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The Revolution could sure use the services of their all-time leading scorer. |
The Revolution played Atlante off the park in those last 45 minutes. The midfield efforts of Shalrie Joseph, Steve Ralston, Sainey Nyassi and Mauricio Castro (and substitute Khano Smith) kept just about all the meaningful possession in favor of the hosts.
And yet, for all that possession, rarely did the Revs seriously threaten to score. And look who scored the games only goal Joseph, off a free kick from Ralston. Joseph also scored the Revs lone goal against Chivas USA the match before, and it was Smith who converted the late penalty (resulting from a handball off a Nyassi cross) in the sides big 1-0 win over Pachuca.
Not since Kheli Dube scored in the second half of the Revs first SuperLiga game against Santos has a New England striker scored and thats worrisome.
Take nothing away from what Dube, a legit MLS Rookie of the Year candidate, has done in Twellmans absence. Adam Cristman and Kenny Mansally have also performed ably.
And, heck, the Revolution might just win the SuperLiga without any meaningful contribution from No. 20 quite a feat, considering the level of competition.
But I have a hard time seeing a long-term continuation of that success without Twellman poaching goals and attracting the attention of opposing defenses. If New England is going to win an MLS Cup at last, or succeed in the CONCACAF Champions League, it will need the services of Twellman.
Rewind to the Atlante match. For all of Ralstons heady play and Nyassis wing wizardry and Josephs distribution from the middle, how often were the Revolution really that close to scoring in the second half to put the game away? Only Mansallys clear-cut 63rd minute chance comes to mind, and he missed an open net badly.
Yes, New England has gotten excellent results so far this season. The biggest reason, for my money, has been the stellar play of the defense. The first-choice trio of Michael Parkhurst, Chris Albright and Jay Heaps has been excellent all season, and Amaechi Igwe has played very well when called upon. Of course, serving as the backbone of the defense is keeper Matt Reis, who has clearly been the leagues top man between the pipes this season.
Sooner or later, however, the defense will need some help from the men up front. Its asking an awful lot for any group to submit clean sheet after clean sheet. Sooner or later, the Revolution will have to win a big game by a score other than 1-0.
And unless Twellman comes back healthy and performs as he normally does, Im not sure the team as presently constituted can do that.
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