The general consensus is that the New England Revolution should have more than 10 points and a record that’s better than 1-3-7 because they’ve been the superior team in most of their matches.
But that wasn’t the case in Sunday afternoon’s 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy at the StubHub Center.
With the exception of the final 25 minutes of the game in which the Revolution scored both of their goals and Juan Agudelo hit the crossbar, the match was completely dominated by the hosts.
Completely dominated. As in, check for a pulse, because the Revs are a dead stick
A timely goal by Kelyn Rowe injected just enough life to make Sunday’s contest interesting. But the odds weren’t stacked in New England’s favor, regardless of how close they came to a shock equalizer.
Jose Goncalves went down clutching his side, reducing the team to 10 players for the final stages of the match, while the Los Angeles Galaxy managed to hold onto the results thanks to some excellent counter-attacking and crafty time wasting.
Here are three thoughts on the match:
Lack of awareness is killing the New England Revolution
Each of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s first three goals were preventable. Robbie Keane’s two strikes and Giovani Dos Santos’ golazo had one thing in common: the play started with the ball being served into the box.
Keane’s goals were from feeds on the turf. The Irishman was unmarked on both and there was virtually no pressure on the passer, which was Gyasi Zardes on both occasions. Dos Santos’ goal was unstoppable once it left his foot. The time to defend that was before he got the ball – either when Scott Caldwell errantly headed away Boateng’s cross right into Dos Santos’ grateful path, or when Je-Vaughn Watson failed to close down the space for the Mexican to bash the ball on frame.
Awareness goes hand in hand with technique: a player needs to take into account his surroundings to employ the proper method of dealing with a situation. The Revs defenders and midfielders can mark. They can clear the ball. They have vision. But getting caught napping doomed them all on three occasions on Sunday.
Just how often have the Revolution not been aware of their surroundings? Too often. Last week’s 2-2 draw at Gillette Stadium against Orlando City was caused by London Woodberry not knowing that Carlos Rivas was right behind him and ready to thump in a goal. See a 3-0 loss at DC, a 1-1 tie at NYCFC, and a 1-1 tie against Portland for more instances of getting caught unaware.
A nationally televised wake-up call
From a Revolution player and coach perspective, the most important takeaway from Sunday’s nationally televised match against the star-studded Galaxy is remembering just how bad they played for the first 67 minutes.
The Galaxy tore through the Revs’ back line as if its defenders were helpless scarecrows on a cornfield. The Revolution attack did not muster any credible scoring threat or notable passing sequence until Rowe’s goal midway through the second half.
In fact, the timeliness of Rowe’s goal can’t be understated, as it stopped the bleeding and gave the Revolution brief control. Without that one strike, Sunday’s game would have finished 4, possibly 5-0.
Critics of this wake-up call idea say that it should have come sooner. That it should have come after the 3-0 loss against Philadelphia in Week 2. Or in any of the team’s Cup losses. Or when the concept of DPs were first announced.
From a player movement and club standpoint, that’s mostly true. But this point isn’t made to apply to the team’s front office. Revolution coach Jay Heaps is stuck with the cards he has in hand. And the players themselves – ergo, the cards – have shown flashes of brilliance, albeit in need of some serious refinement.
Where the team goes from here – in the short term – is up to Heaps and his players more than the front office. Any long term changes have to do with club philosophy, and that starts and ends with ownership. Being embarrassed, outclassed, and outplayed on national television for over an hour on the home field of the team that knocked you out of three Cup finals is sure to sting. The question is, how will those on the pitch and on the sidelines pick up the broken pieces?
Four Revolution players have positives to take from Sunday
Kelyn Rowe, Juan Agudelo, Femi Hollinger-Janzen, and Diego Fagundez stood out on an otherwise depressing afternoon in California. Let’s start with Rowe: of all the Revolution’s players in the first half, he was the most willing to shoot. He had two knuckler’s that were easy saves for LA keeper Brian Rowe, but at least he was active and trying to get something done. Persistence paid off for Rowe on his well-struck shot in the 67th minute, which flew into the net and changed the pace of the game.
Agudelo was mostly inactive until Hollinger-Janzen found him in space in front of goal. His first-time shot for the Revs’ second strike was a sublime finish. On an even higher note, Agudelo has now scored in two consecutive games.
Speaking of Femi, how good is he off the bench? There were complaints that Lee Nguyen should have stayed on – particularly after Goncalves got hurt, which makes sense from a numbers perspective – but Femi proved from an attacking standpoint that he deserved a shot. The rookie makes things happen. Agudelo’s goal, plus a slew of other late-game contributions are proof of that.
While Rowe was most likely to go at goal in a horrendous first half, Fagundez was most likely to generate a play. The Twitterverse marveled at how Fagundez helped lead the team onto the comeback train. Fagundez may not have intended it, but he looked like the defacto captain with Nguyen, Goncalves, and Chris Tierney all off the pitch. Consider this: aside from keeper Bobby Shuttleworth, Fagundez was the most tenured Revolution player on the field.
If you want to reach Julian, email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
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