FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – According to New England Revolution midfielder Emmanuel Boateng, a quiet and largely empty postgame locker room said everything that needed to be said about Saturday night’s 2-2 draw with Chicago Fire FC at Gillette Stadium.
“We’re not happy with a tie, for sure,” Boateng told the assembled media. “You can go into the locker room, everybody’s pissed off as if we lost. I think that’s a good mentality for this group. I know Monday everybody’s going to come back in training ready to fight and it will get us ready for the next game for sure.
“I wish you guys would be able to see us on Monday. Come into the locker room, see how guys will be ready to bounce back right away. The good thing is we have another game in three or four days, so we have a chance to right it. A lot of guys are going to be pissed, and they are already pissed – you can go into the locker room and there’s probably only three guys left.”
It wasn’t just that the Revs dropped rare points on Saturday night – only the fourth time they’ve done so this season with a record of 11-1-3 at Gillette Stadium – it was the method in which it happened as the Revs twice gave away leads, including a decisive equalizer in the 88th minute.
For head coach Bruce Arena the ultimate frustration was that the Revs didn’t put the game away with a killer third goal after Gustavo Bou gave the Revolution a 2-1 lead in the 76th minute.
“We should have won that game,” said Arena. “We had chances to get the third goal. We should have been better closing out the game at the end.
“We were obviously looking for that second goal and got it. The third goal was staring at us and we didn’t finish off a few plays.”
Arena did praise the second-half contributions of substitutes Tajon Buchanan and Adam Buksa, both returning from international duty, and Boateng, returning after a four-game injury absence. Buchanan and Buksa came on in the 58th minute and Boateng in the 67th minute, and less than 10 minutes later the Revolution broke through with a second goal.
Despite conceding late the Revs finished the night four points closer to a Supporters’ Shield as Seattle Sounders FC’s loss to the Houston Dynamo dropped the Revolution’s magic number from 11 to seven ahead of a midweek visit to D.C. United at Audi Field. The Revs are 7-1-0 in their last eight road games ahead of that trip.
“Obviously, we wanted to win,” said Wilfrid Kaptoum, who opened the scoring with his first MLS goal, a low drive from outside the box in the 47th minute. “It’s in the past now. We continue to work hard. We have tough games coming up, and then looking even further at the playoffs, we have to continue to improve to be cohesive both offensively and defensively.”
“I know we’re going to turn this around,” added Boateng. “It’s not like we’re in a crisis. It’s just a bad result and we’ll be better in the next game.”
