Revolution v. New York Red Bulls, 7.9.12

 

The transformation of the New England Revolution continued last night. They beat the New York Red Bulls 2-0 at Gillette, benefiting from strong performances by first-year player Lee Nguyen, surprise starter Bobby Shuttleworth, and recent designated-player signee Jerry Bengtson. Bengtson came on for Kelyn Rowe in the 60^th minute and took less than twenty-five minutes to score his first MLS goal, tapping in a rebounded Saer Sene shot.

I have a good feeling about the Bengtson signing. Revolution management eschewed signing an older big-name, big-money DP (e.g., New York’s Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry, neither of whom made the trip to New England for this game) in favor of a relatively unknown 25-year-old Honduran who already has an impressive eight goals in twenty-two appearances for his national side. Lest anyone dismiss Honduras’s men’s team, they not only qualified for the 2010 World Cup, they also qualified for this summer’s Olympics in London, something the United States U23s failed to do. It is both good and bad news for the Revolution that Bengtson is good enough to have been chosen by the Honduras Olympic team coaches to be one of that squad’s three overage players. As a result, Bengtson will likely leave New England to fulfill his Olympic duties following the Revolution’s July 18 match in Montreal.

The New England PA announcer declared Bengston man of the match last night, but even given Bengtson’s goal, the designation strikes me as more of a welcoming gesture than an objective assessment. Lee Nguyen was for me clearly the best player on the field against New York, hustling until the final whistle, seeing a lot of the ball, making numerous dangerous crosses and through balls, and scoring the Revs’ first goal off a killer outside-of-the-foot strike from distance that slashed into the net between the near post and the diving Ryan Meara. Of Nguyen’s other impressive plays, one stands out. In the 64^th minute, working on the right sideline, he held the ball and drew three New York defenders towards him. Those defenders looked like leaden-limbed zombies as Nguyen executed a couple of step-overs and calmly slid a pass between them to an overlapping Kevin Alston. Unfortunately, Alston’s ensuing cross was cleared before it could find Bengtson at the back post.

One more note on Nguyen. He has something of a young pretty-boy affect, playing as he does with a headband and a thatch of hair that seems particularly springy. Still, he’s plenty tough. He was clearly not intimidated by scrappy New York midfielder Dax McCarty, and they mixed it up quite a bit during the game, shoving each other at one point after a foul, as I recall. Nguyen was also on the business end of a rather brutal and cheap-looking forearm to the face from Joel Lindpere in the 67^th minute. Fortunately for New England, the play occurred ten feet from the ref, who booked Lindpere.

More could be said about this promising game. Sene played well, as did the entire New England back line. Shalrie Joseph—who before the game was listed as doubtful due to a left knee sprain—came on in the 73^rd minute and helped set up the Bengtson goal with a pretty one-touch lofted pass into the box to Sene. But really, wouldn’t it be more interesting to see a photo of this aging blogger surrounded by four patient, good-natured, and no doubt long-suffering Rev Girls, taken before the New York game? (Speaking of long-suffering, my wife urged me to get my picture taken with the “Girls,” in fact took the picture herself, chuckling resignedly at my suggestion that we send it out as our Christmas card.) Incidentally, after checking the Rev Girls roster link above, I see that Kelsey’s (second from left in the photo) favorite book is Slaughterhouse-Five, and that Kristine’s (far right, assuming that’s her) is A Clockwork Orange. Further proof that the beautiful game attracts thinking fans.

--> (I’ve cropped out the image of another guy in our party to protect the innocent.)

I mentioned in my last post that I and my family might be permitted down onto the field before the game to greet the players or something as a result of the fact that we were part of a group-ticket sale. It turns out that I didn’t go down for the introductions, but a few of our party did. One of those later told me that he found himself at one point standing next to head coach Jay Heaps. “So, Jay,” he asked, “what’s the score of the game going to be?” By way of response, Heaps discreetly raised his hand to near belt level and extended three fingers. His confidence turned out to be fully justified.