Revolution v. Columbus Crew, 6.16.12

This scoreless draw between the New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew was a subpar MLS game made particularly grim by the fact that it was played during an exciting European championship tournament that’s attracting a significant number of U.S. TV viewers. I hope for MLS’s sake that European football fans didn’t tune in to the Revs-Crew match to get a temporary soccer fix between Euro 2012 games. If they did, they’ll almost certainly never tune in to another MLS match again and will never take seriously any claim that the league is a decent one.

The final barren score line indicates how disjointed both teams looked, particularly when trying to finish. The tone for the entire stupefying match was set inside the first minute of play. Lee Nguyen sent a ball into the Columbus penalty box, and Saer Sene chested it down to Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber ran onto the pass and, with the goal more or less at his mercy and approaching it from the left side of the six-yard box, inexplicably struck the ball with the outside of his right foot, sending the shot well wide of the distant far post. Feilhaber appeared to have had plenty of time to open up his hips and strike an accurate close-range shot with the inside of his foot. In any event, not to get his shot on frame was borderline unforgivable, and you can make a solid argument that the miss cost the Revs two points against a middling eastern conference opponent that will plausibly be fighting them for the final playoff spot in a few months’ time.

To give Feilhaber some deserved credit, he had a few good moments and as always worked hard. He created a solid chance in the 38th minute, helping punctuate a rare New England buildup. Receiving the ball near the top of the box, he feinted as if shooting, drawing the Columbus defense towards him so he could slide a pass out wide to Fernando Cardenas. Cardenas’s shot, while well struck, was sent directly to the goalkeeper.

As long as we’re covering what few Revs’ highlights this game offered, I should mention a good shot from distance by Sene that dipped as it approached the target and slammed off the crossbar and down onto the turf. Still, Sene’s effort was cheapened by some lazy-looking defense on the part of Columbus, who allowed Sene way too much time and space when he was only twenty yards or so straightaway from goal.

I suppose some might say the poor quality of this game can be partially explained (if not excused) by the fact that the Revs were coming off two weeks of inactivity, the Crew three weeks. Whatever the case, I think it’s fair to say New England created the better chances to score. And they should be mightily upset with themselves for being unable to finish those chances and for not beating an out-of-form mid-table team at home.