Revolution v. New York Red Bulls, 8.20.11: They’re Done—But Don’t Stick a Fork in Them

After the Revolution suffered another late-game collapse, this time against the New York Red Bulls, it’s probably safe to say they’re out of the MLS playoff race. New England are now tied with Toronto for last place in the relatively weak Eastern Conference. They’ve managed to win only four times in twenty-six games this season, which is quite a feat, and a particularly depressing feat for those of us who have witnessed every minute of those games. When the final whistle blew in this one and the Revolution walked off the field with their heads down, I could almost hear New England’s fans collectively grumble: “Stick a fork in ‘em. They’re done.”

By the way, perhaps that metaphor—stick a fork in it—should be retired, or maybe updated to reflect the times. It was apparently coined in a prelapsarian age, when the American empire was still robust, when we weren’t a bunch of limp-wristed pansies who know that one shouldn’t pair Cabernet with Brie, have gears on a bicycle, or puncture meat while it’s still on one’s $1,200 egg-shaped ceramic grill. An updated metaphor might go something like this: “Well, the Revolution drew with the Red Bulls after going up 2-0. Better pick them up with long-handled tongs, put them on a platter, and let them rest for at least ten minutes to allow the juices to redistribute evenly. They’re done.”

If it’s any consolation to New England fans—and it shouldn’t be—New York is also in danger of not making the playoffs despite a talented and highly compensated roster. True, Theirry Henry and Luke Rodgers did not play against the Revolution, but Juan Agudelo and Rafa Marquez hardly lit up Gillette field, in fact both were virtually invisible for long stretches of this game. I don’t know if it can be attributed to the Revolution finally coming together as a team—with Rajko Lekic and Milton Caraglio making their first start together and Benny Feilhaber and Shalrie Joseph in the midfield—but New England actually looked stronger against New York than they have against most teams recently, including a suddenly surging Houston squad. This does not bode well for New York. On the plus side for New York, Dane Richards continues to impress with his speed, work ethic, desire to win, and improving skills. He scored both New York goals. Joel Lindpere also battled hard all night against Kevin Allston, often losing but always coming back for more. He had an excellent assist on Richards’s second score.

As for New England, Caraglio and Feilhaber had truly excellent games. Caraglio appears to be fully match fit. He, like Richards, scored twice, but Caraglio actually had excellent opportunities to score on two other occasions. He also probably should have drawn a penalty kick in the 87^th minute. (There was justice in that no-call, as New York’s Dax McCarty was given a yellow in the 44^th minute for diving in the box; he almost certainly should have drawn a penalty kick and a red card on Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.) Apparently, Caraglio’s nickname was El Tanque in his native Argentina, and it’s an apt designation. In the parlance of NFL scouts, the guy’s a load. In the 4^th minute, for example, he used his body and strength to bull his way through defenders in the midfield, then played a nice ball to Kenny Mansally on the wing. It was a remarkable play and things would only get better for him, at least during the first half.

Feilhaber deserves much credit for delivering another solid performance as his team’s season continues to go down the toilet. He was most impressive on defense, as he was against Houston, often running all the way back to the Revolution end-line, as he did in the 34^th minute when he stole the ball from Agudelo and started a counterattack. He looked good running with the ball, too, to say nothing of his two dangerous shots on goal from distance in the second half.

The Revolution must now look to continuously improve during the final part of this lost season and look to carry over any successes into next year. The performances of Feilhaber and Caraglio are good starts. However, they must reverse their recent trend of going up early and then collapsing. That’s the hallmark of a bad team, not an improving one.

Revolution v. Houston Dynamo, 8.17.11

It’s a shame the Revolution’s season is now effectively over because MLS games are getting more intense and competitive, as evidenced by the first minute of this one. Both teams came out attacking the ball like a couple of NHL playoff squads attack a puck. The Revolution went up a goal in the 4^th minute off a quick, short corner played to Benny Feilhaber, who sent in a cross to Milton Caraglio. Caraglio did well to fend off defenders and strike a deflected shot, though normally reliable Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall came off his line with all the conviction of a toddler testing the waters of a cold wading pool. The shot eventually fell to the feet of ex-Houston defender Ryan Cochran, who tapped in the easy score.

Given the Revolution’s propensity for collapse this season, it’s not surprising they couldn’t kill a game with nearly 90 minutes left on the clock. It is surprising, however, that Houston didn’t get the equalizer until the 90^th minute. I knew the outcome before I watched the replay, and I kept asking myself, “When, exactly, are the Dynamo going to score here?” Their sloppy late goal was agonizing even when I knew about it in advance.

To be fair to Houston, they were precise and dominant, clearly outplaying New England, particularly in the latter part of the first half. The Revolution can thank both Lady Luck and goalkeeper Matt Reis for escaping the half up 1-0 and for ultimately leaving their home field with a measly one point. Reis was again remarkable, and I shake my head just dimly contemplating where the Revolution would be without his services this season. Probably MLS would make a new rule and relegate New England to the NASL. Whatever, the Revolution will have to play without Reis against the Red Bulls tonight, since he got a red card for “foul and abusive language” at the very end of stoppage time, in the 95^th minute.

Foul and abusive language? Is that a FIFA rule, an MLS rule, or a rule written by our Puritan forefathers? Whoever drew it up, give us a break. If a frustrated athlete can’t blow off steam by engaging in a little harmless cursing then he or she may resort to more offensive tactics, such as Houston’s Adam Moffat did when he excited Reis’s ire by slamming Pat Phelan to the turf near the boards on an inexcusably cheap shot from behind on the final play of the game.

Cursing, cussing, swearing, etc. is in my opinion overly stigmatized in this country. I’m not saying people shouldn’t use such language judiciously, they should, but curse words have been around for centuries for a reason (or more likely for many reasons) and denying their power and appropriateness in certain situations is to engage in the worst type of boring and self-righteous schoolmarmishness. (Check out this article on the salutary effects of cursing if you’re so inclined.) Anyway, I say good for Reis for getting in Moffat’s face after his dirty shot, which might have had serious consequences. In case Moffat didn’t know about Phelan’s history of concussions, Phelan’s padded headgear should have tipped him off.

As for the rest of the game, it mostly followed the typical pattern: the Revolution were dominated in the run of play, as reflected by the Dynamo’s 61% time-of-possession statistic. Houston created multiple excellent scoring opportunities, particularly in the first half, including a good buildup in the 45^th minute that culminated in a missed sitter by Cam Weaver. The Revs’ Caraglio did have his best game of his short tenure, including not only his part in the Revolution’s goal but a blistering shot on target from distance in the 17^th minute and a good steal and dribbling run through the midfield in the 55^th minute. He nearly got a nice through ball past the defense on that one. He looked fitter than he has in the last two matches and looked upset when Stephen McCarthy came on for him in the 79^th minute.

And Caraglio’s teammates’ efforts weren’t all bad in the second half. In the final ten minutes, New England had to play with Phelan as their center back alongside A.J. Soares, as Cochrane went off hurt. They moved from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 and managed to press the Dynamo defense and control the ball about half the time. But Reis, after a night that saw him make three memorable saves, couldn’t corral his final effort and Houston took advantage.

On an unrelated note, English Premier League fans should check out this brief, insightful take on Arsenal, just posted by longtime Gunners fan Greg Berman

Revolution at Columbus Crew, 8.13.11: O-HI-O!

If your defense is bad, you will lose. This is true in virtually every team sport, from basketball to American football, but it is particularly true in soccer. The Revolution’s defense was horrible against the Eastern Conference-leading Crew in Columbus on Saturday and so the Revolution lost. The loss wasn’t all due to the defense, as midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Stephen McCarthy each had relatively down games and failed to control the middle of the field, but the defense bears most of the blame. The Revs’ back line—consisting of Chris Tierney on the left, Kevin Alston on the right, and A.J. Soares and Darrius Barnes in the center—consistently failed to mark attackers and maintain their shape. They looked adrift and lifeless, particularly Soares, which is uncharacteristic of him and leads me to believe that he may have been fighting a summer cold or maybe a hangover, though the latter seems unlikely since Columbus is not widely known for its alluring nightlife.

It is true that I’ve never been to Columbus, which I suppose leaves me open to charges of being an ignorant east coast snob. But since the Revolution’s play has been so dreadful lately, let’s change gears for a bit and discuss Ohio. My wife’s parents both hail from the buckeye state, and I have spent some time there. My first trip, in 1994, was to North Canton. I stayed in a house that at first seemed to me to be the height of middlebrow modesty, with vinyl siding on the outside and some 1970s faux bead-board walls on the inside. When I looked a little closer, however, I spotted the period musket on the wall, the polished tiger maple end table with inlay in the living room, the working 18^th century grandfather clock near the front door, and, across from that and above the couch, the oil painting of swing dancers that would not have been out of place had it been hanging in the National Gallery of Art.

In short, that “modest” North Canton house contained the most tasteful (and valuable) collection of privately held antiques that I’d ever seen, and I grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., my mom an antiques dealer. The place was the spiritual opposite of an east coast corporate office building, the kind of building that seems at first impressive—with fixtures that appear to be brass and tables and doors that appear to be wood—until you look a little closer and realize it’s all just ersatz crap.

I’d like to think this little anecdote says something good about Ohio, that it speaks to a statewide hatred of pretension combined with understated good taste. I saw the flipside of this tendency—or the hatred of pretension without the modesty and good taste—a couple of summers ago during a trip to Ashtabula County, Ohio. Ashtabula had some natural beauty, and my wife, daughters, and I had a good time and a hell of a breakfast when we stayed at a place called Peggy’s Bed and Breakfast, which was tasteful enough. But an almost unbelievably high percentage of front yards on some of the county’s major roads overflowed with trash and rusting junk. I suppose it’s all very bourgeois and like a wet-liberal of me to say so, but if you’re an unpretentious keep-the-government-out-of-my-face type, you’d gain credibility with the rest of us by getting off your tail and cleaning your property.

But let’s return, somewhat regrettably, to the subject of the game. Despite being dominated by the Crew in almost every important statistical category, the Revolution managed to emerge from the first half up 1-0. The Revolution goal was a good one. Benny Feilhaber received a throw-in on the left sideline, faked a shot to create space for himself, and passed to Pat Phelan at the corner of the 18. Phelan used his body effectively to shield the ball from the defender and played the ball into space where Feilhaber ran onto it and slammed a scorching, accurate shot into the side netting of the far post.

Feilhaber deserved the goal. It was his strongest game so far in a Revolution uniform, which unfortunately isn’t saying much. But he played hard and looked confident and strong out there, often running back all the way to the Revolution end to help on defense (and equally often glaring at the defense that he had to do so). In the 53^rd minute he drew a foul in the final third. He angrily called for the ball and, as far as I can tell, made the executive decision to take the kick himself, though the normally reliable Tierney was over the ball.

That free kick wasn’t a great one, but another Feilhaber free kick in the 62^nd minute, from virtually the same spot, was a beauty. It sailed to McCarthy, who was waiting at the far post and who headed the ball back across the goalmouth. Milton Caraglio was poised to head it into the net, but Soares ran onto it and kicked a shot up onto the bottom of the crossbar. The ball caromed down towards Soares and away from the goal. Another inch towards the net and the ball surely would have gone in.

That was a disappointing missed opportunity for the Revolution, but don’t get the wrong impression. The Crew deserved to win the game by at least two goals, and they did, 3-1. They could have scored on at least two other occasions, once when Emilio Renteria sprinted down the end-line and inexplicably missed a wide-open teammate standing in front of the goal, and once in the final minute of stoppage time when the exhausted and uninspired New England defense let Robbie Rogers dribble freely at the top of the box and get off a low shot that just missed the target.

And speaking of exhaustion, Caraglio looked positively gassed starting around the 57^th minute, when he received the ball at the top of the box but was apparently too exhausted to do anything with it. He looks strong and big out there, but he obviously needs to get into better shape, especially with Rajko Lekic out with a broken toe. Caraglio stayed in until the 79^th minute, in my opinion well past the point where he was effective, but maybe Steve Nicol is trying to get him into shape on the field.

This loss, combined with recent positive results for D.C., Houston, and even Toronto, likely killed New England’s already slim chances of making the playoffs.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Mexico in Philadelphia, 8.10.11

During the first half of last Wednesday’s friendly against Mexico, the U.S. men’s national team did a pretty good imitation of the punchless, mediocre team I’ve been following closely this year: the New England Revolution. The U.S. played with one useless striker on an island up top with his back to the goal (Edson Buddle playing the part of New England’s Rajko Lekic), were unable maintain possession, couldn’t generate shots in the run of play, and relied on defense and set pieces to stay in the game. In short, they allowed the opposition to dominate the period and went into the locker room down 1-0, not having managed to get a single shot on goal. All drearily familiar stuff for Revolution fans, but really, enough about New England.

It seems a little harsh to pick one guy from an entire roster that was more or less invisible for 45 minutes, but ESPN announcer John Harkes singled out U.S. midfielder Jermaine Jones near the end of the first half: “I’m not sure what he brings to the game. . . . I haven’t seen anything from Jermaine Jones.” My own candidate for the most out-of-sorts U.S. player in the half would be left back Edgar Castillo. To give some examples: Castillo sent a header off the back of his head and over the byline for a Mexico corner in the 32^nd minute; he whiffed on a half-volley a minute later; he gave the ball away in the 38^th minute; and he punctuated the half with a horrendous, unchallenged cross that sailed right to the feet of a Mexico midfielder who happened to be ten yards away from the nearest U.S. player. And so on.

But despite these gaffes, Castillo and his defensive mates deserve commendation for their performances over the course of the entire game. They didn’t suffer a serious letdown in the final third all night, even on Mexico’s lone goal, which was thing of beauty. Oribe Peralta, who had Michael Bradley right up in his grill, got in front of a blistering cross from Andres Guardado and flicked it far post for the score. Like many beautiful things—whether poems or songs or whatever—the goal was partly a result of inspiration and luck. I doubt if Peralta could score again in that situation if he were given a hundred chances to do so. But whatever the case, the goal certainly wasn’t Bradley’s fault, nor the defense’s. The U.S. back line—Castillo, Steve Cherundolo, Michael Orozco Fiscal, and Carlos Bocanegra—played Mexico tight all game long. Most of El Tri’s shots came from outside the box and sailed harmlessly over the bar. Given how Mexico shredded the U.S. in the recent Gold Cup final, last Wednesday’s defensive performance is something U.S. fans can take heart in.

Speaking of the Gold Cup final: after Giovani dos Santos’s dominating, almost Brazilian-like performance in that game, I can only conclude that some devious U.S. fan spiked the Mexican coach’s cheesesteak with ‘shrooms before the friendly in Philly. How else to explain why dos Santos didn’t come on until the 55^th minute? Then again, the coach may know something we don’t, because virtually the minute dos Santos checked in, the U.S. grabbed the game by the throat and looked like a totally different team from then on. In the 56^th minute, Buddle sprang free off a Cherundolo throw-in and earned a corner. Landon Donovan sailed in a nice ball and Bocanegra slammed it on target. It was a header that Barcelona’s Carles Puyol himself might have been proud of, but the shot hit Mexico keeper Guillermo Ochoa in the hands.

The feel of the game changed most significantly in the 60^th minute, when Brek Shea came on for Jones and Juan Agudelo came on for Buddle. Shea looked just as strong and imposing in his 30 minutes against Mexico as he has against most MLS competition this season, which is saying something. He’s a rare U.S. player that can run at defenders and finish. The elegant and skilled Agudelo added just about as much spark as Shea, and those two combined to set up the U.S. goal in the 73^rd minute. Agudelo received a throw-in at the flag and played the ball back perfectly to to Shea, who dribbled in traffic to the byline and hammered a perfect low cross past the outstretched keeper and onto the foot of fellow MLS player Robbie Rogers. Rogers tapped the ball into the net just a minute after he’d come on as a sub. Rogers had a busy and effective twenty minutes. Not only did he score, he should have drawn a red card in the 86^th minute. At that point, he ran onto a beautiful chipped pass from Agudelo, got behind the defense, and was taken down by Gerardo Torrado. Torrado grabbed Rogers by the jersey and sent him sprawling to the ground but somehow managed to avoid getting sent off.

MLS players did remarkably well in this game, not only Agudelo, Shea and Rogers, but also Kyle Beckerman, who played the full 90 minutes as a holding midfielder, and Donovan, who came on strong late and was probably the man of the match. Donovan almost certainly should have drawn a penalty kick in the 77^th minute after making an impressive run with the ball from midfield into the penalty box, where he was convincingly knocked on his tail by a Mexico defender. Not only did the referee not make the obvious call, he went a step further by peevishly signaling for Donovan to get off the turf, as though he were malingering. So much for home-field advantage.

As for non-MLS players, I was most intrigued by the play of Jose Torres, who plays for Pachuca in the Mexican league. It’s not that he had a particularly memorable game, but he was steady and looked potentially explosive, as in the 22^nd minute when he made a brief and tantalizing run through the midfield. Torres, Shea, Donovan, and Agudelo could be a dangerous quartet of attacking players. Here’s to hoping they’re all on the field together more often in the future.

This was of course Jurgen Klinsmann’s first game as U.S. national team coach. And Torres—not to mention Shea and Rogers—would likely not have been on the field had Klinsmann’s predecessor Bob Bradley been calling the shots. I am one of those (apparently a large number, judging from the articles I’ve been reading) who believe that Bradley did an excellent job with the national team but that it was time to move on, time to bring in a coach that might have a different opinion of potentially game-changing talents like Shea. In the short term anyway, Klinsmann has brought in some exciting young players and added some excitement and exuberance of his own to the sidelines, pumping his fists like a long-time fan when Rogers scored and smiling like a goofy kid during the post-game interview, all of which is a far cry from the stereotype of the grim and humorless German. (And a far cry from the often grim and humorless-seeming Bradley that we got to know over the years through interviews and sideline shots.) Klinsmann’s act will wear thin quickly if his U.S. teams don’t show improvement over Bradley’s, but the last half hour of this game had me doing a little enthusiastic fist-pumping of my own, and that’s a good start.

Revolution v. Chivas USA, 8.6.11

The Revolution returned home from a tough but successful three-game road trip to play the Chivas USA Goats, who at 7-8-8 epitomize the very concept of a middling sports team. Instead of adding to the five points they recently accumulated on the road, New England lost 3-2 in deeply frustrating fashion. The defense, playing without A. J. Soares due to a red card in the Revs’ previous outing, looked particularly hopeless. We might as well take Chivas’s first goal as an example of their ineptitude, but any of them would do. On that play, Darrius Barnes sprinted back towards his net as Chivas midfielder Nick LaBrocca trapped a wide pass off his chest and sent in a dangerous cross. Barnes was in an excellent position to clear the ball over the byline, but he elected to abruptly stop his run and spread his arms wide away from his body as though playing a game of dodgeball.  The pass narrowly missed Barnes, but it did not miss the foot of Chivas striker and Revolution tormentor Alejandro Moreno, who sent it into the goal.

Enough. Aside from pushing the hapless Revolution even further down in the standings, this game was notable for a couple of reasons. First, New England’s new designated player Milton Caraglio saw his first action in a Revolution uniform. He had a forgettable game, but did manage to nearly get an assist by heading a Zack Schilawski cross back across the goal to Chris Tierney, who whiffed on the near-sure-thing shot. On the down side, Caraglio took a comically weak shot from distance that slowly rolled into the arms of the Chivas keeper Dan Kennedy. Caraglio came out after about sixty minutes of play, not surprising given that this was his first game since playing in Argentina’s second division last season. His Revolution bio indicates that he scored 11 goals in 49 outings while in Argentina’s first division. Those are hardly impressive numbers for a DP striker, but Revolution management must have liked something about him. Obviously, it’s too early to judge the move.

It’s also too early to judge Diego Fagundez—another Revolution player with South American roots who saw his first regular-season action against Chivas—but Fagundez has sure given Revolution fans reason to hope. The sixteen-year-old Fagundez, whose father played in Uruguay, has decided to forgo college and is part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, and more specifically is part of the Revolution’s youth development program. He came on in the 66^th minute for Schilawski. Fagundez first got my attention for his fauxhawk haircut, which wouldn’t have looked out of place on a would-be anarchist in the “pit” area of Harvard Square. But I soon forgot about that and delighted in the quality and effectiveness of his play. Within two minutes of checking in, he’d received a pass at the corner of the penalty box, juked and split two Chivas defenders, and drawn a penalty kick. (Shalrie Joseph buried the PK on a nice, high shot.) And less than twenty minutes later, Fagundez scored in the run of play. (May those and similar words be repeated many, many times after future games). Partly sprung by a pick from Joseph, he collected a long ball into the penalty box from Kevin Alston. Fagundez ran onto the bouncing pass and judged it perfectly, skirting the defender as one might circle a Maypole, then slid a shot under the outstretched Kennedy. The strike brought the Revolution to within a goal of Chivas, where unfortunately they would remain.

Fagundez was one of the only Revolution players who deserved to be on the field with Revs’ captain Joseph, who had yet another strong game. Joseph corralled any ball within his reach and distributed and attacked effectively. Maybe his most impressive play came in the opening minutes of the game. He received a pass from Alston on the wing, looked up to spot an attacking Cochrane, and sailed an absolutely flawless, on-target ball into the box. Cochrane received the pass at the six and had nothing but net in front of him. Given how this season has gone for the Revolution, I almost feel I don’t have to add that Cochrane’s header somehow managed to miss the goal’s gaping maw. Newcomer Caraglio witnessed the miscue from a few feet away and buried his face in his hands in disbelief. Get used to it, Milton.

Joseph’s next-best play came in stoppage time, with the Revs down 3-2 and furiously pressing. Nyassi sent a ball into a crowded Chivas penalty box and Joseph, standing at the 18, headed the cross in the direction of the goal. The ball likely hit a Chivas defender in the hand but the referee didn’t blow the whistle. While Joseph’s teammates were gesturing and screaming for the call, Joseph savagely volleyed the rebound on target. It looked to be a sure equalizer, but Kennedy got just enough of a hand on the ball to redirect it off the post. Mansally collected that rebound on the left wing and crossed again to Joseph, but the latter couldn’t direct it on target.

The Revolution simply must find more players like Fagundez to put around Joseph. Joseph recently tweeted that he may not be back in New England next year, and I don’t like to speculate about just how bad, how drab, how unlikeable the team would be without him given how consistently poorly the team has played with him this season.

Revolution at Sporting Kansas City, 7.30.11 (A Game for Albert Haynesworth to Watch)

The Revolution’s recent strong showings against D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids carried over into the first half of this game, which ended with New England ahead 1-0 and (shockingly given their recent statistics in this area) virtually even with Kansas City in terms of time of possession. The Revolution showed good form early on, including a nifty give-and-go between Rajko Lekic and Shalrie Joseph in the 9^th minute that led to a scorching attempt by Joseph. Thirty minutes later, Lekic took advantage of a Kansas City defensive miscue to give New England the advantage. He ran onto a long clearance from Matt Reis that skipped over the head of Kansas City’s Matt Besler. Lekic positioned his body perfectly between the ball and the beaten defender and then used the outside of his right foot to bury the shot far post. He celebrated by running to the sideline and making a sweeping motion with his hand, as if indicating the exquisiteness of his craftsmanship. Given the quality of the goal, the gesture wasn’t overdone.

In the second half, things fell apart for the Revs, and Sporting KC dominated the run of play. Kansas City held the ball 65% of the time over the course of the entire match, remarkable given that they held the ball a modest 51% of the time in the first half. But despite their second-half dominance, it seemed for much of the night as if Sporting KC were destined to lose. They failed to finish time and again, a pattern set early in the second half when ex-Revolution defender Seth Sinovic biffed a wide-open shot over the crossbar. But Kansas City persisted, throwing everything they could at the Revolution in an attempt to equalize. They showed the depth of their roster by subbing in Omar Bravo in the 56^th minute, Teal Bunbury in the 80^th, and Birahim Diop in the 88^th.

Bravo, Bunbury, and teammates Kei Kamara, C. J. Sapong, and Jeferson all looked impressive in the second half, but it wasn’t until the 89^th minute that Kansas City actually managed to score. Bunbury got the goal, which was fitting given that it came on Teal Bunbury bobble-head-doll night at LIVESTRONG [sic] Sporting Park. It was a garbage goal, a rebound that fell to Bunbury’s feet at the six. After putting the ball into the net, Bunbury ran to the flag, smacked his head with his palm, and bobbled his head around for the fans—a man imitating a doll that represented the man. The semiotics majors in the crowd must have loved it, but for Revolution fans it was painful to watch, particularly knowing the Revolution had just let two crucial points slip away. If the Revs don’t make the playoffs—and the standings indicate that they probably won’t—they may look back on Bunbury’s goal as the season’s death knell.

There were other painful moments for Revolution fans over the course of the game. Benny Feilhaber had two inexcusably bad giveaways in the 6^th and 12^th minutes and then wasted a corner kick in the 30^th minute when he lofted the ball into the top of the net, as if performing a parlor trick. Zack Schilawski extinguished a nice Revolution build-up in the 7^th minute by needlessly sailing a one-time pass from the wing to no one, and then in the 51^st minute he lost the ball off a wretched touch. Schilawski’s lack of skill on the ball against Sporting KC was apparently contagious, as his replacement Sainey Nyassi (who came on in the 72^nd minute) simply and rather pathetically gave the ball away on two separate occasions while trying to run at and juke defenders, once in the 75^th minute and then again in stoppage time.

But that’s nitpicking. With the recent departures of Marko Perovic, Ilija Stolica, Didier Domi, and Ousmane Dabo, the Revolution’s current roster has all the depth of a baby-pool. Against Kansas City, the roster situation started bad and got progressively worse. First, the Revs had to play without the versatile Chris Tierney due to a red card in the previous match. Second, Stephen McCarthy had to leave the game in the 34^th minute due to a shoulder injury incurred while getting fouled. Third, iron-man Kevin Alston had to come off in the 74^th minute due to a re-aggravated turf-toe injury. Fourth, A. J. Soares was given a straight red card in the 82^nd minute for tackling Sapong from behind just outside the box. At that point, the Revs were basically operating with only two true defenders—Franco Coria in the center and Darrius Barnes on the left.

The Revolution limped through the game’s conclusion using new midfielder Ryan Guy in Alston’s right back spot, moved Barnes inside to play alongside Coria, and dropped winger Kenny Mansally back into Barnes’s spot. Given the circumstances, Steve Nicol had little choice but to make these moves. But given the importance of the match and the minimal time left on the clock when Soares was carded, I would have liked to have seen Joseph—the Revolution’s best player in the air and best at winning fifty-fifty balls—take Soares’s center-back position, leaving Barnes on the outside. That point’s academic, though. After Soares left the game, you could just sense Kansas City was going to equalize.

Alston’s performance against Kansas City merits special mention. He came into the game with an injured toe, and in the 13^th minute Sapong stepped on that toe very hard. Though in obvious pain, Alston stayed with the play, won back the ball, and remained in the match for as long as he could physically stand to do so, almost until the end.

New England Revolution and Patriots owner Robert Kraft might do well to show his shiny new Patriot acquisition Albert Haynesworth a video of Alston’s gritty effort as an example of a particularly dedicated and hard-working member of the Kraft Group in action. Kraft might also inform Haynesworth that Alston’s base salary is a modest $100,000. Kraft might have to explain—perhaps with the use of simple diagrams—that Alston gets paid $100,000 per season, not per play. American football fans will remember that Haynesworth fleeced his previous employers—the Washington Redskins—when he signed a $100 million contract in 2009, then proceeded to record a grand total of 43 tackles in his two sorry years in Washington. (Incidentally, Alston grew up in D.C., and his uncle Mitchell Johnson played for the Redskins. I wouldn’t expect Kraft to go into all that.)