BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The New England Revolution played to a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire on Saturday night at Toyota Park to snap a six-game road losing streak. Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe scored on either side of halftime for the Revs with Rowe’s 77th minute equalizer earning a point for New England after they had fallen behind 2-1 two minutes earlier. This was the first time that the Revolution had come back from a goal down in the final 15 minutes to earn a point. With the draw, the Revs are now 7-9-7 on the season for 28 points, leaving them tied with Toronto FC for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
New England went in front in the 28th minute when Lee Nguyen slotted home a rebound for his second goal in as many games and fourth of the season. Scott Caldwell was played in down the left flank and he hit a low, hard cross across the face of goal that was parried away by Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson, but only as far as Nguyen, who hit a right-footed shot into the open net, making the score 1-0 in favor of the Revs.
It appeared that the Revs would take that lead into halftime, however the Fire were able to equalize in the 44th minute from the penalty spot. Revolution captain Jose Goncalves poked a loose ball away from the foot of Chicago’s David Accam at the top of the penalty area, but referee Ricardo Salazar adjudged Goncalves to have fouled the Fire winger and pointed to the spot. Shaun Maloney stepped up to take the penalty and he placed his shot just inside the right post, past the dive of Brad Knighton, tying the score at 1-1.
After the break, Chicago captain Razvan Cocis went close at both ends of the field, firing a right-footed shot just wide of Knighton’s post in the 60th minute and then nearly scoring an own goal three minutes later when he redirected a Chris Tierney free kick off the post and out for a corner.
In the 75th minute, Cocis would give the Fire a lead flicking the ball over the line from close range to give Chicago a 2-1 lead. The Revolution struggled to clear a corner kick and a Matthew Watson shot was saved by Knighton, only for Cocis to react quickest to the rebound and score from close range, putting the Fire in front.
However, the Revs would answer just two minutes later when Juan Agudelo, who had just come on a minute earlier, chased down a long ball and found Chris Tierney on the left flank. The Revolution left back then hit a low cross that eluded a pair of Fire defenders and found Kelyn Rowe at the back post with Rowe prodding the ball home to tie the score at 2-2.
The Revolution nearly grabbed a winner late on but Rowe’s cross from the right wing narrowly missed finding the foot of Charlie Davies, who had gotten open at the back post.
Full match highlights and statistics can be found here.
Revolution Santander Man of the Match
SCOTT CALDWELL – His low cross set up the first Revolution goal and was the highlight of another stellar performance in the center of midfield for New England, He completed 90 percent of his passes on the evening and constantly broke up the Fire’s attacking forays, finishing with a team-high 11 recoveries.
Next Game
The Revolution will be back in action on Saturday, August 1 when they host Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium. That game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET, will be shown locally on Comcast SportsNet and nationally on MLS LIVE. The game will also be available locally on the radio, in English on 98.5 The Sports Hub and on WMVX 1570 AM Nossa Radio USA in Portuguese.
New England Revolution at Chicago Fire
July 25, 2015 – Toyota Park (Bridgeview, Ill.)
New England Revolution 2, Chicago Fire 2
Scoring Summary:
NE – Lee Nguyen 4 (Unassisted) 28’
CHI – Shaun Maloney (Penalty Kick) 44’
CHI – Razvan Cocis 2 (Unassisted) 75’
NE – Kelyn Rowe 4 (Chris Tierney 3) 77’
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Andrew Farrell (Yellow Card) 46+
CHI – David Accam (Yellow Card) 61’
CHI – Harry Shipp (Yellow Card) 62’
CHI – Eric Gehrig (Yellow Card) 81’
NE – Chris Tierney (Yellow Card) 88’
New England Revolution: Brad Knighton; Jeremy Hall, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves ©, Chris Tierney; Daigo Kobayashi (Steve Neumann 81’), Scott Caldwell; Teal Bunbury (Kelyn Rowe 70’), Lee Nguyen, Diego Fagundez (Juan Agudelo 76’); Charlie Davies.
Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, London Woodberry, Andy Dorman, Jermaine Jones.
STATS: Shots 4, Shots on target 4, Saves 4, Corner kicks 3, Offsides 1, Fouls 16, Possession 52.4%, Passes 441 (81.0%)
Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Matt Polster, Eric Gehrig, Adailton, Joevin Jones; Harry Shipp (Patrick Nyarko 64’), Matt Watson, Razvan Cocis ©, David Accam; Shaun Maloney (Michael Stephens 80’), Kennedy Igbonananike.
Substitutes Not Used: Jon Busch, Greg Cochrane, Lovel Palmer, Collin Fernandez, Guly do Prado.
STATS: Shots 13, Shots on target 6, Saves 2, Corner kicks 8, Offsides 4, Fouls 18, Possession 47.6%, Passes 406 (78.8%)
Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Assistant Referees: Greg Barkey and Adam Garner
Fourth Official: Kevin Terry Jr.
Weather: Clear and 84 degrees
Attendance: 14,159
Team Records:
New England Revolution: 7-9-7, 28 pts.
Chicago Fire: 5-11-4, 19 pts.
Additional Game Notes
- With the draw, the Revolution are now 7-9-7 for 28 points on the season. They are tied with Toronto FC for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the third place New York Red Bulls. TFC also earned a point on the evening, coming back to tie Columbus 3-3.
- The draw snaps the Revs’ six-game losing streak, which dated back to May 8 when the Revs drew 2-2 with Orlando City SC at the Citrus Bowl.
- This was the first time that the Revolution had come from behind in the final 15 minutes this season to earn a draw.
- The Revs are now 6-3-5 when scoring first this season, though just 1-3-2 when doing so on the road.
- Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made one change to the team that beat NYC FC 1-0 at home last weekend with Jose Goncalves returning from suspension in central defense in place of London Woodberry.
- In addition to Woodberry, Jermaine Jones and Bobby Shuttleworth were each on the bench to start the game after recovering from injury. Shuttleworth missed last weekend’s game with a concussion while Jones had missed the last nine games in all competitions after undergoing bilateral sports hernia surgery on June 12. Jones was last in the team on May 31 for a 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy.
- While Jones and Shuttleworth were back in the squad, the Revs remained without Kevin Alston and Darrius Barnes who continue their recover from injury.
- Brad Knighton was making his second consecutive start in goal for the Revs. This is the first time that he started consecutive games for his team since July 20 and July 27, 2013 when he was a member of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The only time that Knighton ever started consecutive games as a member of the Revolution was when he started four straight games early in the 2009 campaign.
- Knighton was making the 40th appearance of his MLS career with 11 of those coming as a member of the Revolution.
- Lee Nguyen gave the Revs a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute with his fourth goal of the season, finishing the rebound of a Sean Johnson parry.
- Nguyen has now scored in each of his last two games and is tied for second on the team with four goals.
- Three of Nguyen’s four goals this season have given his team a 1-0 lead and three have also come on the road.
- New England is now 19-4-4 when Nguyen scores a goal, including 2-1-1 this season.
- This was the first time since June 13 – which was the last time the Revs faced the Fire – that a goal was not scored inside the opening 20 minutes by either side.
- Chicago tied the score at 1-1 in the 44th minute through a Shaun Maloney penalty kick after Jose Goncalves was adjudged to have fouled David Accam inside the area.
- That was the seventh penalty whistled against the Revolution this season. That is the most in MLS this season and one shy of the club record of eight, which was set in 2011.
- Maloney’s goal snapped a string of 168 minutes for New England without allowing a goal.
- Razvan Cocis gave the Fire a 2-1 lead in the 75th minute with his second goal of the season, both of which have come in 2-2 draws.
- This was the first time that the Fire had scored two or more goals against New England since Sept. 14, 2013, ending a string of four straight games in which they had either been shutout or held to a single goal by New England
- Kelyn Rowe, who replaced Teal Bunbury in the 70th minute, equalized for New England in the 77th minute with his fourth goal of the season. Rowe is now tied with Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury and Lee Nguyen for second on the team in scoring.
- He now has four goals and three assists in 10 career games against the Fire.
- Two of Rowe’s four goals this season have come as a substitute and each came within 10 minutes of entering the game.
- Rowe now has 19 goals for his career, leaving him one shy of becoming the sixth player in Revolution history with 20 career goals and assists.
- Chris Tierney was credited with the lone assist on Rowe’s goal. That was his third assist of the season and the 29th of his MLS career. He is now just one assist shy of becoming the fourth player in Revolution history with 30 or more assists.
- Tierney is now tied with Pat Noonan for the fourth most assists in club history. He had entered the game tied with Taylor Twellman for fifth place in club history.
- Brad Knighton finished the game with four saves and his goals against average on the season stays at 2.00. He has faced a penalty kick in two of his three starts this season.
- Lee Nguyen was not shown a yellow card meaning that he remains one away from a one-game suspension. However, if Nguyen is not booked in either of his next two games, he will have one card removed from his record for good behavior.
- Chris Tierney started the 160th game of his MLS career on the night. He is now three starts shy of passing Taylor Twellman for fifth place in club history.
