things stand going into the full 2027/28 season to really gauge just how talented that pair can be. Langoni has absolutely been up and down with New England but 8G/10A in over 3000 minutes since 2024 he is certainly not an unproductive player but we’ve never seen him consistently be great like he was in the first half of the year racking up a ton of assists. If he’s also prone to missing a month here or there due to injury, that just makes the jump to a team playing continental matches in Europe all the more difficult. Right now, Langoni I think could go to Europe and be a very good super sub type player but to be a regular starter we need to see a lot more from him over the next year.

DP: What’s the prevailing wisdom of the recent front office restructuring?

BM: To put it simply, a lot of people thought Chris Tierney was going to get a job somewhere in the league at the GM level as noted in an offseason poll with The Athletic/NYT where the Revs former longtime leftback turned front office guru was one of two runaway favorites to get a promotion. New England decided it should be with them and it’s easy to see why. Tierney has spent a lot of time learning and working alongside Bruce Arena, Caleb Porter, Curt Onalfo, etc., and who better to understand the minutiae of MLS than a player who literally came up from the college ranks and is probably a member of the team’s All Time Best XI.

I think the Revs have done a great job with their major blue chip homegrowns over the years – Esmir Bajraktarevic and Peyton Miller recently – but have struggled to bridge the gap between the academy/developmental ranks and it’s very noticeable at the back end of the roster. Not hitting in the first round of the draft in several years has also not helped and is something New England was long dominant at when Tierney was a player and hopefully something he can turn around as the top man.

Lineup: Turner; Sands, Fofana, Kohler, Farrell; Raines, Yusuf; Harrison, Gil, Fagundez; Wilson

Prediction: I don’t think Marko Mitrovic can afford to run the same lineup from a few days ago out there…but he might not have a choice in starting Jack Harrison again who I don’t think was supposed to play all 90 minutes against Toronto. I want to see more of Harris Wilson who I think gives off the best kind of Bobby Wood vibes and the Revs really just need someone to do the little things right up there. And let’s see the old combo of Farrell and Fagundez because if you’re not going to use them as deep spot starters on a short week then when are you? 

This however screams weird 1-1 draw that probably should end like 3-3 but won’t because midweek shenanigans