Red Bulls Force 1-1 Draw on Revolution

New England’s Diego Fagundez found his second goal of the season Saturday, but it would not be enough to send the NY Red Bulls home with no points. (Photo: David Silverman)

In what looked to be a wet and messy game by match start, the skies cleared up for what would be a fair test as the New York Red Bulls faced the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium Saturday night. After a 0-0 first half and Red Bull star Thierry Henry remaining on the bench, scoring opened up in the second which lead to a 1-1 draw between the Eastern Conference foes. New York will remain on top in the East at 21 points (6-4-3), while New England sits at 7th place with 10 points (2-4-4).

Although the first half was rather uneventful, both teams had a few close goal opportunities. Possession undoubtedly favored the Revolution, not only capturing a 55.3% possession by game’s end, but out shooting New York 12 to 9 with three more shots on target. Perhaps New England starting Dimitry Imbongo over Jerry Bengtson was a factor in this regard. Imbongo looked as if he had something to prove in his first start of the season with his constant motor and ability to create one beautiful run of his own that almost lead to goal.

New England would strike first come second half, finally scoring from a corner kick in the 54th minute. Chris Tierney launched the ball out of the right corner as Diego Fagundez positioned himself nicely for a shot on goal. The kick was first saved by New York keeper Luis Robles but the rebound came right back to Diego who easily cleaned up the play for his second goal of the season. Criticism has come the past few matches for lack of offense from the Revolution but one thing is for certain, Diego Fagundez is doing his part in the Starting XI. It may look like a tough decision for coach to pick a pair of starting strikers out of group consisting of top talents such as Jerry Bengtson and now Juan Agudelo, but fans should hope Jay Heaps does not switch out Fagundez as he remains the hot player on the pitch.

The 1-0 lead for New England would sadly only last one minute. Just seconds after Diego’s score, the Red Bulls’ Lloyd Sam would catch the Revolution defense off guard and  drive a grounder under Bobby Shuttleworth for the 1-1 tie in the 55th minute. The defense is partially at fault here, but it was rare to see Shuttleworth rather unprepared for Sam’s tough-angled shot. New York’s goal instantly took away the energetic atmosphere at Gillette Stadium and would end up being the last goal scored of the match.

The Revs have only scored two goals in their past three matches, leaving their banged up defense to do all the dirty work to stay competitive. It is clear the team misses leader A.J. Soares in the back line as well as Kevin Alston’s speed in the left back position. Even when the defense does hold, the scoring must not come so inconsistently. New addition Juan Agudelo hopes to change that, and if Jay Heaps sees Agudelo as the threat up top he claims to be, one can hope New England will score two or three goals per match more often.

Looking towards next week, the Revs will head to BBVA Compass Stadium next Saturday to face the highly-competitive Houston Dynamo (6-2-2). The match will start later than most in the MLS at 8:30pm ET.

Matt Bloom

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 Find Offense, But Consistency Key

Struggling to find the stat sheet, Lee Nguyen put up an assist and goal to give the Revolution their second win of the year. (Photo Courtesy of the New England Revolution)

With implementation of the 4-1-4-1 formation last Saturday, New England found the firepower they were searching for, scoring 2 goals on the Philadelphia Union resulting in a 2-0 win. As the defense remains strong, head coach Jay Heaps may have found his play makers in Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe in the midfield.

A handful for defenders, Lee Nguyen was emerging as a play maker and goal scorer last season. Nguyen remained quiet until Saturday however, scoring no goals through the first six matches. One could feel a sense of urgency from the team as it felt like just one goal could get things rolling and help the Revs find their game. Thanks to Lee Nguyen’s great vision against the Union, he was able to find Rowe on the right hand side and lead to a beautiful through pass for Diego Fagundez’s first goal of the season.

Alongside a dominant performance by Nguyen was teammate Fagundez, whose small size played no role in stopping him from getting his fair chances of goal opportunities. Diego put up 3 shots of his own and crashed the box in perfect timing to put the Revs up 1-0 in the 61st minute. “It felt amazing,” said Fagundez. “You saw the stadium – pretty filled up tonight – so getting this win for Boston and for Kevin felt good for everyone. We’re all happy.” While Diego is finding his confidence it isn’t too early to wonder if he deserves the start over Saer Sene or Jerry Bengtson any given night.

Moving ahead, shots on target will remain the most important stat for New England. Seven shots on target Saturday was not an overwhelming amount, but considering the team has already went two games with zero this season, seven is better than none. Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth has also shown his potential of recent, making alert decisions to stop Philadelphia goal threats and holding a season goal against average of 1.20. His skill be critical to success, especially with Matt Reis’ return in question.

The Revolution will head to Portland next for a challenging test at Jeld-Wen Field this Thursday. Not only will the team have to come out scoring, but the Timbers remain one of the hottest teams in the MLS, winning three of their last four matches and sitting comfortably in the Western Conference with 13 points. Kickoff is set at 10:30pm ET, with coverage found on Comcast Sportsnet and 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Matt Bloom