TUCSON, Ariz. – Preseason results are meant to be taken with a grain of salt, but Saturday night’s victory in the Desert Diamond Cup championship match gave New England Revolution fans reason to be optimistic ahead of next weekend’s season opener against the Houston Dynamo.
Although the Revs conceded plenty of time on the ball to possession-oriented Columbus Crew SC, they were compact defensively and lethal on the counterattack, generating most of their quality scoring opportunities by quickly getting numbers forward on the break.
Teal Bunbury scored the game’s lone goal on a 21st-minute counter – finishing off his own rebound after Lee Nguyen had slipped him into the right channel – while Charlie Davies also capitalized on a turnover only to see his goal incorrectly ruled out for offside in the seventh minute.
“I think our team is deadly on the counterattack,” said Bunbury, who was named MVP of the tournament after scoring in three straight games. “We were able to sustain some pressure, we were able to stay compact, and I feel once we get going, our front four or five guys can really cause some problems.
“Maybe we didn’t capitalize on as many chances tonight, but we were able to still get the win, which is huge.”
New England made Bunbury’s first-half strike stand up with a stout defensive performance, bending but not breaking against a Crew SC side that scored 58 goals last year, second-most in MLS.
Despite making a few late changes on the backline – London Woodberry and Donnie Smith taking over at the fullback positions in the closing minutes – the Revs were able to dig in their heels and keep Columbus at bay, with goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth needing to make just one strong save.
“We’ve talked a lot about that in preseason; being a team that can really dig in and get a result at 1-0,” said Shuttleworth. “The movement was really good in the back. I think everyone did really well to pressure the ball in the right areas and take up good spots, and we got the shutout.”
Last year the Revolution kept nine clean sheets in the regular season, but only two of those shutouts were in 1-0 victories. It’s an area head coach Jay Heaps would like to see his side improve upon throughout the 2016 campaign, which kicks off in just eight days.
“We did a nice job bending but not breaking,” said Heaps. “Once we realized there were 10 or 12 minutes left in the game, we decided to really sit in and just absorb some pressure and make sure we could finish out the game.”
Finish out the game is precisely what the Revs did, and they were rewarded after the final whistle with what they hope is the first of a few trophies this season.
The journey begins in earnest next Sunday afternoon when the Revs will visit the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium, and after five weeks of preseason prep, they’re ready for the real thing.
“I’m really happy where we are going forward,” said Bunbury, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Saturday. “Tactically there are still a few things we need to work on, as does every other team in this league, but I’m very, very happy with the way we played and looking forward to the start of the season.”
