Fire Hold Revs in Foxboro

New England Falls out of Top 8 With 1 Game to go

By Sean Donahue

Oct. 18, 2009

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Revolution’s playoff hopes took another blow on Saturday as the team played to a scoreless draw with the Chicago Fire in Foxboro.

Both teams had opportunities to score, including a clear-cut missed penalty call for Chicago, but neither found the back of the net as the Revs were held scoreless for the second consecutive match. The tie sees the Revs fall out of the eighth and final playoff spot, now needing help to get into the postseason.

Jay Heaps

Jay Heaps was named the team's Defender of the Year prior to Saturday night's match. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

“I think [Chicago] came to be tight,” said Revolution head coach Steve Nicol. “Certainly the first 25 minutes of the game we really put them under some good pressure and just couldn’t finish it off and get that goal to get us ahead. I think from 25 [minutes] on it was probably pretty even.

“They were trying to break on us. They had a couple of chances on the break, but we had a couple of chances in the box where we might have done better as well. So we’re disappointed to [tie] the game, but the performance, you can’t argue with that. We just didn’t really get the break we needed to get ourselves ahead.”

Just over a minute into the game, the Revs had a dangerous opportunity when Sainey Nyassi played an overlapping Kevin Alston down the right flank. Alston got to the end line and sent a cross towards the far post. The cross went over Kheli Dube, but fell right to Kenny Mansally. Mansally’s header from close range was blocked by a defender.

Chicago looked dangerous in the 11th minute when a nice combination between Chris Rolfe and Brian McBride ended with Rolfe back heeling a pass to Marco Pappa about 12 yards from goal. Pappa put a shot on frame, but it was right at Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis and easily saved.

Edgaras Jankauskas, making his first start since Sept. 26, had a chance in the 14th minute. His header off a Mansally corner kick went just high of the net.

Nyassi gave Fire keeper Jon Busch his first real test of the match in the 24th minute after Jeff Larentowicz played him behind the defense with a perfect through ball. Nyassi ran into the box and hammered a shot on frame that Busch could only punch away from net.

“We kept pushing and pushing and trying to create chances,” said Revs captain Shalrie Joseph, named the team’s MVP before the match. “At the end of the night it was a disappointing result. It’s good to get MVP, but if we don’t make the playoffs it doesn’t mean much at all. Right now my main focus is just trying to get into the playoffs and that’s what I was trying to do tonight.”

Larentowicz sat out last week with a right knee bone bruise, but made several key plays both offensively and defensively for the Revs.

“What can you say, the guy’s playing on one leg,” said Nicol. “He played well tonight. You certainly wouldn’t have known there was anything wrong with him. He had a good solid game and did some good things, but we just didn’t quite have that extra to get ourselves ahead and put the ball in the net.”

“I was disappointed I didn’t play last week,” said Larentowicz. “I wanted to, so I knew with an extra week’s rest, I’d be rested. I wanted to use all that energy that I’ve stored up to play well in tonight’s game.”

Chris Rolfe nearly put the fire on top after beating Darius Barnes to a long pass from midfield. With Reis rushing off his line, Rolfe chipped a shot to the far post, but it went just wide of the empty net.

The Revs switched things up in the second half with Mauricio Castro entering the match for Mansally at left midfield in the 58th minute. Wells Thompson entered for Nyassi in the 80th minute and Nico Colaluca was the Revs final sub in the 85th minute for Dube.

Chicago was denied a penalty kick in the 63rd minute, after Emmanuel Osei misplayed a long ball from Jon Busch. Rolfe got to the ball in dribbled into the box, but was tripped up by Reis. Referee Jorge Gonzalez saw it differently, however, and instead of awarded a penalty kick, gave Rolfe a yellow card for diving.

Rolfe threatened in the 89th minute. After a flurry at the top of the box Rolfe managed to get off at shot. His effort, however, was right into the hands of Reis.

“We’re disappointed,” said defender Jay Heaps, named the team’s Defender of the Year before the match. “We needed those points and we’ve put ourselves in a little bit of a bind here, but I think there are some positives to take away for sure. The energy was there. It was probably one of our better games all year. We didn’t create many chances, but the guys up top and the guys in midfield worked really hard and I thought defensively we did a good job.”

The Revs next travel to Columbus on Sunday, Oct. 25 to face the Crew. A win could potentially see them make the playoffs.

“The key is just to keep our heads focused,” said Heaps. “We [need to] take the positives from tonight: we focused, we were on the same page. [We need to] keep that going. We have to attack a little bit better. We have to get pressure on them.”

“[Tonight] shows that if we come out and we’re focused on putting in a good effort and playing tough that we can take it to teams,” said Larentowicz. “We saw Columbus last week. Obviously it’s going to be a different game playing in Columbus, but we know who they are and we’re ready to do it again.”