New England Swallows Tough Loss

(Photo: David Silverman)

After pulling away with a 1-0 lead in the 51st minute, the New England Revolution could not hold in the second half, conceding two goals to Real Salt Lake and ultimately losing 2-1. The Revolution fall to 2-4-3 on the year, putting them all alone in 7th place with 9 points in the Eastern Conference.

The first half of play was dreadful at best, as the dreary rain seemed to bring on dreary play over the two clubs for the first 45 minutes. On seven corner kicks for the Revs, not one found it’s way on target in the first half. Scoring opened up in the second, starting with a New England goal in the 51st minute from Ryan Guy. Kelyn Rowe controlled the ball beautifully outside the box only to send it over as Guy struck a rocket out of the air and past Real Salt Lake goal keeper Nick Rimando. However Guy’s athletic back flip celebration may have come too soon.

New England fell back into a much too comfortable state following the goal, allowing a Devon Sandoval goal to come in the 77th minute from a rebound off Bobby Shuttleworth. The rookie’s strength was clearly enough to overpower Goncalves in front and tip the ball over Shuttleworth who was recovering from his fall to the ground. Following the equalizer, Olmes Garcia would give Real Salt Lake the lead just 12 minutes later, also sneaking a rebound goal past Bobby in the 89th minute. With the go-ahead goal in place, New England would find themselves in a tough situation down 2-1 with time ticking away.

A controversial yellow was given to Carlos Salcedo in extra time as he dragged down Revolution defender Stephen McCarthy on his attempt to complete a header in the box. This was Salcedo’s second yellow of the match, making the booking a red card with just minutes left. Unfortunately, a semi-healthy Saer Sene could not capitalize on the penalty kick. Keeper Nick Rimando read Sene like a book, moving to his lower-right side for the save and sealing up the victory for Real Salt Lake at 2-1.

Only mixed feelings can come from such a wild match since certain players looked great while others performed under par. Rowe and Nguyen once again continued to shine in the midfield while Andrew Farrell and Stephen McCarthy remained strong in the defensive core. After substitutions, a whole new game came about for Real Salt Lake. They found the back of the net twice and made Juan Toja look foolish towards the final minutes. Jerry Bengtson was once again non-productive, allowing a critical scoring opportunity early in the match to slip away.

Overall the Revs played solid considering their team is still quite injury plagued and an experienced Kalifa Cisse could not make the start in the 4-1-4-1 formation. The defense stood tall for most of the match but scoring will continue to be the focus of the team’s troubles. Just when it looked like the shots on target number was on the rise, New England put up a dismal 3 shots on net while Real recorded 7. Perhaps a healthy Juan Agudelo could turn these stats around since the Jerry-Fagundez scoring combo clearly is not impressing anyone.

The Revolution will look for a critical three points this Saturday when they host their Eastern Conference foe New York Red Bulls. April 20th was the last meeting between the two squads with New York capturing a 4-1 victory at Red Bull Arena. With the talents of Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill coming in, the Revs must step up the scoring to compete with the 20 point team. The match will kickoff at 7:30pm ET at Gillette Stadium. Coverage can be found on Comcast Sportsnet New England and 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Matt Bloom

Revs Come Away With Ugly Draw

Courtesy of the New England Revolution

In what could have been a hard earned victory and confidence booster in front of their home fans, weather permitted both New England and Kansas City from scoring Saturday, leading to a 0-0 draw in the Revolution’s home opener. New England is now 1-1-1 on the season and tied for 5th place with D.C. United in the Eastern Conference.

Wind is hardly a good thing at a stadium like Gillette, where a convenient opening between sections 143 (The Fort) and 101 created a wind tunnel that forced the ball to twist and swirl all game long. Shots were wildly off target and the keepers couldn’t even the settle the ball for goal kicks. Although you never want to blame the weather for match results, the Revs have had it tough to open up the season. First playing in the Windy City, followed by a slushy mix of rain and snow in Philadelphia, the beautiful game is being played in far from beautiful weather. One thing is clear after the past few weeks in the MLS, teams in cold spring climates should NOT be playing home games this early. Yes, scheduling is extremely difficult, but perhaps some neutral site tournaments to start the year could be implemented.

Aside from the weather, it was easy to tell what was plaguing New England’s goal problems. Scoring chances were prevalent, but the club rounded off the day with a dissapointing 3 shots total, none of them on target. Compared to Sporting KC’s 13 attempts on goal, players have to work harder to find open runs and execute on those up for grab headers over the box. Perhaps Jerry Bengtson was missed as he can certainly fly over defenders, but you can not rely on one man to win every match.

The referees were rather atrocious, inconsistent for the full 90 minutes and missing obvious fouls that banged up New England pretty bad (see Ryan Guy’s stitched eye). It was refreshing to see striker Chad Barrett earn the start up top even though goal chances were slim. Barrett looked quick on the pitch but most importantly was not scared to be physical and draw fouls. Most of back line was sound, including newcomer Andrew Farrell who makes a convincing argument for midfielder when bringing the ball up the right side.

New England will be challenged these next two weeks, facing a hot FC Dallas team on Saturday, March 30th at home, followed by a trip to Seattle in early April. Dallas comes in to Foxboro sitting at the top of the Western Conference at 2-1-0. They lead all MLS teams in total shots with 19 after 3 games. Defense, possession, and finishing opportunities will be the keys for a Revolution victory.

Matt Bloom 

Future Foundation

Photo: David Silverman

Now that the 2012 MLS season has come to an end for the New England Revolution, it is time to look back at the year and assess the team’s progress. From a new coach to many new faces, the season has certainly been comprised of rebuilding for the future of the club.

Rookie & Newcomer Ratings

Let’s first dissect the most important rookie of the team, head coach Jay Heaps. As a former Revs player, Heaps came in to the club with more than enough knowledge of the Kraft organization and the direction the MLS is headed. From the very start, he knew bringing in new stars and goalscorers was a must. The signing of Saer Sene, Lee Nguyen, and Jerry Bengtson all proved to be wise choices upfront, contributing for most of New England’s goal chances all year.  It was a rough 35 points for the Revolution, only claiming 9 wins and finishing 9th in the Eastern Conference. However Heaps has not shown any quit, always positive in interviews and determined to take his team to the next level. It felt like some bad luck and poor referee calls may have altered a few games as well, but regardless, Heaps knows his strengths and weaknesses.

Draft picks such as Kelyn Rowe have also looked promising for the future. Coach Heaps took Rowe 3rd overall in the MLS SuperDraft, and his vision and work ethic have earned him 25 appearances on the year. Coming off a fantastic senior season with the UCLA Bruins, Rowe has played equally competitive with the veterans in the MLS, scoring 3 of goals of his own and tacking on 5 assists. There is no doubt he looks to start at midfield next season.

Before their injuries, Saer Sene and Lee Nguyen lead the team with a combined 16 goals, nearly 32% of all Revolution scoring this season. Nguyen has been particularly tricky for a defense to handle, showing off agility and dribbling skills to find more open net chances you could imagine. His talent earned him this year’s MVP of the New England Revolution, yet Sene would not fall too far behind. Sene’s skill and stamina won him the most starts by a Revs player before his leg injury in late August. Hardly taken out of the game, the Frenchman looked dangerous when communicating with teammates and deadly on breakaways. As good as he was throughout the season, many goals could have came sooner if Saer was less patient with the ball and more accurate with both feet.

Good Problems To Have

Looking towards next year, Jay Heaps may find himself with many tough decisions of who to start with his roster, but this is a great problem to have. With Nguyen and Sene to return early next season, the question arises of how players such as Diego Fagundez and Juan Toja will get into the mix. It is hard to sit high-caliber stars in Jerry Bengtson and Benny Feilhaber, but the two just haven’t cut it the past few months. If upper management is worried about sales, Heaps may have to give in to pressure to make bold lineup moves.

Veteran goalkeeper Matt Reis should also feel some pressure. His backup Bobby Shuttleworth has proved trustworthy and agile behind the net. Bobby recorded a career-high 7 saves in New England’s win over Montreal, but more importantly finished with a 3-3-1 overall record and a 0.71 goals against average as a backup. Not to jump to conclusions, but Heaps could save some dough on the salary cap by naming Shuttleworth the club’s top keeper next season.

New Stadium In The Works

The best problem the Revolution have this off-season is not one regarding the players, but where they will play. As many areas of Boston are now attempting to welcome the Revs to  a new home, Robert Kraft will ultimately be the one in command. Although no comment yet from the owner, do not expect Kraft to move the team so quickly with 2013 tickets already on sale. The move will most likely be a long and drawn out process, but one can dream as Revs fan of that beautiful new soccer specific stadium standing strong in the heart of Boston.

– Matt Bloom