BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Sunday afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Chicago Fire didn’t mathematically eliminate the New England Revolution from playoff contention, but it likely ended any realistic postseason chances.
The Revs will head into Decision Day next weekend needing a win over the Montreal Impact and a Philadelphia Union loss to the New York Red Bulls, and they’ll also need to make up a 12-goal gap on the league’s second tiebreaker, goal differential.
It’s increasingly likely, then, that the Revolution will miss out on the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2012 – head coach Jay Heaps’ first year in charge – and that realization made for a somber locker room after Sunday’s loss at Toyota Park.
“It’s not how we wanted to finish the season,” said goalkeeper Brad Knighton. “We’ve got one game left at home in front of our home fans, which is great, but we felt like we dropped points again here tonight.”
Sunday’s game was a wild affair. Michael de Leeuw put the Fire in front early before Diego Fagundez equalized for New England on the stroke of halftime, and when Chicago were reduced to 10 men early in the second half it looked like things were breaking the Revolution’s way.
Knowing that a victory was necessary to maintain realistic playoff hopes the Revs pressed forward, coming closest in the 62nd minute when Juan Agudelo hit the underside of the crossbar and Darrius Barnes pushed the rebound straight into Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson’s stomach.
“When they went down a man, we should’ve punished them,” said Fagundez. “We just got unlucky.
“We just have to try to keep pushing the game. At that point, that’s when you have to try to get two, three goals to try to get the lead and make sure that you’re going home with three points, and you know you’re going to be in the playoffs if you do that. We didn’t take advantage of that.”
There was another twist to come in the 73rd minute when Knighton was sent off for a foul on David Accam. Knighton called the play a mental lapse as he momentarily forgot Accam was behind him, and fouled the Fire winger as he cut in to steal the ball just outside the box.
“I just totally lost my train of thought and thought I’d seen everyone in front of me,” Knighton said. “It’s just one of those unfortunate things that had to happen and it’s heartbreaking.
“I’ll raise my hand up and say I’m the culprit. We had everything going in the second half and had all the momentum and had the extra man, and I take a lot of heat for that one.”
Accam punished the Revs shortly after Knighton was sent off, racing in behind the Revs backline and finishing low past substitute goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to send New England to just their second loss in their last six regular-season games.
It’s a result that likely means New England’s home game against the Montreal Impact next Sunday afternoon will be their final game of the 2016 campaign.
“We’ve got a massive game at home next weekend in front of 40,000 fans,” said Knighton, who’ll be suspended for the regular-season finale. “We want to send our fans home with a positive thought and we’ll look to do that.”
