FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Creating chances wasn’t an issue for the New England Revolution on Saturday night; they generated 21 shots, including six on target, while keeping 63 percent of the possession.
The issue at Gillette Stadium was instead finishing, as the Revs were shut out in a 1-0 loss to a plucky FC Dallas side that has conceded a league-low three goals through five games. The loss was New England’s first since the season opener in Philadelphia, snapping their unbeaten run (3-0-1) at four games.
“We had more than enough chances to score goals tonight,” said head coach Brad Friedel. “Diego (Fagundez)’s chance was whiskers wide. (Cristian) Penilla had a really good chance that just went wide of the post, another that he sliced off to the right. Juan (Agudelo) [forced] a decent save down low to the left. Juan had a bicycle kick, as well. Wilfried (Zahibo) had an opportunity that he put over the bar.
“We had a lot of chances. Some different days, like against Montreal, we scored four of them. Today we scored zero. We’ll watch again and see if there’s something else that we can do. We do a lot of finishing in training, and we’re going to continue to do so.”
New England’s profligacy at one end was punished at the other as FCD midfielder Jacori Hayes latched onto Roland Lamah’s pass for a first-time finish in the 76th minute, snapping the Revolution’s shutout streak at 271 minutes.
It was a frustrating sequence for the Revs, who had multiple chances to clear their lines before losing track of Hayes’ run through the middle of the box.
“We made a mistake on their goal – we didn’t track the guy and they’re up 1-0 and then it’s hard,” said left back Gabriel Somi, who has started all six of the Revs’ games on the backline. “We tried, we pushed ourselves to get the goal to tie, but unfortunately we didn’t get it.”
New England felt they should’ve had a chance to draw level from the penalty spot when second-half substitute Krisztián Németh was chopped down by Matt Hedges inside the area in stoppage time, but referee Hilario Grajeda waved away the appeals, adding to the evening’s frustrations.
“I’ve reviewed the penalty, and it was a penalty,” said Friedel. “Sometimes you’re going to be on the good side of those, and sometimes you’re going to be on the bad side.”
Having suffered their first loss in more than a month the Revs will now aim to bounce back next weekend in Columbus, where they’ll face a Crew SC side currently tied with them on 10 points in the Eastern Conference standings.
“I think we lacked the final, killer instinct in the box,” said Somi. “We did some simple mistakes; the final pass or we didn’t take the shot at the right time. But this is football. We learn from this, and we move on.”
