It is unfortunate when a soccer match is remembered for the bad officiating, but that is what happened between the NE Revs x Toronto FC match this weekend down at Gillette. What is more frustrating than bad calls on the field, which can and sometimes affect the out of a match, is when a goal is scored or called back, and unfortunately for the Revs, both happened, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

“Frustrated, disappointed, dishearten, when you have five out of six games determined by referee error is becoming….it’s just disappointing.” Jay Heaps post game about officiating during game

“That’s the hardest part about this job, when I left the locker room, and to see how crushed the guys were. We put a lot in to it. All week long we talk about game planning, going out and performing, being in the right positions, they do that, and they are there, and someone else decides it, not the other team, it’s really hard to explain to them.”

There were two officiating calls that went against the Revs which had direct impact on the match. First was Toronto’s equalizing goal from Sebastian Giovinco. Rev’s forward Teal Bunbury was fouled in the Toronto penalty box, but a no pk call resulted in a quick Toronto counter attack and goal, with Sebastian’s shot taking a deflection off of Jose Goncalves foot.

The other and maybe more controversial call was a no goal call against New England when Femi’ cross was judged to of gone over the end line when in mid air.

 

There were some positives in this game despite another home tie. Toronto does have 3 high quality players in their starting 11, and yet for most of this game were kept silent. Other then his goal and about 3 occasions when he was a threat in Revs territory, Sebastian Giovinco was kept in check by Gershon Koffie, despite having to play most of the game with a yellow card.

New England also at times looked good controlling the ball and passing it around with ease. During one of these spell of possession is when New England scored their goal. A Je-Vaughn Watson cross that was met with the head of Kelyn Rowe, the goal scorer. Despite failing again to go up 2-0 when scoring first, they did force TFC goalie to make 2 really good saves