FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Matt Turner sat the bench for his final game with the New England Revolution before his transfer to Arsenal, a 2-1 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
The 27-year-old, the leading contender to start for the United States in the World Cup, signed with New England in 2016 after he was overlooked in the Major League Soccer draft.
He spent two years on loan to lower-tier Richmond, became New England’s starter in 2018 and was voted MLS goalkeeper of the year in 2021. He agreed in February to join Arsenal when the summer transfer window opens.
“There’s definitely a lot of emotion,” Turner said. “I’m still learning how to cope with all that. On top of that, my wife’s in England nine months pregnant. So, I got a lot of stuff going on. So, maybe I wouldn’t have put my best performance out there tonight., and then I’m kicking myself because I left on a bad note. So again, like I said before, I think you know the way everything should have gone and emotionally, I’m happy because of the way everybody made me feel tonight. I’m sad because I’m going to miss everybody, as well. But there’s just so many other ones in between that it’s hard to really articulate.”
Djordje Petrović was in goal for the Revolution. Turner played his last MLS game on May 28 before reporting to the U.S. for World Cup warmup matches.
“Djordje has been playing well,” Turner said. “So, grow him into the role. You don’t need to throw me into a one-off game just to say goodbye. It was a perfect night in every sense of the word, anyways, in my opinion, so it’s a results business and three points tonight. I think the correct decisions were made all across the board.”
At Arsenal, Turner figures to start as a backup to Aaron Ramsdale.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he does at the next level,” New England coach Bruce Arena said. “Not only national team, but obviously, in the Premiership. It’ll be the next challenge in his life, and he’s not backed away from any challenges to date so it’ll be interesting to see how he does.”
Bou scored the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute to give the Revolution (6-5-5) up 2-1. Dylan Borrero also scored for New England.
Emanuel Reynoso scored for United (5-7-3).
United outshot the Revolution 12-9, with seven shots on goal to three for the Revolution.
Petrović saved six of seven shotsfor the Revolution. Dayne St. Clair saved one of three shots for United.
Up next for the Revolution is a matchup Sunday against the Vancouver Whitecaps on the road, while United visits Inter Miami on Saturday.
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