The fans in Toronto shared their emotions at the final whistle. A chorus of boos is a great way for a visiting team to leave the field after gutting out a result on the road. Though only their second tie of the season, this game provided glimpses of TFC’s potential and continuing habits of falling short. For New England this game also showed some of the habits we are trying to kick, and some good ones we are developing, too.
The opening of this game was characterized by New England turnovers. From the other side, clearly the pressure defense all over the field from Toronto kept the Revs from stringing together possession. Diego Fagundez earned his first start of the season and he particularly, though certainly not him alone, was knocked off the ball ending several early build ups. When he received the ball with space to move forward he moved quickly and brought a recognizable energy from his debut last season. Last season it felt like he might be the only hope for the Revolution. Clearly, our team has improved if our teenager is not the best hope for our future. Turnovers, and Saer Sene shares in this culpability, or a lack of hold up play in the offensive third of the field will limit New England’s effectiveness.
Toronto exposed what is become a more infrequent weakness as we improve, but this week our defense made errors to start this game. Here is another stunning insight: Koevermans is not a small person. AJ Soares and Stephen McCarthy are building a great relationship on and off the field and that is translating into stability and strength along our backline. Koevermans’ opening goal seemed a spot where a bit more strength might have turned that threat aside, instead we conceded the first goal after a stretch where their team had forced several turnovers from us. Morgan, from the backline, and Johnson, carrying the ball into the heart of our defense, both showed that on a big field and in general the Revs must concentrate on defensive positioning. Alston’s hamstring injury is worrying – please don’t rush back and please get healthy, Kevin! The second goal was more of the same, a dummy header by Koevermans fooled the entire Revs defense – everyone was flat footed as Johnson’s goal went in and ignited a celebration. There were several plays that showed the concentration and communication that our defense needs to bring to every game. Jay Heaps said at half-time that we gave Toronto those goals – an apt description.
The Revolution, although a work in progress, showed they will play their own talented game again this week. I singled out the forwards, but turnovers happened all over the field for New England. That slow stretch to start the game is a weakness, for sure, that diminishes the influence our passing game has on the results. There were lots of examples of our combination play opening up opportunities from the starters and when the substitutions joined the game, too. Both Diego and Sene had opportunities that were either saved or put just off target. Flo Lechner, who replaced Alston, looked better in this game than he did in his first appearance. Lets see more of those crosses! Benny, had a great game. He hit post, and did so much more moving the ball through tight spaces all game long. Our first goal came off of a Feilhaver shot, Brettschnieder pounced on the rebound to cut the deficit to one goal. Toronto was tired, Frings had just been substituted, and New England clearly believed they could score at least one more goal. Sure enough, in extra time, Tierney got on the end of one of Lechner’s crosses to turn the game from a loss to a tie. This was New England’s second road result of the season. We now have a 3-1 victory in Los Angeles and a 2-2 draw in Toronto to go along with 6 losses on the road.
The Revs are still fighting out of the bottom half of the league. We have to keep fighting and competing for points. We will have a rematch in three weeks against Toronto at home. Between now and then we have to improve. We will generate opportunities, that New England can do. Sene has to get used to double and triple teams whenever he sees the ball. Turnovers have to be avoided – perhaps the Revs missed Shalrie’s presence. During the last three games we have beaten Chicago and tied both Columbus and Toronto. While draws are better than losses, these are team we have to beat if we want to climb into the playoffs. Compared to Toronto, who also has two ties in a row, we haven’t blown leads. The Revs have held on and fought to earn their results. We will have to turn earlier opportunities into goals if we want results against Seattle and New York over the next two weeks.
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
