TUCSON, Ariz. – The objective of preseason matches is to identify positives and negatives, and New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps saw plenty of both in Saturday afternoon’s 3-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids.
Led by the attacking quintet of Lee Nguyen, Kei Kamara, Juan Agudelo, Diego Fagundez and Kelyn Rowe, the Revs were sharp through the opening 40 minutes, scoring through Agudelo and generating a host of other clear-cut chances with sharp passing and fluid movement.
But all of that work was undone in a matter of moments as the Revs conceded in both the 44th and 45th minutes, turning a would-be halftime lead into a halftime deficit.
“For about 35 or 40 minutes it was really good,” said Heaps. “Then situationally we found ourselves in trouble and we gave up two goals right before the half. I think it’s a good learning experience, because those were bad goals to give away at the time we gave them away.”
Heaps will address the defensive lapses that led to Colorado’s goals – Tony Cascio was the catalyst for the Rapids down the right side – but his focus fell largely on the attack, which was in midseason form as far as chemistry and movement, only lacking the final ball and finish required to see games out.
“One of the things that we want to take away is that we could’ve been a little cleaner in front of goal and finished our chances,” Heaps said.
“We want to try to work on not letting up the soft goals that we did today, but there were some good things to take away from the game,” said Nguyen. “Attacking-wise, there were some flashes of good stuff. We’ve just got to finish those chances. We created a lot of chances, so that was good.”
Overall, it was an exercise that offered Heaps plenty of insight into where the Revs are with just two weeks remaining until that regular-season opener in Colorado on March 4.
“The scoreline was difficult, but in the end I thought there were some real positives we have to take from it,” Heaps said. “But with a lot of learning experiences to go with it.”
Agudelo slots seamlessly back into Revs’ attack in first preseason appearance
Juan Agudelo, who was away with the U.S. National Team for the first three weeks of preseason camp, didn’t miss a beat in his first preseason appearance on Saturday afternoon, scoring New England’s only goal and showing an immediate chemistry with his teammates.
Agudelo was quickest to react to a loose ball in the box when Colorado failed to deal with Chris Tierney’s first-half corner kick, but it was his combination play with Nguyen, Kamara, Rowe and Fagundez that was most impressive for a player who’s trained with New England just twice this preseason.
“I thought we connected very well,” said Agudelo, who wore a protective mask after suffering a small fracture in a facial bone while on USMNT duty. “You definitely saw the chemistry there. It’s a pleasure to play with my family again.”
Agudelo said he was surprised by how quickly the chemistry returned, but Nguyen expected nothing less as most of New England’s attacking pieces were finally together for the first time this preseason.
“We’re all on the same wavelength,” Nguyen said. “It was refreshing having [Juan] back playing with us. I think these next two weeks as we all get fit, get a little bit sharper, those final pieces will start to come together.”
Revs, Rapids deal with the elements just two weeks before opener in Colorado
MLS teams flock to Arizona for preseason training because the weather is absolutely beautiful 99 percent of the time. Saturday, however, was decidedly in the one percent.
High winds and swirling rain made playing conditions difficult throughout the match, but particularly in the second half, when Revolution goalkeepers Brad Knighton and Cody Cropper often found themselves kicking into a wall of wind and players on both sides struggled to keep their feet.
“The elements were really getting progressively worse as you went along,” said Heaps. “It’s good that we have elements to deal with, because we’re going to have elements during the season and we have to be able to react and understand the complexities of it.”
The wind directly contributed to Colorado’s third goal when Knighton’s clearance died just outside his own box, but to Heaps’ point, those are conditions the Revs may well encounter during the regular season, particularly in the early months when the weather is far less predictable.
“There were some games at Gillette (Stadium) that we’ve had like that, and there were some games in Colorado that we’ve had like that,” said Agudelo. “It’s good to sort of adjust your game to the weather.”
Desert Diamond Cup action continues on Wednesday; Revs take on Sporting KC
Having dropped their first two games in this year’s Desert Diamond Cup the Revs will look to rebound on Wednesday, when they’ll take on Sporting Kansas City at 1 p.m. ET. Once again that game will be streaming live, and I’ll be on color commentary duties alongside play-by-play man Bob Akamian.
After giving their starting group a 70-minute runout on Saturday it’s likely that the Revs will once again split their lineups against SKC, before pushing towards a full 90-minute match in the preseason finale next weekend.
