Revs Listless Against Dynamo

Team in Need of Spark After 2-0 Home Loss

By Sean Donahue

May 3, 2009

FOXBORO, Mass. - A lackluster performance by the New England Revolution in their 2-0 home loss to the Houston Dynamo Sunday left the team with its second straight loss and extended its run without a goal to 220 minutes.

Houston took the lead early on a mistake by keeper Matt Reis and then doubled the lead in the second half before the Revs ever threatened to score.

Stephane Assengue

Stephane Assengue (9) made his Revolution debut Sunday against Houston, but to little effect for New England. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Houston took the lead in the 22nd minute, when Reis, playing his first match since March 21 due to injury, made an uncharacteristic error. Stuart Holden ran up the right flank and sent a low shot on frame from about 25 yards out. Reis seemed to have it covered, but somehow let it slip through his legs and into the net.

�I�ve been around enough to know that when that happens, if you dwell on it, then more can happen,� said Reis. �You put it in the back of your mind. It was a freak kind of play. Unfortunately when I make mistakes, bad things usually happen; I usually let in goals. I didn�t think about it too much because if I did, I could have gotten a lot more scored on me.�

Houston doubled the lead off a corner kick in the 58th minute. Brad Davis sent an in-swinging corner towards the center of the box, where Brian Ching rose above the defense to head it past Reis to the far post.

�Most of our problems are coming from just lack of game sense,� said head coach Steve Nicol. �You have so many young guys playing and you are playing against a team who are just a good, experienced team. They are a good solid team and they don�t overcomplicate things. They have two guys up front that hold the ball and we can�t hold the ball, which makes everything else very difficult

�But just game sense, game knowledge is what beat us mostly today. We gave them a goal and obviously they just went from there.�

Reis came up big in the 18th minute, making a save on Kei Kamara. Brian Mullan got free down the right flank and cut inside, before sending a centering pass towards the penalty spot. Kamara was there to power a shot from close range on goal, but Reis managed to come out and block it.

Ching had a chance for Houston in the 57th minute when he got the ball off a cross from the right flank. Ching slid in and directed a shot on frame point-blank range, but Reis managed to tip it wide for a corner. Ching scored Houston�s second goal on the ensuing set piece.

In the 61st minute the Dynamo had another chance, when Kamara was sent free of the defense. Kamara sent a low shot towards the far post, but Reis managed to tip it wide.

Jay Heaps

Jay Heaps and the Revolution haven't scored in their last 220 minutes of play. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

The Revs finally got their first shot on frame in the 63rd minute, when Sainey Nyassi found Jeff Larentowicz near the top of the box on a corner kick. Larentowicz managed to direct his header on frame, but it was right at goalkeeper Pat Onstad.

Eighteen-year-old Ghanaian forward Stephane Assengue made his Revolution debut in the 65th minute, entering the game for Kheli Dube.

The Revs had their best opportunity of the match in the 72nd minute, when Nyassi got free down the right flank and sent in a nice cross toward goal. Massachusetts native Michael Videira, making his first start for the Revs, got a head to the ball near the 6-yard box but it was blocked by a defender. The ball fell to Assengue, who tried to volley a shot on frame from point blank range, but it went wide of the far corner.

The Revs pushed more men forward, even moving Shalrie Joseph up top, but the lack of experienced players on the bench due to injuries to Steve Ralston, Chris Albright, Mauricio Castro and Gabriel Badilla, among others, left Nicol with few options to switch things up. The team rarely managed to test Houston�s defense the rest of the way.

Taylor Twellman, the Revs all-time leading scorer, was on the bench and is getting closer to returning, but wasn�t ready to play.

�This team needs a spark,� said Twellman. �And I think I can give these guys a spark. It�s killing me [being unable to help], but at the end of the day that�s why I was on the bench today; warming up, trying to get these guys going because we don�t look like the Revolution of old and we�re soon going to be there.�

The Revs� last goal came in the 50th minute of their 1-1 tie with D.C. United on April 17. Since then the Revs have only managed three shots on target, while conceding 9 goals.

�We�re in a frustrating period right now where we are just not playing the type of soccer we think we can play,� said Joseph. �We have been working on it all week, but tonight we didn�t display what we�ve been working on. Give Houston credit, they had a good second goal, but we gave up a sloppy one on the first one and after that we were just trying to take the game to them and it didn�t come for us tonight.�

The Revs will travel to Chicago to take on the unbeaten Fire Saturday night at 8:30.