The New England Revolution hosted the Vancouver Whitecaps this weekend. New England are trying to break out of a slump, only 1 win in their last 9 MLS matches. Vancouver surprisingly has a winning road record this season, 5-3-1, including a win at New York against the Redbulls. Despite the fact that New England are unbeaten at home this season, an unbeaten streak that stands at 17 games and dates back to last season, this match will be very difficult. Unfortunately for the Revs, their streak would end, with a 2-1 loss.
And a VERY difficult match this was for New England. They started off well in the first 15 minutes of the match, when they tested Vancouver’s keeper David Ousted well on two occasions, forcing Ousted to make two really good saves. But a disastrous decision by London Woodberry led to Vancouver’s first goal of the half. An attempted clearance header by London right to Cristian Techara lead to an easy first goal.
It would only get worse. In the 3oth minute Andrew Farrell was called for a foul inside the box, resulting in a penalty shot and a red card to Andrew Farrell. That decision was a questionable call for many, including me. I wasn’t convinced that it was a foul. Either way Octavio Rivero converted the penalty and made it 2-0, the scored at halftime.
In the 2nd half New England would continue to press for their first goal. They at times looked like they were not on the same page, players not continuing their runs. But regardless they would carry on, and from about the 70th minute on, the Revs would come close on a few occasion, but Ousted was equal to the task.
But in the 84th minute, a bit of a miracle for the Revs, on a set piece, Tierney would cross the ball into the box, where Rowe would head it down to Teal, and Teal with the blast passed Ousted for the 2-1. They would keep pressing for the equalizer and came close on a few occasions, but would unable to.
I am not blaming the ref for the loss. I know his decision to award Vancouver the pk was a bit controversial for some, like me, but the rules say last that if the last man gets fouled it is a call, and a red card. Jay Heaps after the game had plenty to say after the game about the job referee Allen Chapman did:
“We were disappointed about the red card, penalty maybe, it is what it is, I thought our guys were fired up, because of the inconsistency being called, not because of one or two plays that changed the game from the referee’s stand point, but there’s inconsistency, yellow card for Diego, those are frustrating for the player, Laba is allowed the challenge people and you just want to play fair. Two teams who like each other to have 8 yellow cards is difficult on the players.”
“We gotta be smart. We talked to Diego at half time, and specifically we took London out because he is on a yellow card watch. Unfortunately without Farrell we had to be smart on where we were, and that’s us being absolutely no idea what the referee is going to call in the 2nd half. Have absolutely no idea what a foul is, what a yellow card is, where the game is gonna be called. Because I’ll tell you I thought there were 4 or 5 calls that went against us, I couldn’t tell you which way he was blowing the whistle. That’s sad, I’ve been in this league for 15 years and I can see a play and I’ve never seen so many times when I said which way is it, and that’s a bad, bad situation.”
When Andrew Farrell was asked whether he thought Techara went down to easy on the penalty call (yes I think so) his answer was “I don’t know, no comment”, which prompted Charlie Davies a few locker rooms away to say “smart man”.
Only real silver lining here was how the Revs battled down a man for 60 minutes, even cutting the lead in half late in the game. Credit Vancouver’s keeper David Ousted for making 8 saves against New England, including several diving saves, forcing him to make those saves. To me he was the real man of the match.