SANDY, Utah – A disappointing first-half performance from the New England Revolution proved to be too great for the team’s fightback in the second period, and the group that put five past CF Montréal a week ago was not able to repeat the performance Saturday night against Real Salt Lake. Goals either side of halftime for the Claret and Cobalt sealed the deal, and the Revolution’s five-game unbeaten run in all competitions has now been brought to a halt.
Head coach Caleb Porter said after the fulltime whistle that he liked what he saw in the latter stages of the game, particularly once the starting-caliber players on their way back to full fitness were introduced, but that he ultimately took responsibility for the team’s poor performance on the night.
“Not a good first half,” Porter said. “Better second half. I thought we were unlucky not to score in the second half. For me, a key moment in the match was us giving away the first goal with a minute left [before halftime]. Obviously, we weren’t playing well, but we were a minute from getting to halftime, to be able to make adjustments and circle the wagons a bit. To give up that goal, that was a pivotal moment in the match, that can’t happen – really poor goal. I thought second half, again, subs gave us a lift, we played much better; we were better with the ball, our intensity was better, and we created some pretty good chances, I felt. But overall, just not enough today to win the game; we did not deserve to win the game.”
That first goal came from an unfortunate error, an under-hit back pass from defender Xavier Arreaga to goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič that opened the door for RSL forward Anderson Julio to swoop in. Ivačič, who recorded a season-high eight saves on the night, made clear after the game that it was not the team’s job to lay blame for mistakes, but rather to maintain a strong mentality and move on to the next one together.
“It’s a tough game that we have to forget,” the keeper said. “Tomorrow’s a new day. It’s the same: you either win or you lose, tomorrow’s the same, you need to recover and look forward. But tonight it simply wasn’t enough from us. But I don’t want to sound negative now; we have to keep looking forward and stay positive.”
He went on: “Mistakes are going to happen, and we are never going to blame each other for mistakes, because this is not a choice. Mistakes happen to better players than us and it’s part of the game. But what we can [expect from] each other is fight, it’s attitude, because that’s a choice; mistakes, they are not a choice, it’s going to happen. As I said, we’re not going to blame each other for that. But tonight, we didn’t fight enough, I think. We didn’t want it enough today.”
The team did see improvements in the second half, particularly once wingers Dylan Borrero and Luca Langoni, as well as striker Giacomo Vrioni, were on the field. Each player was involved in dangerous attacks, with Vrioni at one point agonizingly hitting the upright, and as these pieces draw nearer to full match fitness, Porter feels that the bright spots from the second half will be built on.
“The front three that we subbed into the match, they were dangerous, lively, and we were much better in the final third,” the coach said. “I’m glad that those guys are going to be close to being able to play major minutes now. They needed another game; we felt that they were kind of 30 to 45 minutes fit, max, so now we feel like they’ll be close to 60, hopefully with a good week of training. So that gives us a lot of optimism for the next game.”
And moving on to that next game is just about the best thing the Revs could do from here. Ivačič stressed the importance of keeping focused on what was ahead as the team continues to push for the playoffs, even with five of their remaining nine games away from home.
“We have to keep looking forward,” Ivačič said. “We have nine games left. It’s simple: we need to win five or six games, either at home or on the road – it doesn’t matter at this point. We showed that we are capable of winning on the road.”
