Revolution v. Chicago Fire, 6.2.12

The first hour or so of this game was one for the dustbin of MLS history, a goalless, rain-soaked, sloppily played sixty minutes that unfolded in front of a sparse crowd at Gillette Stadium. But the match picked up considerably in the 64^th minute, when New England rookie Kelyn Rowe checked in for Fernando Cardenas. Up until then, Chicago had created the best chances of the night, hitting the post off a free kick in the 17^th minute, and then hitting it again on a Dominic Oduro header in the 47^th.  Still, it was a drab game, and neither team could’ve been very pleased with anything they’d done to that point.

Within a minute of checking in, Rowe got behind the defense on a run from the right side of midfield. He looked as though he might’ve been offside, but the flag stayed down and he received a pass from Saer Sene, who had dropped deep into the midfield. Rowe had loads of space to work with when he found the ball at his feet, but unfortunately he didn’t finish well, perhaps owing to the fact that he’d pretty much just stepped onto the field. His low shot hit Fire keeper Sean Johnson on the leg and bounced out of bounds.

The game had officially opened up. Less than five minutes later, the Revolution earned a throw-in in the Chicago half. Sene received the ball in a crowd and did well to control it, eventually playing the ball back to Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber in turn nicely played the ball up the field to Rowe, who had made a run along Chicago’s back line like a surfer riding a wave. Rowe, now clearly in the swing of things, took the pass nicely and used the outside of his right foot to shoot the ball back across the goal mouth, where it skipped under the diving Johnson and into the net.

Soon thereafter, in the 73^rd minute, Rowe returned Feilhaber’s favor. The two worked a fluid give-and-go in and around the right side of the penalty box. Feilhaber used the inside of his foot to first-time Rowe’s pass into the side netting of the far post and the Revolution were up 2-0. Feilhaber’s strike was composed, but the celebration was not. The crowd, which deserves a lot of credit for having stuck around, erupted, and so did Sene. Sene virtually mugged Feilhaber when the two met on the end line, first grabbing the back of Feilhaber’s jersey and swinging him around like a guy in a playground tussle, then picking Feilhaber up around the waist and throwing him to the ground like a someone auditioning for WWF. If the two hadn’t been smiling so gleefully, one of the stadium cops might’ve felt compelled to intervene. The rest of the Revolution players soon joined Sene in playfully mauling Feilhaber.

It was great to see such a jubilant reaction from the Revs, who haven’t had much to celebrate in the past few years. It was also good to see such support for Feilhaber, who can sometimes express frustration with teammates a little too quickly. As usual, Feilhaber gave away his fair share of balls at midfield during the match, particularly in the first half. But he’s a tireless worker and defender, and he draws many fouls, and surely his teammates appreciate all that. He was still sliding around the midfield trying to win the ball in the 84^th minute against the Fire, hustling and playing with confidence. The New England announcers named him the man of the match, and the award was deserved, though consideration also had to be given to Rowe and to Matt Reis, who bailed the Revs out on a couple of occasions, as he so often does.

The match ended 2-0, and Reis and the defense of course deserve credit for the clean sheet, especially after last week’s late-match collapse against the lower-tier Harrisburg City Islanders in U.S. Open Cup play. But it was New England’s midfield that won this game, and not just Feilhaber and Rowe, but Shalrie Joseph, Cardenas, and Lee Nguyen. Nguyen in particular continues to impress, both with his dribbling and passing. He doesn’t look fast, but he has a knack for standing over the ball, drawing his defender to him, and dribbling right by him. He did that at least a couple of times against Chicago, once in the 82^nd minute, and played a number of dangerous crosses into the box from the left sideline.

By the bye, New England has now won five games this season, matching their total number of wins from last year. It’s not a glorious achievement, but one has to admit that it’s step in the right direction.