The New England Revolution relied on a late equalizer from Chad Barrett to negate Laurent Courtois’ early strike and help the team earn a draw against Chivas USA. Although an away point against a western foe during a busy stretch may sound like a good outcome, the Revs will be disappointed since the Goats haven’t earned a positive result since their 2-2 draw with San Jose on April 27th. The Revs will hope to learn from the game as they continue to fight for a playoff spot.
Before the game, the Revs received troubling news that Juan Agudelo would be unavailable after suffering a right knee sprain in the midweek US Open Cup game. Agudelo has been an important part of the Revolution’s attack since he has contributed three goals in five appearances.
Diego Fagundez, who has formed a positive relationship with the New York native, commented on the injury by saying, “It’s going to be difficult but I just have to step up my game and try to combine with whoever is the point player. (I have to) try to do everything I can like I was doing with Juan Agudelo. It’s not going to be the same.”
Agudelo’s absence was noticeable as the Revs struggled to hold the ball and create chances against Chivas USA. With Jerry Bengtson operating as the lone striker, the offense lacked chemistry and bite. The night got worse for the Revs when Courtois put a left-footed effort past Bobby Shuttleworth in the 18th minute. From there, the Rojiblanco focused on defending in the hope of earning a 1-0 victory.
“I think their Coach Jose [Luis Real] has done a great job of organizing (them),” head coach Jay Heaps commented. “They were certainly all over us. They had two guys following Lee (Nguyen) wherever he went, and really they defended well.”
After conceding early, the Revs pushed to find an equalizer with Fagundez, Chris Tierney and Bengtson coming close. The Revs would finally get their breakthrough in the 88th minute when Barrett pushed a Fagundez cross over the goal line. The goal wasn’t the prettiest but it was testament to the Revs’ effort and determination.
“It’s hard (to breakdown a defensive team), but you need to figure ways to do it,” Fagundez said. “You can’t just go long every time, you need to try and go wide or get crosses in. You need to do something to break them. We just couldn’t find that thing until the 88th minute. If only we had a couple more minutes, maybe we could have done more. It was too late when we figured it out.”
The draw capped a disappointing week during which the Revs failed to win against two of the league’s worst teams: DC United and Chivas USA. Despite the frustrating results, the club believes that they have learned valuable lessons that will help them earn a playoff position.
“I think we did well,” Jose Goncalves stated. “We tried to keep the ball, move the ball and create some chances. We have to learn from that. Sometimes we have to be really passionate, especially when you concede a goal very early in the game. This is the key to the game: never give up.”
The Revs will have a week of practices before opening a two-game home stand against San Jose on Saturday, July 6th. Fagundez believes that will time will help the Revs fix mistakes and get back on track.
“We just have to focus more on the game and we need to do a better job a better job individually and with each other,” the 18 year-old commented. “We just have to learn from our mistakes. I don’t think anyone had a good game or anything. I think we all had an okay game but we can all do better.”
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
