Revolution at FC Dallas, 4.5.12

Samuel Johnson wrote that men more frequently require to be reminded than informed. Revolution players got a big, painful reminder tonight in Dallas: you finish games by fighting until the final whistle. New England fought hard on defense for 94 of 95 minutes. And because they let up in that final minute, they lost 1-0.

It was fitting that the game’s only goal was scored by a defender, Dallas’s Ugo Ihemelu, who played well all night. His counterpart on the Revolution, A.J. Soares, also had a good game. In fact, Soares might have been the man of the match had the referee blown the final whistle a few seconds before Soares fouled Dallas striker Blas Perez in the waning moments. Three minutes of stoppage time had been announced, and when Brek Shea got hold of the ball near midfield in the 94^th minute, the game might have been called then. But of course it wasn’t. And to Shea’s credit, he didn’t dillydally with the ball, but astutely played a quick, long pass to Perez, who was standing in the center of the field about 30 yards from goal. Soares’s foul on Perez set up a Zach Loyd free kick. Instead of blasting a shot, Loyd lofted a chip over the five-man Revolution wall to the back post, where a flood of Dallas attackers ran onto goal. They met with little resistance, and Ihemelu got his game-winner.

The match was largely devoid of quality and energy and of course ended in major disappointment for New England. Still, the Revolution very nearly came away with a clean sheet and a point, playing away from home against a tough western-conference opponent just five days after upsetting the Galaxy in L.A. The Revolution’s performance against Dallas wasn’t as inspired as last weekend’s effort, but it was still pretty strong, particularly that center-back pairing of Soares and Stephen McCarthy.

Clyde Simms also had a solid performance, thwarting Dallas attacks and frequently covering for Chris Tierney when the latter made attacking runs. Simms is a great complement to Shalrie Joseph, and I’m surprised and happy that D.C. cast him off. He’s such a steady and intelligent player. If that spine of Simms, Joseph, McCarthy, and Soares, can stay healthy, New England will be tough to score against, as Dallas found out tonight. I cringed when Simms was taken off with about ten minutes to go, and I can’t help wondering now if he might have disrupted one of those Dallas runners on the game’s final free kick.