FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Mother Nature forced Jose Goncalves to stay up well past his bed time on Saturday night, but it was worth it.
Goncalves scored the game-winning goal just before midnight as the New England Revolution rode out a pair of weather delays – totaling almost three hours – en route to a 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo.
“At this time I am in bed usually,” Goncalves joked as he spoke with reporters at Gillette Stadium just before 1 a.m. ET. “I had to get permission to stay up a little more.”
The sides started the match on time shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET, but played just 13 scoreless minutes before severe weather rolled through the Foxborough area, prompting a delay of one hour, 51 minutes.
Play resumed shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET and continued through the end of the first half, but another band of storms forced another 61-minute delay before the second half could get underway.
“It was just weird, because they told us we were going out (for the second half) and then we got pushed back,” said Jeremy Hall, who helped the Revs keep a second clean sheet in their last three home games. “It actually wasn’t terrible. We were just all in [the locker room] hanging out, so it went by pretty quick.”
Goncalves admitted that he’d never played in a match with such lengthy delays, but Hall had experience from a few years ago when he was with FC Dallas and a CONCACAF Champions League match against Toronto FC had to be finished the following morning.
Regardless, for the players, it was all about remaining professional and maintaining focus. Hall said some of his teammates rode stationary bikes, soaked in the tub or snacked to stay energized, all in an effort to stay ready without ever knowing exactly when play would resume.
“It was pretty tough,” said Hall. “I think everybody was just professional about it. We came in here, we talked about what we needed to do – when we went back out there finally – to break them down, and I think everybody was just ready for it.”
Whatever the Revs talked about, it worked.
Goncalves broke through with a powerful volley in the 69th minute – his first goal of the year – and second-half substitute Juan Agudelo sealed the victory with an 88th-minute strike.
The win moved the Revs to 3-0-1 in their last four games and pushed them into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference ahead of their second bye week in a three-week span.
“If it takes 90 minutes or three hours, it doesn’t matter,” Goncalves said. “At the end of the day, we needed three points.”
