COLUMBUS CREW vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
Oct. 27, 2013 (WEEK 35, MLS Game #320)
4 p.m. ET (FS-OH; CSN-NE)
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Blacked out in the FOX Sports Ohio broadcast region.
The Columbus Crew close out their 2013 season against a New England Revolution team still in the chase for a playoff spot as the two Eastern Conference clubs complete their season-ending, home-and-home series Saturday afternoon at Crew Stadium. The Revolution won 3-2 last weekend at Gillette Stadium to officially eliminate the Crew and keep alive their hopes for an MLS Cup Playoffs spot, which they will guarantee with a win and some help from other results.
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REFEREE: Hilario Grajeda. AR1 (bench): Paul Scott; AR2 (opposite): Bill Dittmar; 4th: Chris Penso
MLS Career: 98 games; FC/gm: 24.1; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 17; pens: 14
DISABLED LIST: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
FINED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CLB: Bernardo Anor … NE: Dimitry Imbongo
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (59 meetings): Crew 29 wins (4 shootout), 93 goals … Revolution 19 wins (1 shootout), 76 goals … Ties 11
AT COLUMBUS (29 meetings): Crew 16 wins (1 shootout), 57 goals … Revolution 7 wins (1 shootout), 35 goals … Ties 6
2013 (MLS)
7/20: CLB 0, NE 2 (Goncalves 91+; Fagundez 94+)
10/19: NE 3, CLB 2 (Soares 32; Tierney 69; Fagundez 76 – Oduro 59; Schoenfeld 71)
- The teams are meeting in the back end of a home-and-home series to conclude the season. Diego Fagundez’s late game-winner kept the Revolution playoff hopes alive and officially eliminated the Crew in a 3-2 win Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
- In the first meeting this season, Jose Goncalves and Diego Fagundez both scored in second-half stoppage time to give the Revolution a dramatic 2-0 win July 20 at Crew Stadium.
- It was the Revolution’s first win in Columbus since a 1-0 victory on the final day of the 2009 season that gave them a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
- Coaches record: Brian Bliss vs. NE: P4 W0 L1 D3 … Jay Heaps vs. CLB: P5 W3 L1 D1
LAST MEETING (MLS)
- The Revolution took the lead on 32 minutes. Kelyn Rowe drove an inviting free kick toward the near post from the left flank, and A.J. Soares made a determined run to meet it and glanced it home for his first goal of the season.
- The Crew hit for the equalizer just before the hour mark. Second-half substitute Aaron Schoenfeld used some prototypical hold-up work to play Dominic Oduro behind the line, and he then smashed home with a rasping near post drive.
- The Revolution were back ahead 10 minutes later. Crew midfielder Tony Tchani hauled down Andy Dorman on the right side of the penalty area to cap a furious sequence inside the Crew penalty area. Chris Tierney coolly dispatched the resulting spot kick inside the far post.
- Schoenfeld then pegged the Revs back for a second time after 71 minutes with his first MLS goal. Oduro turned provider on this occasion with a perfectly placed feed on the edge of the penalty area. Schoenfeld settled well, turned onto his foot and walloped his effort past Matt Reis.
- Just five minutes later, the Revs again led, this time for good. A sweeping Revolution move started with a long Reis boot up field and proceeded with a flick, a couple of neat passes inside the Crew penalty area and a precise square from Dorman toward the far post, where Diego Fagundez polished it off by turning home to hand the Revs all three points.
- NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-1-4-1): Matt Reis - Andrew Farrell, A.J. Soares, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney (Kevin Alston 78) - Scott Caldwell (Stephen McCarthy 80) - Juan Agudelo, Andy Dorman, Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez - Jerry Bengtson (Dimitry Imbongo 65).
- COLUMBUS CREW (4-4-2): Matt Lampson - Chad Barson, Tyson Wahl, Chad Marshall, Agustin Viana (Ben Speas 70) - Ethan Finlay (Aaron Schoenfeld 46), Tony Tchani (Justin Meram 79), Wil Trapp, Bernardo Anor - Dominic Oduro, Jairo Arrieta.
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew were officially eliminated from contention for the MLS Cup Playoffs with the 3-2 loss to the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium, their second consecutive loss. The Crew are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 41 points from 33 matches.
TEAM NEWS
- Crew interim head coach Brian Bliss made one change to the team that fell 1-0 to Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park. Ethan Finlay came into the side in place of Federico Higuain.
- “We owe it to our fans to put the best product out there. We're not all the sudden going to turn around and throw out seven guys that haven't played all season,” Bliss said of the season finale. “We've got to go play and we've got to go play for our fans and for ourselves. So it's not certainly going to be a game we're throwing away, by no means.”
- The loss officially meant the Crew will not take part in the postseason for a second consecutive season.
- Aaron Schoenfeld made his first appearance since July 20, when he started and played just 36 minutes vs. New England. Schoenfeld scored the first goal of his MLS career and added his first assist of the season, his second in two seasons.
- "There was a little more direct play going, and we decided at half time that if both teams are going to play a little more direct and look for second balls, that [Schoenfeld] would be maybe a little bit more helpful than some of the guys we had on the bench," Bliss said.
- Said Schoenfeld: “As a forward, you're there to score goals and help create goals, so it's kind of a monkey off my back now. When you're there, you want to please the people who believe in you and put you in. I didn't expect to score a goal like that for my first one. But it came off right, and it felt good.”
- For the seventh time in the last 11 games, the Crew scored multiple goals in a game. But unlike the previous six, the Crew did not take the victory. In the other four matches over that span, the Crew were shut out in each -- all defeats.
- “If this was game 17 of the season, we wouldn't have been playing three in the back when we tied it up 2-2 or 1-1. That's insanity,” Bliss said. “But we know the way the game has got to be played to get the results, so there was a high risk involved.”
- Said defender Tyson Wahl: “With all of the implications, we knew it was going to be a battle. Unfortunately, we let too many easy goals in. We had a good fight in the second half, it just wasn't enough tonight. I think we needed to be sharp on a couple more defensive plays and we weren't.”
- Ethan Finlay made his first start since Sept. 7, coming into a wide midfield position, playing just the first half before coming off in favor of Schoenfeld.
- “I think we need to just settle the game down a little bit. (The New England game) was just hectic from the beginning to the end. It never really settled down. It is a tough way to play against a team like that, who is very dynamic and quick on the counter as well,” said midfielder Wil Trapp. “So I think we need to just get a hold of the ball a little bit more and control the pace and make them work a little bit.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution stretched their undefeated run to five games with the win against the Columbus Crew at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are in a tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 48 points from 33 matches.
TEAM NEWS
- Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made two changes to the team that defeated the Montreal Impact 1-0 at Stade Saputo. Andy Dorman started for the suspended Lee Nguyen, and Jerry Bengtson returned from international duty in place of the injured Saer Sene.
- The Revolution have won back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 17-25. They have won three games in a row just once this season – May 18-June 2, vs. Houston, Toronto and LA.
- The Revolution can clinch a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs with a victory in Columbus and any one of Montreal, Chicago or Houston failing to win. A tie or loss, and a loss by Houston and the failure of Philadelphia to win, and the Revs are also likely in the postseason.
- “It’s already a playoff atmosphere. So we’re happy to get the win, but our attacking play bailed us out today, fortunately,” said defender A.J. Soares. “We’re going to take this and go into Columbus next week, know that it’s going to be another battle. We’ve got to win again, basically. At this point of the year, it’s either win or go home. That’s what it is.”
- Diego Fagundez scored his 13th goal of the season, the most for a Revolution player since Taylor Twellman scored 16 goals in 2007. Over his last nine games, Fagundez has six goals and three assists.
- “The bigger the crowd, the bigger the moment, Diego rises to the occasion. I thought he had a good first half and then he was one of the guys that got quiet, but he never gets silent,” Heaps said. “I think he gets quiet and in the break game we couldn’t find him – in that transition break – but he just kept going and he just knows how to score when he gets some time.”
- With Lee Nguyen suspended, Chris Tierney stepped up to convert the penalty kick, his first goal of the season, now having netted a goal in four consecutive seasons.
- A.J. Soares also scored his first goal of 2013, now having scored a league goal in each of his three MLS seasons. The Revolution have had 13 different players score goals this season.
- “I didn’t know that stat, and I like stats. Set pieces, you have to be dangerous and we felt that last game was almost a set piece goal but we stayed active,” said Heaps. “And this one, Kelyn Rowe put a beautiful ball in and A.J. (Soares) attacks the ball. He’s one of our best set piece guys; he’s scored goals like that a few times in his career.”
- With Nguyen suspended, Andy Dorman made his first league start since April 20, the sixth game of the season. In two of his last four appearances, Dorman had come off the substitutes’ bench and been sent off.
- “He works so hard. He won everything in the air that he could get his head to, he controlled the middle, and to me, it showed he was a player that wanted to win it and he was the one who got the game-winning assist. It just was a great play,” said Heaps. “But Andy Dorman, from the time he got … to this game tonight, you just felt, tonight you felt very comfortable with Andy Dorman out there.”
- Jerry Bengtson returned from national team duty with Honduras and stepped into the first XI, his first start since July 17.
