A goal in the 87th minute doomed the New England Revolution (1-2-1) as they were defeated by FC Dallas (4-1-0) on March 30th. With beautiful weather and the return of Jerry Bengtson, the Revolution hoped to make their second home game of the season a memorable one. Substitute Blas Perez ruined the Revs’ night when he headed home a David Ferreira cross for the game’s deciding goal. The final result can be credited to Dallas’ successful substitutions and the Revs’ inability to pull a game changer from the bench.
Head coach Jay Heaps strayed from the 4-5-1 formation that he used in the first three games of the season in favor of a 4-4-2. The lineup featured a strike force of Ryan Guy and Jerry Bengtson while placing Diego Fagundez, Clyde Simms, Juan Toja and Lee Nguyen in the midfield. Heaps hoped that the squad would help ignite the attack, which has only scored one goal this season.
Heaps explained, “(We put in) Diego (Fagundez) for a little more offense. I thought he brought it tonight. Ryan (Guy) more for penetration to extend the field.”
Although Fagundez provided a shot on goal in the 34th minute, something that proved elusive last weekend, the first-half attack was predictable and toothless. The Revolution entered halftime with the game scoreless due in large part by Dallas’ ineptness in front of the net. The Hoops had a prime chance in the 14th minute when Kenny Cooper sent in a low cross to Jackson who scuffed at the ball.
The Revs came out of the locker room with a greater focus and almost had a goal in the 58th minute when Toja sent in a cross to Bengtson. The goal was not to be, however, as Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez made a fingertip save.
Fagundez explained his team’s second half drive by saying, “We got a nice speech at halftime saying that we need to work harder and our possession was slow enough. We came out in the second half trying to get a better possession and try getting the three points.”
As the game went on, it looked more and more likely that both teams were going to have to settle for the scoreless draw. Kenny Cooper’s header in the 63rd minute was questionably ruled offside while Kevin Alston flubbed his chance in the 69th minute and Toja shot directly at the keeper in the 80th minute. It was the substitutions that would make the difference for both teams.
The Revs would make the first substitution of the night by inserting Kelyn Rowe for Guy in the 60th minute. The move was done to provide the game with some fresh legs with the hope of capturing three points. Dallas would make the next substitution when Kenny Cooper was removed in favor of Blas Perez in the 64th minute. The crafty forward was just what Dallas needed as he immediately tormented the defense before providing the only goal of the match.
Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman commended his forward by saying, “When you bring in a Blas Perez, it does affect the opposition quite a bit. Mentally, you go, wow, OK good, Kenny’s out now here goes Blas. Are you kidding? He adds something a little bit different.”
The game-winning goal came when Perez beat Jose Goncalves to the ball and headed it past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. Heaps would make his final subs by replacing Fagundez and Kevin Alston with Andy Dorman and Chris Tierney, respectively. The move marked the second time in as many weeks that Heaps questioned using his bench.
When explaining his thought process, Heaps said, “I sat with my staff and said we’ve got control of this a little bit, let’s keep it what it is because I thought if we scored we were going to make two subs right away…I thought that during that time we didn’t make any subs, that was probably our best run of soccer, so I thought that was the best group to help us win at that time.”
With the loss, the Revs currently sit at 9th place in the Eastern Conference with four points. Perhaps more concerning is the team’s scoring drought has now extended over 300 minutes. The team will hope to remedy this as they have a bye-week before returning to league play on April 13th against the Seattle Sounders.
3 Observations and Revelations
1. The team simply lacked organization. To start the match, Guy was lined up as a forward but the Guam international could often be seen tracking back into his defensive third. While the move was sometimes done as a way of allowing Toja the freedom to move forward, it made for more confusion than success. Positional switches could also been see with Nguyen, Toja, and Rowe. While fluidity between these attackers is a noble goal, there were too many instances where players weren’t in the correct spots which led to missed passes and poor marking.
2. The result should be viewed as a team loss. The Revs didn’t put on a 90 minute performance on Sunday which is why the loss is not unfair. After the game, Heaps explained that he was impressed with the second half “but unfortunately you need 90 minutes to unlock a team. You need more than 45 minutes to play and unfortunately we only came for 45 minutes.” The coach also said that everything on this team needed to get better: the defense, the offense, the set pieces and the coaching staff. These words were also echoed by Shuttleworth. While recognizing the problem is good, it’s yet to be seen if this team will be able to come up with an answer.
3. Alston had a bad night. Alston’s inability to put the ball in the back of the net in the 69th minute highlighted the type of night that the 5th year pro was having. Alston was the defensive weak link throughout the night. In the 14th minute, Goncalves ventured to the left side while trying to defend Ferreira. Instead of coming to the inside to cover Cooper, who was originally Goncalves’ man, Alston stood awkwardly which allowed the big man to set up Jackson for the game’s first real chance. Alston also offered poor positioning in the game’s deciding goal. Alston didn’t track back enough to cover Perez which forced Goncalves to stand between two Dallas attackers. The space allows Perez to head in the ball and gain the victory for his team. Alston’s speed is great to have on the flank but Tierney may be the better option after Saturday’s shocker.
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
