Ugh. That wasn’t a great way to end a home stand. New England could not score and Toronto’s first half goal proved the difference. Maybe we were rattled by the injury to Stephen McCarthy less than five minutes into the game. Rattled or not, we failed to score and conceded a loss at home to the team in last place overall.
Within the first ten minutes the Revs had used a substitution and conceded a goal. Stephen McCarthy went up for an aerial challenge and never returned to play. It was later confirmed that McCarthy had concussion-like symptoms – get healthy Stephen, we need you healthy more than we need you back quickly. Shalrie Joseph came in to shore up the backline, the second time this season he has played center back. In the 8th minute, after a clearance that didn’t make it to midfield or to one of our players, Toronto used some nifty work to find a space right down the middle of our defense. Revs players lunged for the ball several times, but the give and go that Silva executed ended with him behind our defense for a shot past Bobby Shuttlesworth.
New England would generate chances, though, our accuracy left us chasing the game. Lee Nguyen and Benny Feilhaber again demonstrated that the strength of our Revs team is in our midfield. Their passing and hold up play kept the ball in Toronto’s end – well, that and Toronto is as nervous with a lead as we were in the early months of this season. Sene, Brettschnieder and Cardenas couldn’t seem threaten for goals – as quiet as he was last week, I missed Kelyn Rowe on the right side. Bengston came in for Brettschnieder to start the second half and he didn’t quite connect, either. After so many crosses and corners Shalrie Joseph’s play might be the best descriptor for New England’s game.
Our designated player and captain hasn’t been earning starts since he has returned from injury. Shalrie has gotten minutes and made contributions. While he and AJ aren’t used to playing together on the backline, Shalrie can make plays from any position. Later in the game, especially after Fagundez replaced Cardenas, while we were pressing for another late-equalizer, Shalrie’s role changed our formation. As Shalrie pushed further up the field no me drifted back to the defense. That left three on the backline with Clyde Simms playing just ahead of the backline and six Revs pushing for a goal. Late in the game on a corner kick, after an amazing – was that a back heel volley(!?) – pass back in from the far post, Shalrie went up and scored on what looked like a header. The Toronto players immediately protested and replays show clearly that Shalrie attempted to channel Maradonna or Shaquile O’Neal. Despite all the crosses and corners we didn’t get any closer to scoring a goal.
New England did not decisively “crush” this game against TFC. We did not win a game we probably should have won. I interpret this as a sign that right now, my New England Revolution are not a playoff team. We are close, and there is still plenty of time for our team to grow into a playoff team. If Brettschnieder has been shaken up by Bengston’s arrival then heaps will have to help him find steadier feet during the Bengston’s Olympic absence. Our defense can limit other teams’ goals, but the surest path to New England victory is through scoring. We’ll play Wednesday, July 18th, against Montreal. Despite their addition of Italian defender, Nesta, I expect our Revs to score some goals.
(image courtesy of David Silverman)
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