After watching the United States’ elimination from the World Cup at the hands of Ghana on Saturday, New England soccer fans shifted some of their attention back to the Revolution.
The last time they’d seen the Revs in MLS play, though, there was little to get excited about. Before the league went on hiatus to grant the Yanks center stage, Steve Nicol‘s club hit rock bottom after a 3-0 loss in Seattle wherein they were outshot 19-2.
In returning to action at Gillette Stadium, the Revs again fell – this time 1-0 to the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium – but did not look clueless in the process, at least.
The Revs outshot the Fire 22-13 and never looked outmatched.
But the reason for defeat can be tagged to what’s unquestionably become the team’s clear problem in 2010.
“We keep saying the same things every week,” Nicol said after the match. “The effort, endeavor, the spirit, you can’t fault that. But in the final third we just don’t have the quality required.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Nicol delivers a similar assessment after nearly every match. And with good reason.
Indeed, in a game wherein the scoring of goals is tantamount to success, the Revs have now been held scoreless seven times in 2010 and three times in their last four matches. The Revs have scored all of 13 times in 13 matches.
It’s not as if they didn’t have their chances. Twice in the first half, an unmarked Zack Schilawski got his head square on the ball yards away from the goal line off of a set piece. The first was sent to the goal’s left, the second right up over the net. And in the 61st minute, Sainey Nyassi showed terrific control of the ball as he worked his way into Chicago’s box before sending an open shot wide right.
The opportunities were there. The finish? It just wasn’t.
“Whether it’s been the service into the box, or the finishing in the box, that’s where we’ve let ourselves down,” Nicol said. “When we do get a chance, we can’t finish it.”
Chicago collected its score in the 30th minute. Marco Pappa took advantage of a breakdown in the Revs’ defense and was able to move to his left, clearing himself of Shalrie Joseph, and give himself an open look. Keeper Matt Reis, making his return to league action after missing the season’s first half, got a finger or two on the ball, but he was unable to stop the good, strong shot. The score was Pappa’s sixth of the year.
“We can’t blame Matt,” Joseph said. “We have only ourselves to blame [for the goal].”
One defensive breakdown less and one finishing touch more and the Revs and their fans may be smiling this morning. Of course, that doesn’t make the loss any easier to swallow.
“It’s pretty disheartening to work that hard and to chase the game like that,” said midfielder Pat Phelan. “We dug ourselves in too deep of a hole and didn’t put chances away early.”
The Revs, now 3-8-2, will next face a very tough task. They return to action next Friday night against the defending MLS Cup Champions, Real Salt Lake (5-0-2) in Utah.
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SCORING SUMMARY
CHI – Marco Pappa (Dasan Robinson) 30
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
Matt Reis (GK), Chris Tierney (Kheli Dube 62), Cory Gibbs, Emmanuel Osei, Kevin Alston, Zak Boggs (Kenny Mansally 46), Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph (c), Sainey Nyassi, Marko Perović, Zack Schilawski (Jason Griffiths 81).Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Michael Videira, Nico Colaluca, Seth Sinovic.
STATS: Shots: 22; Shots on Goal: 6; Saves: 3; Corner Kicks: 13; Offside: 1; Fouls Committed: 9
CHICAGO FIRE
Andrew Dykstra (GK), Dasan Robinson, C.J. Brown, William Conde, Krzysztof Krol, Marco Pappa, Baggio Husidic (Peter Lowry 38), Mike Banner, Logan Pause, Brian McBride (c) (Stefan Dimitrov 83), Patrick Nyarko (Deris Umanzor 70). Substitutes Not Used: Sean Johnson, Corben Bone, Kwame Watson-Siriboe.
STATS: Shots: 13; Shots on Goal: 5; Saves: 6; Corner Kicks: 6; Offside: 4; Fouls Committed: 10
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
CHI – Willam Conde (caution) 47
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants: Kermit Quisenberry, James Conlee
Fourth Official: Jorge Gonzalez
Weather: Clear and 80 degrees
Attendance: 12,306
Adam T. Vaccaro
iholliday
Martin McClean Ryan
I thought Mansally was simply not good enough on the left wing after entering the game. Without pressure from that side, it was easy for Chicago to tilt their defense to focus solely on Nyassi, who was still quite good, really.