New England Revolution 1 : 1 Toronto FC
by Julian Cardillo
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution and Toronto FC both played well enough to take all the spoils from their clash on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, though their end-to-end, mano-a-mano that featured 16 shots on target finished in an even and fair 1-1 tie.
Toronto made the Revolution dig deep in front of a season-high home crowd of 24,269. They engaged the Revolution throughout the very wide open contest, responding to Juan Agudelo’s third goal of the season through Michael Bradley early second half strike. Despite allowing a lead to slip away for the second consecutive game, the Revolution extended their unbeaten run to nine games and still haven’t lost at home.
The Revolution’s longest unbeaten run occurred in 2005, when they opened the season with 11 straight positive results.
Saturday, though, was a close contest that almost cost the Revolution their first loss since March 15. Toronto stayed with the hosts’ pace, continuing to push even after star forward Jozy Altidore went down early in the first half and had to be replaced by Luke Moore. Moore even seemed to score the go-ahead goal, though he was correctly called offside.
“Every time the ball goes into the back of the net, you want it to be the right one,” said Toronto coach Greg Vanney. “We would have taken that one and we had some other chances that I thought we could have gotten a little bit earlier in the game that we didn’t put away.”
Both teams went at goal from the opening whistle. Jose Goncalves scuffed a half-volley off the right post in the aftermath of third minute freekick, then Sebastian Giovinco went in behind the Revolution’s back line and fired a slow roller that also hit woodwork.
Agudelo’s breakthrough occurred in the 32nd minute on a play that was manufactured on the flank by Teal Bunbury, Lee Nguyen, and London Woodberry. Bunbury started with a step-over that froze the Toronto defense, and then dished the ball forward to Nguyen, who immediately played Woodberry on the flank. Woodberry picked up his and delivered to the heart of the area to Agudelo, who out-jumped his marker and powered the ball past goalkeeper Chris Konopka for the 1-0 lead.
“Charlie Davies and Juan Agudelo both made good runs,” said Woodberry. “It was just the type of play where I had a lot of space and got to pick up my head and serve in a good ball with a lot of time on my hands. Kudos to Juan for getting on the end of it.”
Toronto responded early in the second half, though, with Bradley’s score in the 53rd minute. Giovinco passed to Bradley in midfield, the U.S. national team veteran pushing by three defenders before finally uncorking a shot from the top of the box that rolled past Bobby Shuttleworth and into the back of the net.
“Good finish, good strong run,” Woodberry said. “I think it could have been prevented, but, [Bradley] put the ball into the back of the net. And, that’s what counts.”
Two minutes later, Bradley was involved with nearly giving Toronto the lead. He went into the attack again—once more off a Giovinco pass—and blasted a shot at goal that Shuttleworth tipped away. Moore pounced on the fat rebound, though the offside flag rose as the ball bulged the net.
Jermaine Jones, wearing the captain’s arm band and playing in midfield for the first time in four games, left the game with an undisclosed injury in the 63rd minute, getting replaced by Andy Dorman.
The Revolution responded well despite losing the much-relied-upon Jones as well as Toronto’s renewed sense of attack. Both teams went at each other to close out the game.
Giovinco had numerous attempts to give Toronto the lead, going in alone on Shuttleworth (66th) and then getting snuffed out again by Shuttleworth after Woodberry coughed up possession in the box (76th).
Konopka shot a point-blank bid by Dorman off a Lee Nguyen feed (86th), and, moments later, Nguyen fired a shot that trickled wide of the far post. Nguyen shot another drive in stoppage time, but was again thwarted by Konopka, while Diego Fagundez, who replaced Davies in the 82nd minute, flashed a header wide of net on the final attacking play of the game.
If you want to reach Julian email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
New England Revolution
Toronto FC
