Revolution v. Houston Dynamo, 5.19.12

In 1990, the Dallas Cowboys were coming off a 1-15 season, their first under coach Jimmy Johnson. I recall reading a mid-season article that year in The Washington Post in which a Redskins offensive lineman—I think it was Russ Grimm—was quoted about the Skins’ upcoming schedule. He said something like: First we have to go to New York and then to Philly. And then we have to go down to Dallas, and that ain’t no weak-ass Dallas team anymore. Grimm (or whoever) was right about Dallas. The Cowboys went a respectable 7-9 that year and would go on to win NFL championships in 1992 and 1993.

The New England Revolution are coming off their worst season ever, having won fewer games (five) in 2011 than any other MLS team. Their goal this year should be to have well-respected players grumbling about how they have to go up to Gillette, informing media members that New England “ain’t no weak-ass team anymore.” The Revs are not quite there yet, but they’re getting close. They tied (I was about to say “lost to,” because that’s sure how it felt) the Houston Dynamo 2-2 on Saturday, and for the most part they played hard and well. New England led 2-1 from the 57^th minute to the 87^th. Had they hung tough for just a few more minutes, the three points would have been theirs. But they suffered a letdown late, just as they did against Houston (and so many other teams) last year.

From a New England point of view, conceding that final goal on Saturday was painful, weak-ass. Houston’s center back Bobby Boswell played a long, harmless ball towards the New England box. Stephen McCarthy headed the ball towards Chris Tierney on the left. Tierney took the ball off one bounce and headed it, not towards the sidelines as he should have, but towards the center of the midfield. Ryan Guy couldn’t (or didn’t) do much more than raise a foot to try to collect Tierney’s weak clearance before it fell to Houston substitute Luiz Camargo, who quickly played the ball upfield to Brian Ching. Revolution defenders McCarthy, Kevin Alston, and A.J. Soares all collapsed on Camargo’s pass like moths on a switched-on light bulb. Meanwhile, Camargo ran unmarked towards the back post, received a lofted pass from Ching, and used the outside of his left foot to knife a pretty shot past New England keeper Matt Reis. How many times must players, coaches, and fans be reminded? If you’re going to be a strong, winning team, you have to play hard and smart on defense for the entire game.

So the Revolution have work to do, and you can be sure coach Jay Heaps told them so after the game. But after Heaps’s rage settles, he’ll probably be happy with many of his players’ performances, particularly Saer Sene, who scored both New England goals, and Lee Nguyen, who saw a lot of the ball and looked good with it at his feet. Nguyen juked and blew by Jermaine Taylor in the 5^th minute to nearly set up a goal by Sene (Nguyen’s relatively slow-moving cross unaccountably went right under Sene’s lifted right foot). Nguyen undressed Calen Carr in a similar fashion in the 61^st minute to draw a foul. Maybe I’m looking back through compost-smeared glasses, but I don’t remember many Revolution players last season blowing by opponents with the ball at their feet.

Guys like Nguyen and Sene are slowly lifting the Revs from weak-ass to respectability. Veteran defensive midfielder Clyde Simms, who has also made contributions so far this year, is another cause for hope, though maybe only in the short term. This is Simms’s eighth year in the league, and he didn’t play on Saturday due to ankle tendonitis. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered if that final Houston goal might’ve been prevented had the tough and cagey Simms been on the field.