Revolution v. Seattle Sounders, 10.1.11

Revolution announcer Brad Feldman said that the final ten seconds of this game were “symbolic of the night for the Revs.” With three minutes of stoppage time previously announced by the referee, and with the game clock showing 92:50 and the scoreboard showing 2-1 in favor of Seattle, New England goalkeeper Matt Reis bizarrely eschewed sending a goal kick long to his forwards in favor of playing it short to his center back Darrius Barnes. Barnes in turn made an errant pass back towards Reis and over the end line. The ref blew his whistle and the game ended.

I’m not sure I agree with Feldman about the symbolism of that particular play, since the Revolution dominated most of the match. However I, like Feldman, often find myself viewing brief episodes of play as somehow characteristic of an entire game, team, or season. This tendency may be a result of the fact that I—a holder of two unmarketable advanced degrees in English—spent a large part of my twenties engaging in “close readings” of literary texts. In any event, just a few minutes before Feldman had made his point, I thought much the same thing about a play involving Pat Phelan. I have zero desire to pick on Phelan, who is hard-working and likeable, but the play in question I thought was neatly representative of the more frustrating aspects of New England’s disappointing season.

In the 88^th minute, with the Revolution’s hopes for a draw fading with each misstep, Benny Feilhaber and Shalrie Joseph worked together to win the ball in the midfield circle. Feilhaber received a short pass from Joseph and turned up field, spotting Phelan just a few yards ahead of him. Feilhaber made the short pass to his teammate and pressed forward, making himself available for the give-and-go. Phelan turned and wisely held the ball and let Feilhaber, who was in traffic, continue his run. The Revs were on the front foot now and it seemed as though they might be on the verge of creating a goal-scoring opportunity, which so often happens when winning the ball at midfield.

As Phelan turned, the camera showed an expanse of green on his left occupied by a wide-open Chris Tierney, New England’s best crosser. But Phelan either didn’t see Tierney or ignored him. In any case, he decided to pass the ball down the center of the field, into the teeth of the Seattle defense, to a well-marked Milton Caraglio. Phelan’s pass was, predictably, cleared, and Seattle quickly regained possession on a throw-in.

Phelan’s dubious pass brought to mind Shalrie Joseph’s quote, made after New England’s 4-4 draw against Philadelphia last month. “We didn't have the quality,” Joseph said, “and we're not good enough to hang onto a 4-1 lead.” Nor are they good enough to pull level when down a goal at home to a team like Seattle that was resting many of its best players in the midst of a brutal road trip that included flights to Vancouver, BC, Guatemala City, and New England in the space of only eight days.

New England controlled the ball for most of the game but could only manage one goal, a Diego Fagundez header off a corner kick. This was Fagundez’s first MLS start, and he played well. The Revolution need more players like him who can create and, perhaps even more importantly, capitalize on opposing players’ mistakes. He was left unmarked on that corner kick and he made Seattle pay, which is what good players do. That’s what Seattle’s Fredy Montero did a minute later, scoring the equalizer on a nice shot that came courtesy of a botched clear by Ryan Cochrane.

Steve Nicol has rightly hammered away at the point that the Revolution need to minimize their defensive lapses. But unfortunately his team’s problems go deeper than their back line, as this game—in which New England outshot Seattle 23 to 10 but still lost—showed. I feel like the Revolution have good players—Joseph, Feilhaber, Soares, Reis, Alston, and Tierney in particular. Then again, only one team in the league has fewer points than New England, and there are only three games left to play. On the one hand, the team’s problems seem obvious: They have defensive breakdowns, they can’t finish, they can’t maintain possession, etc., etc. On the other hand, the Revolution are maddeningly inconsistent and hard to figure. Against Seattle, for instance, they played well early but faded late. In their previous game, against Chicago, they started poorly and then came roaring back, scoring twice in the final three or four minutes, which wasn’t enough.

In short, I’m exasperated by the Revolution and flummoxed that they haven’t done better this year. I can’t imagine how the players and coaching staff must feel. On that last sequence against Seattle—the one that Feldman called “symbolic”—in which Reis played the goal kick short and Barnes played it back and out of bounds, I for one was beyond feeling surprised or even upset. I sympathized with Reis and Barnes as they walked off the field, their heads down after yet another loss.