Saturday’s game against Sporting KC was a defeat for the New England Revolution in every sense of the word. Beyond the 3-0 score line, the Revs finished with low possession (39.7%), a poor passing percentage (76%) and only nine men on the field. With the loss, the Revs find themselves in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and three points away from a playoff position.
Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made a bold lineup decision when he chose to start Kevin Alston at left back and make Chris Tierney his left midfielder. The move gave Alston his first start since March 30th while putting Diego Fagundez, the team’s lead-scorer, on the bench.
“Our thought process was that we wanted to have a physical presence on (Kei) Kamara,” Heaps explained.
The battle on the left flank became a key element of the game with Kamara trying to use his speed and dribbling skills to get behind the Revolution defense. Alston’s pace and physicality helped neautralize Kamara and keep the game level. In the 27th minute, Kamara exploited afforded space when he beat Alston to nod in a cross from Sonny Saad.
“We get a lot of service in the box,” Sporting head coach Peter Vermes commented. “When you get good runs, then all of a sudden, you start to get the real chances on goal. We have some pretty dangerous players like Kei.”
Down a goal, the Revolution continued to rely on quick counters as a way of trying to find the back of the net. Their game plan nearly worked in the 40th minute when Lee Nguyen played a long ball to Dimitry Imbongo. The Congo-native, who was alone on net, made Jimmy Nielsen’s job easy by shooting directly at the keeper. The missed opportunity forced the Revs to enter the locker room with a deficit.
“We had a lot of chances and the game could have gone either way,” Andrew Farrell said. “Had we scored any of our chances, we would have been in it.”
The Revs entered the second-half with a desire to push higher up the field and find an equalizer. Although the visitors controlled 52% of the possession during the five-minute interval after halftime, déjà vu struck in the 50th minute when Kamara once again out-jumped Alston and finished a Saad ball.
Heaps hoped his bench could change the flow of the game as he inserted Fagundez (57th minute), Chad Barrett (63rd minute) and Andy Dorman (71st minute) for Alston, Saer Sene and Nguyen, respectively. Barrett had only been on the field for seconds when Imbongo received a second yellow for raising his arm on Oriol Rosell during an attempt to shield the ball.
Despite being down a man, the Revs still hoped to get on the scoreboard. Dorman and Barrett provided the Revs’ best opportunities but Nielsen stood firm. Any chance of a comeback disappeared in the 86th minute when Dorman received a straight red for a late tackle on Kamara. Benny Feilhaber completed the Revolution’s bad night by sealing the victory with a stoppage-time, free kick goal.
When asked if he enjoyed playing against his former team, Feilhaber said, “I think that’ll always be the case every single time, whether it’s now, or ten years from now. They’re guys that I’ve played with and they’re my buddies, so it’s good to beat and score on them, and obviously, it’s good for the team to get the three points.”
3 Observations and Revelations
- The difference between the two keepers was obvious. As Heaps pointed out in his post-game comments, Sporting KC had three shots on target and three goals. On the other side of the field, Nielsen made four saves, including two game-changing stops on Imbongo and Barrett. Bobby Shuttleworth has grown during his five years with the Revs but he still struggles to make acrobatic saves. It should be noted that Shuttleworth has only recorded one save in the last two games.
- The referee was poor but he didn’t cause the Revs to lose. Baldomero Toledo is one of the most controversial referees in MLS because of his frequent use of cards and penalties. Toledo didn’t do himself any favors last night when he lost track of the number of yellows Stephen McCarthy had accumulated. That having been said, Toledo didn’t cause the Revs to lose since the visitors were already down two goals when the first red was shown. The Revs were outplayed on Saturday and that has little to do with the referee.
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Three choices decided this game: starting Alston, not subbing Imbongo and not having an experienced defensive midfielder.
- Alston was asked to do one of the most difficult things in MLS: shutdown Kamara. Alston battled hard with the Sierra Leone native but was ultimately beat for two goals. In both instances, Alston was positioned wrong which allowed Kamara to easily win the ball. Alston also struggled with holding the ball since he was guilty of four unsuccessful throw-ins and six unsuccessful passes. Alston still has a lot to give the Revs but playing an away game against a talented frontline might have been too much for him in his first start since his return.
- Imbongo is an impressive physical specimen but he needs to learn to keep his cool if he’s going to develop into a solid MLS player. The second-year player has had difficulty staying on the field and has received three red cards this season, a league high. Heaps needs to get Imbongo to tone down the physicality or he needs to be able to recognize when a substitute is needed. Considering Imbongo had already received a yellow card and several warnings, Heaps should’ve inserted Barrett before the red card and kept eleven on the field.
- John Cryuff famously said, “If we have the ball, they can’t score.” These words are pungent for the Revs since they have only won the possession battle seven times this year. A big part of the Revolution’s possession woes is the lack of a veteran presence in the midfield. There have been several times this season where the absence of a dominant defensive midfielder has hurt the Revolution, including the home game against New York and the away game against Vancouver. Saturday’s game provided another example as the Revs looked shaken by the high pressure applied by Sporting. A veteran defensive midfielder would help calm nerves by holding the ball and offering a safe passing outlet. This point shouldn’t be viewed as a knock on Scott Caldwell, who has been excellent this year. Rather, this is a call for the front office to sign a player in the vein of Kyle Beckerman or Osvaldo Alonso.
(image courtesy of Kari Heistad)
