The New England Revolution was downed 4-2 by the Montreal Impact on Sunday night in a match with important playoff implications. The Revs were optimistic heading into the affair since the Houston Dynamo and the Chicago Fire remained below them in the standings after failing to collect points in their respective matches. An early red card tapered confidence since the Revs were forced to play 85 minutes down a man.
Marco Di Vaio was active during the opening minutes, earning his first of nine offside calls in the second minute. The early play was a harbinger of things to come as the Golden Boat leader was able to successfully sneak behind the Revolution defense in the fifth minute. Matt Reis raced off his line to get the ball but ended up fouling Di Vaio after the forward miskicked. Referee Sorin Stoica issued a red card and awarded a penalty kick.
“The ball got played through, and [Marco Di Vaio] tried to hit it first-time and it got caught up in between his legs,” Reis explained. “He went down and looking at the replay, it looks like he kicks the ball out of bounds. So for me, if he wants to give the penalty, fine, but I completely disagree with.”
Chad Barrett was removed in favor of Bobby Shuttleworth, who guessed wrong on Patrice Bernier’s stutter step penalty kick. Despite being down a man and a goal, the Revs pushed to find an equalizer. Their persistence paid off in the 26th minute when Diego Fagundez finished a rebound created by a Dimitry Imbongo shot.
“I think we got complacent a bit after that goal,” Bernier commented. “I must say: give them credit, they kept hustling even though with 10 men they tried to push. They never stopped. Good for them.”
Montreal regained the lead in the 33rd minute after the visitors were awarded a second penalty kick. Stoicia whistled Jose Goncalves for an infraction on Felipe Martins near the edge of the penalty box. Bernier once again utilized the stutter step to get past Shuttleworth, who guessed the right direction.
“You can see that Felipe was flying everywhere on the field when someone touched him,” Goncalves remarked. “The referee should be aware of that and I think he didn’t consider this as a trait for the game and he gave the penalty straight away the second time and I was very surprised.”
Di Vaio increased his team’s lead with identical strikes during first half stoppage time and the 55th minute. In both instances, the Italian striker went one-on-one against AJ Soares after being sent in on goal. Di Vaio was able to dupe Soares with a sharp cut both times before putting the ball in the back of the net.
“(Di Vaio) is an opportunist,” head coach Maro Schallibaum said. “He is a goal-maker; he is a machine, like a terminator. I told him before the game he was a terminator and we need him again.”
Juan Toja replaced Lee Nguyen, who is one yellow card away from suspension, in the 68th minute and Saer Sene entered for Imbongo in the 74th minute. Sene made the biggest impact of the two substitutions since he helped setup Rowe’s 76th minute goal. Rowe collected a Sene pass before beating a few defenders and putting his shot in the upper 90.
“This is our second time having a red-cardable offense early in a half,” Heaps commented. “You work on who takes what and where you can press them and how you can break through, and just about when there is going to be the numbers advantage.”
The result improved the Impact to first place in the Eastern Conference while the Revs remain in fifth after the Philadelphia Union proved inept against the San Jose Earthquakes in the evening’s nightcap. The Revolution will travel to Toyota Park on Saturday, September 14th to play the Chicago Fire in another Eastern Conference clash.
3 Observations and Revelations
1.The Revs defense played too high and too loose. As evident by their 14 offside calls, Montreal is a team that likes to play their forwards alongside their opponent’s defense. With this in mind, the Revs tried to play a high line as a way of keeping Di Vaio and his cohorts honest. The strategy didn’t produce desirable results since Impact players found themselves in one-on-one situations often. The Revolution defense needed to be more militant with their coverage, especially when concerning Di Vaio.
2.Fagundez, Rowe and Imbongo were good. A 4-2 score line is a hard one to swallow but it should be noted that the Revs did get solid performances from some of their players. Fagundez continues to be the team’s deadliest threat. The 18 year-old has now reached double-digits for goals scored, which, according to my research, makes him the youngest player in MLS history to accomplish the feat. Rowe is another player whose confidence continues to grow with consistent minutes. His six goals ties him with Diego Valeri and Rodney Wallace, while his seven assists puts him even with Landon Donovan and Mauro Rosales. Imbongo’s development continued on Sunday night as the Congo native had better touches and drew a yellow card instead of earning one.
3. Roster clarity has suddenly become muddled. Save for the insertion of Imbongo, the Revs have used an unchanged starting eleven for four straight games. Sunday’s game created some doubt, however, as Reis committed an unnecessary foul and Soares was beaten repeatedly. Barrett’s position might also be in limbo since he was the first one sacrificed and Sene looked lively. The Revs further options in Charlie Davies, who didn’t play, and Ryan Guy, who didn’t make the bench.
(image courtesy of Kari Heistad)
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