The Revolution played the reigning MLS Champions Seattle Sounders to a 3-3 draw last Saturday on the road, but continue to have trouble closing out games.
How it went down
New England started the game with a bit of a fluke goal scored in the 15th minute scored by Daigo Kobayashi. The 34-year-old midfielder had intercepted the ball at half and dribbles about 20 yards where he fired a shot that bounced off Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei and into the back of the net. It was a laughable moment for everyone outside of Seattle.
Just ten minutes later, Juan Agudelo continued his incredible form and netted a diving header past Frei for his first goal of the night. The play developed when Kelyn Rowe made an overlapping run around Antonio Dalamea who laid it off. Rowe then had space and played a perfect ball into the Agudelo for the finish.
The Revolution’s game plan of holding down the fort and scoring on the counter continued after the halftime whistle when Agudelo scored his second goal of the night and sixth of the season. It started at half with a beautiful dummy by Lee Nguyen where Diego Fagundez picked it up and carried it down the left wing and laid it off to Agudelo for a clinical finish.
The Revolution started the game strong, as that is something they have been doing very well recently, but they have struggled to hold on to leads. Just last week, they squandered a 1-0 lead to D.C. United and this week it was more of the same.
Seattle had looked threatening all night, but just couldn’t put the ball in the net until the 75th minute when Nicolas Lodeiro woke his side up with a deflection goal that sent goalkeeper Cody Cropper the wrong way and made it a 3-1 game.
The Sounders weren’t done there and all of a sudden had all of the momentum and CenturyLink Field was all in on a comeback. Just 10 minutes later in the 85th minute, it was forward Will Bruin who made a lovely run into the box and no Revolution defenders picked him up. When the ball was played into the box he was wide open for a header that Cropper couldn’t do anything about which cut the Revoluion’s lead to one, 3-2.
Just three minutes thereafter, Seattle had completed their comeback when they played a short corner kick. New England’s defense had gotten lazy and when the ball was played in to Gustav Svensson who flicked the ball on with his head back post to an unmarked Osvaldo Alonso who headed it in for the goal to knot the score at 3-3.
Heaps struggling to keep the Revs rolling
New England Revolution manager Jay Heaps has tried a few different combinations with his defense this season, but it’s time he finds a proper back four. His experiments have not worked when oppositions have the momentum and are putting pressure on because men have lost their marks and allowed breakaways, and as a result silly shots are being put on Cropper to save that should have been prevented.
Up next
The Revolution travel to take on another tough opponent in Columbus Crew Saturday at 7:30. Crew currently sits in fourth place in the East while the Revolution have dropped down to ninth after another draw. This will certainly be another good match as Agudelo has been in unbelievable form and will keep Columbus’ hands full. Ola Kamara has been doing the goal scoring in Ohio so far this season so he will keep Heaps defense on their toes with another tough battle.
