The New England Revolution’s 4-4 draw at Sporting Kansas City had it all in Week 9: eight goals, two penalty kicks, two red cards and several blown leads. It was one of the wildest MLS games in recent memory.
Revs head coach Brad Friedel was left “disappointed” that his struggling team didn’t leave Children's Mercy Park with all three points, but he also felt hard done by some of the referee decisions.
Head referee Baldomero Toledo sent off New England defenders Jalil Anibaba and Brandon Bye, but Friedel took specific issue with the penalty kick awarded to Sporting Kansas City.
“I’m not going to sit up here and say excuses because the boys put in an incredible effort and being down two men,” Friedel said, “but Mr. [Baldomero] Toledo really needs to have a review of that game. Carles [Gil] is fouled before they go down and get the penalty.
“I’m not sure theirs is a penalty,” Friedel continued. “I think he got our penalty correct. Just so many instances in the game that incensed both Pete [Vermes] and myself to be honest with you. It was a strange one.”
The penalty decisions came in a span of five minutes. The first came in the 58th minute when SKC winger Gerso Fernandes was adjudged to have been fouled by Revs rookie Tajon Buchanan. The next PK call happened in the 62nd minute, as a Video Review decision determined that a Juan Agudelo flick was halted by SKC winger Johnny Russell’s arm.
“I’m not saying it was a simple game to ref,” Friedel said, “but I’m sure just like we do as coaches we’ll go and analyze ourselves and self reflect, and that might be something that [Toledo] needs to do for that one. But in saying that, really proud of the players for at least coming away with a point. And they really showed a great response from our performance on Wednesday.”
As Friedel said, the Revs responded from a 3-0 home loss Wednesday to a Montreal Impact side that arrived via a chartered flight hours before kickoff, and also was without Ignacio Piatti and Saphir Taider, arguably their two best players.
New England failed to register a shot in that match, but showed explosive moments at SKC, including a breakthrough brace for offseason signing Juan Fernando Caicedo. There were also bright moments from 2019 first-round SuperDraft picks Buchanan and DeJuan Jones, with the latter scoring his first-ever MLS goal.
The club is still rock bottom of the Eastern Conference with eight points through 10 games, but Friedel viewed the positives as a step forward.
“We’ve spoken about our lack of goals for a long time but in most games — take the Montreal game aside — we have created chances,” Friedel said. “And it was really nice to some of the chances fall in tonight.
