The match ended 3-2 with the Revolution taking 3 points at home. Both teams offered their fans hope for the future. In New England, new collaborations exposed some potential weaknesses while producing a victory. Kansas City’s strengths and weaknesses were clear.
Kansas City can score. Their new defender, Aurelien Collin, can play. His earning a couple of cards shows he won’t back down, though, like other Sporting players, he has to stay on the pitch to help his team more. Keeping 11 players on the field is the first hurdle that SKC has to get over. The way they create chances will keep them in lots of games. Who would sit to make room for Omar Bravo? Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury, and CJ Sapong all look like they belong on the field. Bunbury made the pass that lead to Kamara lulling Didier Domi to sleep for Sporting’s first goal. Kamara was disappointed but he wasn’t the first and won’t be the last to be beaten by Shalrie Joseph for an aerial goal. Sporting has a good team and a good system. When they put together 90 minutes of solid play with 11 guys on the field, they will leave with points.
New England rolled out their own offensive arsenal Saturday night. Shalrie Joseph was paired with Rajko Lekic on the forward line. Benny Feilhaber and Steven McCarthy played centrally with Marko Perovic and Zak Boggs on the wings. Every one of those guys contributed to improved possession in the offensive third. While McCarthy drifted back to play in front of the defense the outside backs got involved in building attacks. Both Kevin Alston and Domi pushed forward from the back line, though at times were caught out of position or lost the ball due to miscommunication. I expect that the coaching staff and simple time together in practice will improve the combination play.
The New England team defense looked out of sorts for the first time this season. Last week in Houston they played more than 85 minutes of defense, and not much else. What a difference some talented players can make. Shalrie has plenty to offer on offense, especially with a more complete set of weapons in the lineup. Overall though, his commanding presence was missing from the center of the field. It will be interesting to see how the line up morphs and hopefully settles as the season progresses.
There is no doubt that the two newest Revs, Lekic and Feilhaber, have brought the offensive spark that this team was seeking. Benny cooly collected an errant clearance (of a Lekic cross) and dropped it to Perovic for the first goal. Lekic’s glancing header was the game winner. Coach Steve Nicol called it “a striker’s goal.” Given that Benny had one day of practice after flying in from Denmark on Thursday his combination play will continue to create goal scoring opportunities.
Lekic, Perovic, Joseph, and Feilhaber should play the majority of minutes on offense for the Revs. The questions then are where do each of those guys line up (and how easily can they swap during the run of play) and who else joins them? Saturday it was Zak Boggs, who whipped in a few crosses and pushed the ball up the right side. Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally, who came in for Perovic, will also get their chances with that group. Since we are on a roll with the additions of Lekic, Feilhaber, and the jersey sponsor, UnitedHealthCare, let’s not forget that this team professed hopes to bring in an attacking Designated Player. While we’re at it I wouldn’t mind a stadium announcement, too, though that is likely further off in the future. After this week, the Revs’ future looks good.
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