Sebastian Giovinco scored Toronto’s second goal on Friday. Photo/Kari Heistad
A poor start spoiled the hardworking and enterprising New England Revolution on Friday evening, as they fell 2-0 to Toronto FC at BMO Field.
The Revolution, who out-worked and out-shot the hosts in one of the toughest road environments in MLS, lapsed in just the 11th minute and handed Toronto FC a lead they would not relinquish. New England will leave Canada no points, their second straight loss, and their fifth loss in nine Eastern Conference matches.
Drew Moor, usually a stay at home center back, advanced into the penalty area and slid a feed from Chris Mavinga that squirted through the box and into the back of the net to make it 1-0. The Revolution wised up, pressed, and attacked for the duration of the match, but put only three of their 12 total shots on frame.
By the end of Friday’s contest, New England had three forwards on the field, Tony Delamea taken out of the match, bleeding, with what’s likely to be a broken nose, Benjamin Angoua with a dislocated finger, and Andrew Farrell and Gershon Koffie both limping.
It would be cruel to say the Revolution weren’t trying to garner at least one point, in addition to their first win of the season away from Gillette Stadium.
Nevertheless, with tired legs and battered bodies, plus an urgency to push up the field, New England left gaps of space on the pitch for Toronto to exploit. Sebastian Giovinco, the league’s most dangerous forward, added the nail to coffin in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time when he took advantage of the space and went in alone on Revolution goalkeeper Cody Cropper before slotting the ball into the net.
New England were better than the final score suggests, but didn’t find their stride until Moor converted the opening strike.
Part of this was down to tactics. Injuries and some inventive position swapping by Revolution coach Jay Heaps offered a novel starting lineup: Farrell switched from right back to left back with Chris Tierney not fully match fit in order to accommodate London Woodberry; Je-Vaughn Watson earned his third start of the season in central midfield in place of Scott Caldwell (concussion); Juan Agudelo, who has been in form, got the nod as lone forward instead of Kei Kamara, who has not been in form.
Toronto would have also been helped by having Michael Bradley (suspension), particularly once New England started to boss the game in the latter stages of the first half and most of the second.
The Revolution had plenty of chances to tie before Giovinco’s late second half strike, but didn’t.
Lee Nguyen shot right at Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono (32nd) and Koffie scuffed a chance inside the box from a tight angle for a freekick (35th).
Nguyen cleared a shot from a direct freekick by Giovinco off the line in the 57th, then returned fire in the 74th by curling an effort wide of the far post. Kamara, who entered the game in the 53rd minute for Watson, rolled a shot of the mark in the 82nd. Then Bunbury, who was subbed in Delamea in the 80th, had his header off a Nguyen cross saved by a diving Bono in the 88th.
In addition, referee Hilario Grajeda opted not to award the Revolution with a penalty kick in the 48th minute, even though it appeared as though Farrell had been fouled in the box.
Overall, New England controlled a surprising amount of tempo given Toronto’s sterling home form—they’re 7-0-2 at BMO field, which is tied for the best home record in the league—but were ultimately hurt by errors of their own making.
New England’s next game is a US Open Cup clash against DC United at Harvard University on June 28.
The Revs sit eighth in the Eastern Conference, outside of playoff position. But they still have plenty of time to turn the tables.
NE Revolution
Toronto FC
