FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution captain Carles Gil notched his 100th regular season goal contribution in a Revs jersey with his headed flick against the New York Red Bulls last Saturday, becoming the fourth player ever to reach that mark with the club and further etching his name into the annals of Revolution history.
Gil reached the milestone in somewhat surprising fashion, scoring with his head for the first time in his professional career. That goal brought his tally for the season to four, leaving his all-time MLS figures at 36 goals and 64 assists. He joins Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston, and Lee Nguyen as the only players who have totaled at least 100 combined goals and assists as New England Revolution players.
Head coach Caleb Porter was excited for the captain reaching such a momentous mark, saying that it was a shame that Saturday’s scoreline overshadowed his accomplishment.
“It's too bad that got lost in the shuffle a little bit with the result,” Porter said. “He’s a big-time player. I've said it from day one. I thought he had, probably, his best game. He is back to being Carles. He's pretty good every game. He doesn't have any bad games, but I thought he went back to the level that he's capable of in this last game. He got on the ball a lot, played quick, got in between the lines a ton, and he was influential in the final third, obviously, scoring a goal … A lot of good players have come through this club and that [accomplishment] just says how good he is for us.”
Midfielder Matt Polster, who reached his own milestone on Saturday with his 100th regular season start for the club, similarly had nothing but praise for his teammate.
“No surprise he has gotten there,” Polster said. “I'm sure there's more to come. … He just brings a confidence to the group that I would like to say everybody does, but he is just special in that manner. I think when he is on the field, you just feel a little more comfortable, at ease, knowing that if things aren't going our way, he will kind of sway us in the way that we need to, to get back on the ball, to be good in the buildup. He's just a guy that you want to have there every weekend.”
Goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič added that it had taken no time at all for him to get a clear sense of what kind of a player and leader Gil was.
“He’s great, man,” Ivačič said. “He’s an awesome person, first. It's great to have him in the locker room. Obviously, I don't have to talk about his qualities; you guys know him better than me. He is an amazing player and an amazing locker room guy, and I'm really glad that I have the opportunity to play with him.”
As Gil reaches this landmark moment in his career, we look back at the three club legends he joins with 100+ goal contributions for the club:
Taylor Twellman (101G/28A)
New England’s all-time top goalscorer is one that hardly needs any introduction for Revs fans. Forward Taylor Twellman scored a grand total of 101 regular season goals with the Revolution, and still stands as the only player in the MLS 100 Club to have scored all of his goals with one team.
Twellman was drafted by the Revolution in 2002, and played for New England for a total of eight seasons. He was a part of the 2007 squad that won the club their first-ever U.S. Open Cup, and also helped lead the team to four MLS Cup finals across his tenure in Foxborough. Additionally, Twellman earned 30 caps with the U.S. Men’s National Team during his career, scoring six goals.
Steve Ralston (42G/73A)
After making his mark with the Tampa Bay Mutiny across the league’s first six seasons, midfielder Steve Ralston also joined the Revolution in 2002 and, apart from a brief stint with AC St. Louis in 2010, stayed with the Revs until his retirement later that same year.
The inaugural MLS Rookie of the Year’s contributions in New England fell more along the lines of creating than finishing, though not by much, and at the time of his retirement he was the league’s all-time leader in assists, not to mention appearances, starts, and minutes played. Ralston joined Twellman in the 2002 MLS Best XI, and led the league in assists in 2007.
Lee Nguyen (52G/50A)
The most recent player to reach 100 goal contributions for the Revolution before Gil was midfielder Lee Nguyen, in 2020. In doing so, he also became the first – and, to date, only – player to tally 50 goals and 50 assists for the club, in his final season playing soccer after having previously played for New England from 2012 to 2018.
Nguyen’s highlight year was 2014, when 18 goals and five assists propelled him to a spot in the league’s Best XI and almost saw the club hoist what would have been their first-ever MLS Cup. He also tallied three straight seasons with double-digit assists, from 2015 to 2017. Nguyen now serves as an assistant coach for Angel City FC of the NWSL.
