WASHINGTON, D.C. – It was the New England Revolution’s strong reaction to conceding a pair of goals that earned them a point in last weekend’s draw with Orlando City SC. Unfortunately it was their lack of a reaction to conceding the opening goal on Saturday that led to a frustrating 3-0 loss to D.C. United.
The Revs were on top through the opening stages, registering the first five shots of the game through just eight minutes, but Lamar Neagle’s 33rd-minute penalty kick turned the tides as the Revs lost their spark at RFK Stadium.
“We weren’t in sync,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “We started the game well. I felt like we were going to play well, and unfortunately we played about 30 minutes. After the penalty kick call, we put our heads down. We didn’t react real well.”
Just minutes before the penalty New England was forced to make a change as Chris Tierney went off with a left hamstring injury, replaced by London Woodberry. Je-Vaughn Watson shifted to the left side of defense as Woodberry took over on the right.
The move seemed to disrupt the Revolution’s rhythm – Tierney had been heavily involved down the left wing – and it was ultimately Watson who fouled Marcelo Sarvas to concede the penalty.
“It shouldn’t influence it as much as it did, but it did,” Heaps said of the changes. “We had to make a couple moves across the backline, but on the night we weren’t good enough whether we made one or two changes. It just wasn’t good enough.”
After the halftime break Heaps made a series of attack-minded tactical adjustments, bringing on Charlie Davies and Daigo Kobayashi while also shifting pieces in the attacking third. At one point Lee Nguyen shifted to the wing and Kelyn Rowe moved central, while Diego Fagundez rotated wings frequently.
The moves, designed to provide a spark, didn’t bring forth the desired outcome.
“(We were trying to) shake it up a little bit and get a little bit different look,” said Heaps. “We worked on that this week, moving guys around across that frontline. Unfortunately we were just a little bit off on the passing.”
The loss leaves the Revolution with just one win from their first eight games (1-2-5) and puts extra emphasis on a pair of home games in a four-day span coming up this week. They’ll host the defending MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers on Wednesday night before Orlando comes to town on Saturday.
“Any home game for us is huge, [especially] having back to back in a tough week,” said Rowe. “It’s good to be home for those last two games because our bodies are going to be hurting, but our fans are going to be there for us.”
