Revolution v. San Jose Earthquakes, 10.8.11

We all know the old philosophical question about a tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it. Well, if a blog post is written about a soccer game involving two MLS teams with a combined record of 12-26-26, does it still make a sound?

Not really, but let’s get on with it. The Revolution lost 2-1 at home on Saturday to the San Jose Earthquakes, who like the Revolution are out of this year’s MLS playoff race. This game had the look and feel of a throwback MLS game, and not in a good way. To begin with, the lame name “Earthquakes” was obviously penned in a time before MLS tried to mimic established international soccer clubs by giving names like FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. And the Revolution and Earthquakes should be on anyone’s short list of MLS teams with the lamest, most dated-looking logos. Moreover, it’s the first time I can recall seeing an MLS game being played this season on a field emblazoned with NFL yard markings, logos, etc. The soccer field markings in this game were laid down in yellow, almost as an afterthought. (In the previous Revs’ home game, the NFL markings were only barely visible, as if they’d been imperfectly erased with a pencil, giving the field the look of a medieval palimpsest.)

Playing soccer with those NFL markings on the field looks so bush league it’s positively depressing. The markings are distracting for the fans (not to mention the players), and they’re a sad reminder that the Revolution could use a soccer-only stadium if they want to draw more fans like myself to games. The Patriots logo at midfield was a great indication of where the Revolution stand in the Kraft Group’s sports hierarchy. Can you imagine the Patriot’s playing with a huge Revolution logo on the field?

The highlight of this game was a true lowlight for the Revolution. In the 8^th minute, San Jose’s young goalkeeper David Bingham made a long pass that Tom Brady himself would have been proud of. Standing at the top of his penalty box, Bingham lofted a high ball into the Revolution’s box. Chris Wondolowski took the ball down amazingly softly with a right-footed trap that was every bit as impressive as an over-the-shoulder catch in baseball or football. After that settling touch, Wondolowski immediately struck a low, accurate shot past Revolution backup keeper Bobby Shuttleworth for San Jose’s first goal. Ryan Cochrane was victimized on the play and unfortunately looked like a member of an over-forty weekend-warrior squad as he struggled to give chase. After scoring, Wondolowski looped around Cochrane and ran down sideline with his index finger to his lips, rather needlessly shushing the meager crowd of 9,111 at mammoth Gillette stadium.

Despite that solecism, Wondolowski looked in good form against the Revolution. He took a couple more dangerous shots in the first half—in the 19^th and 25^th minutes—and he scored the Earthquakes’ second and deciding goal in the second half. That goal came courtesy of a beautiful chip to the back post by San Jose midfielder Sam Cronin. Wondolowski ran onto it and headed home the point-blank shot for his 14^th goal of the year, tying him for the moment atop the league with Thierry Henry and Dwayne De Rosario. That’s good company, and Wondolowski’s 14 goals in 2011 prove that his 2010 season was no aberration. After six goals in his last seven games, the guy may win the Golden Boot again this year.

As for the Revs, they played tough at the start of the second half. Cochrane may have looked slow on the first Wondolowski goal, but he should be given credit for playing with fire against his old club. For instance, he rushed to the defense of Diego Fagundez early in the second half after Ramiro Corrales took exception to Fagundez’s pushing him out of the way to get to a dead ball. Corrales and Cochrane each got yellow cards for that scuffle. At that point the game got, as they say, “a little chippy,” so much so that I all but forgot about the NFL field markings. Corrales himself had made the foul that led to the free kick, and that free kick in turn led to an exciting goal by the Revolution. Chris Tierney’s dead-ball strike hit the San Jose wall and eventually rolled to the feet of Ryan Guy, who got off a shocking canon of a shot that Bingham punched away. Milton Caraglio headed the rebound into the crossbar and Benny Feilhaber side-volleyed that rebound into the net.

The Revolution couldn’t sustain their effort, though, and during the final fifteen minutes San Jose played on the front foot and got their game-winner. The Revolution did have a golden opportunity to equalize in stoppage time, when Fagundez took a pass from Feilhaber in the attacking third and played an excellent pass back to Feilhaber, who had made a run into the box. Feilhaber’s one-time cross found the foot of Caraglio, who was just two yards in front of the goal. Given the way this season has gone for the Revolution, need I describe the fate of Caraglio’s shot?