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

Finding Their Game at the Desert Diamond Cup

Courtesy of the New England Revolution

The Revolution could not escape the poor weather conditions of New England as a slushy mixture of rain and snow fell hard Wednesday night in their last round robin match of the Desert Diamond Cup. Fortunately for head coach Jay Heaps, there were plenty of positives to draw from the squad’s 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake including a glimpse of the many young players fighting for a starting role.

Defender Andrew Farrell, the number one overall pick in the 2013 MLS Draft, looked comfortable in the backfield. He pushed the ball up forward to the midfield nicely, stayed aggressive inside the box, and created a goal from a beautiful lob pass to forward Diego Fagundez in the 50th minute. Although still learning throughout preseason, it looks like fellow defender A.J. Soares is schooling Farrell as the Louisville draft pick will be starting with Soares and McCarthy come March.

18 year old Diego Fagundez looked strong in the second half, assisting Andy Dorman on the Revolution’s first goal while proving he is a viable option at striker during Sene’s absence. His speed and pestering style of play is hard to keep up with, and an upcoming stint with home country Uruguay at the under 21 World Cup could be highly beneficial to his game. Jerry Bengtson will need someone on his wing to rely on, don’t be surprised if Heaps gives Diego the nod.

The most notable part of New England’s game was their ability to convert scoring chances  in the box. A.J. Soares sent a header for goal to put the team up 2-1 in the 57th minute while Jerry Bengtson looked like himself, flying high for some header chances of his own. Chemistry on the pitch and ability to finish games will be top priorities for the club once the MLS season begins. Coach Heaps can not be pleased his team gave up two goals in the final three minutes of Wednesday’s loss, but the team’s offensive pressure and scoring chances throughout the game already looks more impressive than last year.

New England will face the New York Red Bulls in the Desert Diamond Cup consolation game this Saturday at 6 pm ET. Stay tuned.

Matt Bloom

Tucson Will Test Revs

Courtesy of the New England Revolution

The preseason is rolling along in Foxboro, but the first important test for the New England Revolution will come on February 13th, the start of the 3^rd Annual FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup. The New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders will also be in attendance in the four day tournament, all whom finished 3rd or better in their MLS regular season conferences. New England head coach Jay Heaps could not be in a better position to train his squad against top league talent. The time spent in Arizona will help the club make roster observations of who is creating chemistry on the pitch as plenty of newcomers are fighting for a starting role. Although Jay’s rookie season as head coach was not terrible, he got the sense that late  additions such as Jerry Bengtson and Juan Toja found trouble performing with the team due to preseason absence. Thankfully, the only two injured players on the Revolution roster played the majority of regular season matches in 2012, and blended well with their teammates before their injury. Saer Sene and Lee Nguyen’s absence this preseason should not hurt the club’s game plan or quality of play a great deal come March. The next few weeks will be a critical time for the organization to asses the direction they intend to head in this MLS season, involving roster cuts, formation strategy, and who deserves to start. “I’m a big believer that formations come from your talent level and what you’re going to do on the pitch,” said Heaps. “Style of play is something we’ve ingrained from day one, but the actual formation is going to be [determined by] which players we have to choose from and finding our strengths and weaknesses. That’s a lot of what the next seven or eight days are going to be: long sessions derived toward looking for those relationships and starting to build our formation.” Desert Cup games will be played on February 13th, 16th, and 20th. The championship will commence on the 23rd, televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network.

Matt Bloom

Twitter: @foxborofort