Revolution at Chicago Fire, 8.18.12

The Chicago Fire beat the New England Revolution 2-1 last night in a performance that left no doubt Chicago is the superior team. Individual Fire players on balance looked faster, stronger, hungrier, and more skilled than their Revolution counterparts. As a team, the Fire were noticeably more organized, particularly in the closing minutes. With the game on the line, Chicago’s back eight were composed and nearly impenetrable. The Revolution backline and midfield, on the other hand, looked scattered and vulnerable throughout much of the match. They routinely succumbed to the strength of Sherjill MacDonald, the speed of Patrick Nyarko, and the playmaking of Chris Rolfe. Chicago also displayed more depth than the Revs, bringing on quality players Dominic Oduro and Marco Pappa late in the second half.

So, until and unless the Revolution go on a multi-game winning streak, all optimistic talk from players, coaches, and critics should cease. I was slightly surprised to have heard such talk recently on a couple podcasts, from the guys on MLS’s Extratime Radio, for example, who find the Revolution to be an exciting team to watch, and in an August 2 interview with A.J. Soares on Beyond the Pitch. In the BTP interview, Soares said, “We genuinely believe that we can make the playoffs. . . . Jay [Heaps] has been incredibly positive and pushing our team to believe that we’re an excellent team.” After the interview, the hosts gushed about the changes going on within the New England organization, including this observation: “They’ve just been so tough and so resilient that you have to feel good about where this thing is headed.” Last night’s poor performance in Chicago severely undercut such arguments.

The definitive play of the match, if not the season so far for the Revolution, occurred in the 5^th minute. Rolfe and Nyarko worked a give and go, Rolfe receiving the final pass in the box. Rolfe drove to the end line and was taken down by Soares near the edge of the six-yard box, resulting in a penalty kick. The Revolution broadcasters variously described the referee’s call as “an absolute crime” and “terrible” and “shocking” and “criminal” and on and on. These are the opinions of broadcasters, true, but those broadcasters are employed by the Revolution. And there has been far too much talk lately by people within the New England organization about bad calls. Lame teams complain about calls after a match. Good teams take out their frustrations on their next opponents.

In any case, the call against Soares last night was not in fact terrible or shocking, let alone criminal. I’ve watched the replays multiple times and I still can’t tell if Soares got a touch on the ball before Rolfe went down. Many referees would have made the same call, and any announcer who criticizes a call so harshly should also observe that slide tackles in the box are risky even when they are unambiguously clean, as Soares’s on this occasion most certainly was not. Indeed, if there was anything terrible or shocking about the play it was the defending of Revolution holding midfielder Clyde Simms. Stephen McCarthy clearly pointed and told Simms to follow Rolfe after Rolfe made his initial pass to Nyarko. Simms, however, immediately lost his mark, drifting towards the ball and giving Rolfe plenty of time and space to receive Nyarko’s pass and make his run. In short, Simms should never have put Soares in a position where he had to make that tackle. The Fire didn’t earn that penalty so much as the Revolution gifted it to them.

What surprises and distresses me most about the Revolution’s recent slide is the play of their defense, which seems to suffer at least one big mental mistake a game. The Fire’s second goal, for example, occurred off a quick throw that left the Revs’ back line on its heels. Nyarko beat Alston to the line (not the last time he’d do that during the game) and played a ball back to MacDonald, who looked like a power forward banking in an uncontested lay-up as he headed the ball into the net. I am a fan of all of the Revs’ current starting defenders, particularly Soares, but they don’t seem to be improving much despite continued time playing as a unit and despite suffering relatively few injuries so far this season. More than that, they aren’t as tenacious as one would hope. I would never advocate for dirty play, but I do think McCarthy and Soares in particular need to impose their will more strongly on their opponents. In my opinion, the attitude of the entire team should spring from those two gifted and physical young players.

Much of the blame for the Revolution’s recent slide must also be placed on the midfield, supposedly the strength of the team. Simms has not looked effective since the departure of Joseph, Benny Feilhaber still has just one assist and one goal on the season (both of which came against Chicago in June), and rookie Kelyn Rowe seems to have hit the rookie wall after his season’s promising start. Feilhaber and Rowe came on as second-half substitutes in this one, and Rowe looked particularly out of sorts, giving the ball away repeatedly in his 21 minutes. Fernando Cardenas looked good in the first half, and scored the Revolution’s goal, but he faded in the second, which may explain why Heaps doesn’t play him as much as some of us think he should. Ryan Guy did have a solid, hardworking effort against the Fire, whereas Lee Nguyen—this season’s revelation in midfield for the Revs—came off at halftime, perhaps due to an injury. The cameras caught him watching the second half on the sideline, kicking up his heels with an icepack on his left foot. The image boded ill for the Revolution and the rest of their season.