Final: Revs 3, Sporting KC 2

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Jermaine Jones picked the perfect time to score his first MLS goal, striking for the game-winner in the 85th minute to help the New England Revolution claim a 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City tonight at Sporting Park.

After taking a 2-0 lead into halftime behind goals from Kelyn Rowe and Jose Goncalves, the Revs surrendered two quick goals two minutes apart early in the second half to pull the game level at 2-2. But Jones’ goal, a 30-yard strike that beat SKC goalkeeper Eric Kronberg low, inside his left post, put the Revs ahead for good and helped the team claim it’s first-ever win at Sporting Park.

The victory also lifted the Revolution over SKC in the Eastern Conference standings, gaining the second spot by virtue of the first tie-breaker. While both New England and Kansas City have 45 points through 30 games, the Revs have 14 wins to KC’s 13.

Rowe’s 22nd minute goal gave the Revs a 1-0 lead, and then Goncalves pushed the lead to two goals in the 35th minute when he collected the ball inside his own half of the field and dribbling uncontested to the edge of the Kansas City penalty are before firing a low shot that beat Kronberg.

Coming out of the half, SKC pressed and came up with two goals in two minutes. Paulo Nagamura was played in behind the Revs’ defense and found space to pull Kansas City within one in the 54th minute, before Dom Dwyer scored his 20th goal of the season in the 56th minute.

Key Plays
·         4’ – SKC’s Dom Dwyer takes a freekick from more than 25 yards out that clears the wall but is narrowly wide of Bobby Shuttleworth’s goal | WATCH THE PLAY
·         8’ – YELLOW CARD: NE’s Daigo Kobayasi is booked for a professional foul on Benny Feilhaber | WATCH THE PLAY
·         22’ – NE GOAL! Kelyn Rowe first-times Kevin Alston’s cross from the right wing, sliding his shot under Eric Kronberg to the far post for the 1-0 Revs lead | WATCH THE GOAL
·         26’ – NE’s Charlie Davies’ curled shot from 16 yards is wide after Lee Nguyen plays him in behind the SKC defense | WATCH THE PLAY
·         35’ – NE GOAL! Jose Goncalves creates his own chance, dribbling the ball out of the back all the way to the edge of the SKC penalty area before firing a low shots underneath Eric Kronberg for a 2-0 Revs lead | WATCH THE GOAL
·         39’ – YELLOW CARD: SKC’s Jorge Claros shown yellow for a tackle outside the box on Lee Nguyen | WATCH THE PLAY
·         40’ – NE’s Chris Tierney’s free kick from nearly 30 yards out curls around the wall to the near post, but is saved by Eric Kronberg | WATCH THE PLAY

HALFTIME SCORE: New England Revolution 2, Sporting Kansas City 0

·         55’ – SKC GOAL! Paulo Nagamura takes a feed from defender Kevin Ellis and gets behind the Revs’ backline, sending his shot high past Bobby Shuttleworth to cut the Revs’ lead to 2-1 | WATCH THE GOAL
·         56’ – SKC GOAL! Antonio Dovale’s deep cross to the far post finds Paulo Nagamura, who heads back across the face of goal for Dom Dwyer to bundle over the line from close range, tying the score at 2-2 | WATCH THE GOAL
·         61’ – YELLOW CARD: SKC’s Graham Zusi shown a yellow card for a foul on Daigo Kobayashi
·         63’ – SKC’s Graham Zusi rips a shot from outside the box off a feed from Soony Saad, but Bobby Shuttleworth makes the save | WATCH THE PLAY
·         67’ – SKC’s Paulo Nagamura rips a shot from the edge of the area after a broken play, but Bobby Shuttleworth makes another save
·         85’ – NE GOAL! Jermaine Jones takes Lee Nguyen’s short feed and smacks a shot past Eric Kronberg from 30 yards out | WATCH THE GOAL
·         89’ – YELLOW CARD: NE’s Jose Goncalves shown a yellow for a tackle on Graham Zusi | WATCH THE PLAY
·         90’ – YELLOW CARD: SKC’s Matt Besler shown yellow for a tackle on Charlie Davies | WATCH THE PLAY
·         94” – YELLOW CARD: NE’s Charlie Davies shown a yellow card | WATCH THE PLAY

FINAL SCORE: New England Revolution 3, Sporting Kansas City 2

Santander Man of the Match
Jermaine Jones – Jones scored the first goal of his MLS career in the 85th minute, breaking a 2-2 draw and giving the Revs the full three points and a sweep of the season series against Sporting Kansas City.

Next Game
The Revolution return home to face the Columbus Crew on Saturday, October 4 at Gillette Stadium. That game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown live on Comcast SportsNet.

TV: Comcast SportsNet
Tickets: Start at $25 and are available through Ticketmaster outlets and the Revolution Box Office at (877) GET-REVS (438-7387)

New England Revolution at Sporting Kansas City
September 26, 2014 – Sporting Park (Kansas City, Kan.)

New England Revolution 3, Sporting Kansas City 2

Scoring Summary:
NE – Kelyn Rowe 4 (Kevin Alston 2, Teal Bunbury 5) 21’
NE – Jose Goncalves 1 (Unassisted) 35’
SKC – Paulo Nagamura 2 (Kevin Ellis 2) 54’
SKC – Dom Dwyer 20 (Paulo Nagamura 3, Antonio Dovale 3) 56’
NE – Jermaine Jones 1 (Lee Nguyen 5) 85’

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Daigo Kobayashi (Yellow Card) 8’
SKC – Jorge Claros (Yellow Card) 39’
SKC – Graham Zusi (Yellow Card) 61’
NE – Jose Goncalves (Yellow Card) 89’
SKC – Matt Besler (Yellow Card) 90’
NE – Charlie Davies (Yellow Card) 94+

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth; Kevin Alston, Jose Goncalves ©, Andrew Farrell, Chris Tierney; Daigo Kobayashi (Scott Caldwell 65’), Jermaine Jones; Teal Bunbury (Steve Neumann 80’), Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe (Darrius Barnes 92+); Charlie Davies

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Diego Fagundez, Tony Taylor, Patrick Mullins

STATS: Shots 11, Shots on target 5, Saves 4, Corner kicks 2, Offsides 2, Fouls 9, Possession 36.5%, Passes 268 (60.1%)

Sporting Kansas City: Eric Kronberg; Igor Juliao, Kevin Ellis, Matt Besler ©, Seth Sinovic; Jorge Claros, Paulo Nagamura (C.J. Sapong 91+), Benny Feilhaber; Antonio Dovale (Soony Saad 61’), Dom Dwyer, Graham Zusi.

Substitutes Not Used: Andy Gruenebaum, Erik Palmer-Brown, Mikey Lopez, Jimmy Medranda, Claudio Bieler

STATS: Shots 15, Shots on target 6, Saves 2, Corner kicks 7, Offsides 3, Fouls 12, Possession 63.5%, Passes 463 (75.8%)

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Assistant Referees: Sean Hurd (AR1) and Jonathan Johnson (AR2)
Fourth Official: Edvin Jurisevic

Weather: Clear and 79 degrees
Attendance: 19,522

Team Records:
Sporting Kansas City: 13-11-6, 45 pts.
New England Revolution: 14-13-3, 45 pts.

Additional Game Notes

With the win, the Revs are now 14-13-3 on the season for 45 points … they are tied with Sporting Kansas City for second place in the Eastern Conference, but own the tiebreaker on SKC as a result of having more wins on the season.
New England is now three points behind D.C. United for first place in the East … United host the Philadelphia Union on Saturday afternoon at RFK Stadium.
This was New England’s first-ever win at Sporting Park after having gone 0-2-2 in their first four regular-season games at the venue.
The Revs are now 17-25-12 all-time against Sporting Kansas City … this is just the third time that they have won three straight games against Kansas City.
Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made four changes to the squad that suffered a 1-0 loss to Columbus last weekend … Kevin Alston, Teal Bunbury, Jermaine Jones and Chris Tierney all returned to the starting lineup, replacing Darrius Barnes, Scott Caldwell, Diego Fagundez and A.J. Soares … Barnes, Caldwell and Fagundez each began the game on the bench while Soares did not travel as a result of tightness in his right calf.
In addition to Soares, Andy Dorman (right knee sprain) and Stephen McCarthy (left meniscus surgery) also missed the game because of injury.
Kevin Alston got the start at right back in place of Andrew Farrell, who shifted to central defense in place of the injured Soares … this was his first start since August 16 against Portland … he exited that game midway through the first half with a hamstring injury … it was his first start at right back since the season-opening defeat to Houston on March 8.
Chris Tierney was making his first start since suffering a sprained left MCL on July 26 against Columbus … he made his first appearance since that game last weekend, coming on as a second half substitute against the Crew.
The central defensive pairing of Farrell and Goncalves last started a regular-season game together on July 16 against the LA Galaxy.
This was the first time this season that this quartet of defenders started a game for the Revs, making it the eighth different back four that has started a game for the club this season … prior to this game, Jay Heaps had started the same back four in six consecutive matches.
Teal Bunbury returned to the starting lineup after missing last weekend’s loss to the Crew while serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation … he played for Sporting Kansas City from 2010-13, helping them win the 2012 U.S. Open Cup and 2013 MLS Cup before being traded to the Revs in February.
The Revolution took a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute when Kelyn Rowe scored his fourth goal of the season … all four of his goals have come in the last 10 games, with the revs going 7-2-1 in that time.
Rowe is now tied with Teal Bunbury and Patrick Mullins for third on the club in goals … only Lee Nguyen (13) and Diego Fagundez (5) have more.
Kevin Alston and Teal Bunbury were each credited with assists on the goal … for Alston, it was second on the season while for Bunbury it was his fifth … that is a new career-high for each player.
This was the first time that the Revs had scored first in a game since August 30 when they beat Toronto FC 3-0 at BMO Field … they had fallen behind 1-0 in each of their last four games before tonight, though they were 3-1-0 in that time.
Jose Goncalves doubled the Revolution lead in the 35th minute with his first goal of the season.
That was the third goal of Goncalves’ MLS career with all three coming on the road in Revolution wins.
Sporting Kansas City tied the game with a pair of goals in the 54th and 56th minutes … the two goals in two minutes were the closest pair of goals allowed by the Revs this season.
This was the first time the Revolution had conceded more than one goal in a game since a 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls on August 2 at Red Bull Arena … that was also the last time that the Revs had conceded more than a single goal in the second half.
Jermaine Jones scored the eventual game-winner in the 85th minute, beating Sporting goalkeeper Eric Kronberg from 30 yards out … that was his first goal of the season and the first of his MLS career.
Jones is the 13th different player to score a goal for the Revs this season.
Lee Nguyen was credited with the lone assist on Jones’ goal … that was his fifth assist of the season.
Nguyen is now tied with Teal Bunbury and Kelyn Rowe for the team-lead in assists with five.
After being called upon to make just a single save in the first half, Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth made three in the second half to finish the game with four.
Daigo Kobayashi was shown his fourth yellow card of the season and is now one caution away from a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
Chris Tierney was not booked in the game meaning that he has had one card expunged from his record and is no longer on yellow card warning.
Steve Neumann came on in the 80th minute, replacing Teal Bunbury … this was his MLS-high 19th substitute appearance of the season.
Diego Fagundez was an unused substitute for the game … this was the first regular-season game that he did not appear in this year … Daigo Kobayashi is now the only Revolution player to have appeared in all 30 of the club’s regular-season matches.
This was the third consecutive road game that the Revolution had played in front of a capacity crowd … the team is 2-1-0 in those three games.