Photo/Kari Heistad
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution coach Jay Heaps didn’t need to be asked a question to start his post-match press conference following the Revolution’s 1-1 tie against Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Heaps walked up to the podium, pointed up to the television screens that were broadcasting the game’s highlights and immediately made his feelings known before most media even had a chance to turn on their recorders.
“You can see it right there,” Heaps said, as clips of both Teal Bunbury and Charlie Davies being taken down in the penalty area with no call rolled across the screen. “You have to stand by it when [referees]miss penalty kick calls. They missed two tonight.
But that wasn’t the half of it.
Arguably the most controversial call came in second half stoppage time, when substitute Femi Hollinger-Janzen played the ball across the box at the endline for Lee Nguyen, who tapped the feed into the net for what appeared to be the game-winning goal.
As Nguyen celebrated in front of the 16,935 crowd, referee Edvin Jurisevic called the goal off, acquiescing to his linesman, who indicated that the ball went out of play as Hollinger-Janzen passed to Nguyen.
“Quite frankly, the last play of the game when we scored the goal, the referee called it out of bounds – now I have not seen that film yet, but for me you have to be in the right position – so he’s called it out by an inch, so he’s got to be on the line to see that.”
Controversy aside, both teams had enough chances to win the game and ultimately paid for their lack of precision.
The Revolution out-shot Toronto 13-10 and had a whopping 8-1 edge in shots on target.
Sixty-two seconds into the game, Lee Nguyen went in alone on Toronto keeper Clint Irwin off a feed by Diego Fagundez, but had his chip corralled.
Fagundez shot wide of the right post in the 11th minute after freeing himself from Michael Bradley in the middle of the field.
New England opened up the scoring through Kelyn Rowe, who headed in his first goal of the season in the 14th minute off a feed from the right flank by Je-Vaughn Watson.
Koffie helped assist on the play by drawing defenders toward him and away from the penalty area to open up space for Rowe before spraying the ball wide for Watson.
“We created a lot of chances, especially down the stretch,” said Rowe. “I thought we created a lot. We’re happy with the way we played, but we need to get a result there.
Toronto nearly equalized on two separate occasions in the first half that both involved Sebastian Giovinco.
In the 33rd minute, Giovinco slid the ball into space on the left side of the field for Justin Morrow, who curled a cross for Jozy Altidore, the follow-up header flying over the crossbar.
Moments later, in the 37th minute, Giovinco turned in the box and blasted the ball wide of the far post, the Italian striker beating the turf in frustration as he appealed for a penalty and pleaded with Jurisevic that Koffie had taken him down.
That said, Giovinco only needed the benefit of halftime to finally make his mark, albeit on another one of the game’s most controversial moments.
In the 58th minute, Koffie was followed by Morrow and, seconds later, Bunbury went down in the box, seemingly due to a push by Toronto defender Drew Moor.
Jurisevic approached the penalty area as if he was pointing to the spot for a penalty kick, though play went on with players from both teams looking like they thought play had stopped.
Instead, Toronto sprinted down the field on the counter, Jozy Altidore running at Andrew Farrell before finally squaring the ball for Giovinco, whose shot came off of Jose Goncalves’ hip and Bobby Shuttleworth’s fingertips before finally nestling inside the net.
“No, it was not a pretty goal,” Giovinco said after the game.
Curiously, Jurisevic yellow carded Morrow following the fracas.
Ultimately though, Giovinco had his third strike of the season and the Revolution surrendered a goal at home for the first time this year.
With that strike, Giovinco has scored in all but seven Major League Soccer stadiums.
Meanwhile, the Revolution will travel to Florida next Sunday for a clash against Orlando City and look for their first road victory.
If you wanted to reach Julian, email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
NE Revolution
Toronto FC
