In front of a crowd of 19,187 at Gillette stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, the home side, New England Revolution, secured an eerily familiar 2-1 victory over bottom of the table, DC United.
Early in the match, luck would shine down on DC. Luis Silva looked to play a dangerous ball into the New England Revolution box. Revs midfielder, Scott Caldwell, looked to break up the ball before it could reach its intended target. However, veteran New England goalkeeper Matt Reis had come off his line to collect the cross and a miscommunication resulted in Caldwell putting the ball into the DC United net and giving them the early 1-0 lead in the 11th minute of play.
After the defensive collapse by the Revs, they began to heat up and create chances. Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe, and Dimitry Imbongo created and took several chances that resulted in nine first half shots (two on target) for the home side. The DC defense held tight and took the 1-0 lead into the half with their sights set on three points.
The second half began just as the first half ended with the Revolution attacking. Luis Silva gave the ball away and the Revs took off on the counter attack. Lee Nguyen took control of the ball in the box and was brought down by a tackle from Dejan Jakovic. The referee, Jose Carlos Rivero, awarded a questionable penalty to the Revs. The penalty was only the second awarded to the team this season. Lee Nguyen stepped up to take the penalty, but Bill Hamid came up huge and saved the penalty and temporarily, the lead, for DC United. However, just seconds later Diego Fagundez was played through the DC United defense by Saer Sene and he put the ball past Hamid to make the match 1-1. Fagundez looked offside, but the Revs were fully deserving of the equalizer.
The eighteen-year-old, Diego Fagundez, grabbed his 11th goal to go with six assists this season. Lee Nguyen continued to be dangerous in this match. In the 58th minute of the match, Nguyen fired a shot off the crossbar and received the ball again putting the shot just wide. The Revolution continued to show they were the more confident, attacking team; however, DC continued to hold strong and refuse to let a goal in, hoping for a chance to go back ahead.
The chance almost arrived for substitute, Conor Doyle. Doyle received the ball and attempted to chip the Revs keeper, but Reis saved the ball before it crossed the line. After almost giving up the go-ahead goal, the Revs took very little time in striking back. Lee Nguyen continued to terrorize the DC United defense and forced DC midfielder, Lewis Neal, to go in with a clumsy challenge. A second penalty was awarded to the Revs, and once again, Nguyen would take it. The Revs man of the match called off his teammates to have another go at the penalty and this time he scored it with a chipped penalty to give the home side the 2-1 lead, a lead they would not give up. The match ended with the New England Revolution picking up a 2-1 win. DC struggled to create chances in the match, and in the end, Lee Nguyen and the New England Revolution proved to be too much for the DC United.
The match ended in a similar fashion as when the two clubs last met on July 27, 2013. The previous match ended in a 2-1 score line in favor of the New England Revolution with DC scoring first only to be downed by two second-half Revs goals. DC United move to 3-20-6 on the season, while New England move to 11-11-7, and currently the final playoff position in the eastern conference. DC United will travel to BMO field next Saturday (9/28/13) to face Toronto FC.
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