Three times the opportunity has been on the table and three times the New England Revolution have whiffed on a chance to punch their ticket to the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.
On Saturday night, the Revs looked to be in the driver’s seat, once again, after going up 1-0 on the Chicago Fire in the first half. But a second half implosion spelled doom for New England, whose frustrations bubbled to the surface at the end of a 3-1 defeat.
Those frustrations were even more evident post-match.
“All three of the games were different in how frustrating they’ve been,” said head coach Jay Heaps in reference to the club’s 3-0 loss to Montreal and 1-1 draw to Philadelphia leading up to Saturday’s match vs. Chicago. “Whatever the situation is, for today we didn’t have a great second half. And that’s frustrating. Points and all that those go with it. It’s more frustrating from a performance standpoint.”
The Revs seemed to be in control of things early against the Fire and when Chris Tierney’s left-side cross was headed home by Juan Agudelo in the 31st minute, they looked ready to roll to victory.
“I thought it was a tale of two halves,” said Heaps. “We came in with the right mentality, and it was a very good [first] half, and the second half we absolutely lost our way. We did not play well.”
Slowly but surely the facade started to crumble after the second-half whistle sounded. Within six minutes the Fire had leveled after New England coughed the ball up in the middle third of the field, allowing David Accam to slice through the back line for the tying strike.
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Eight minutes later another costly turnover allowed Chicago a golden opportunity to go ahead, this one coming from an unlikely source. Andrew Farrell got turned the wrong way on a ball in the Revs' own end and Harry Shipp swooped in to pick the ball and walk in all alone on goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to give the Fire a 2-1 lead at the 59-minute mark.
“They did great to finish,” Heaps said. “We never should have been in a position to give them the ball where they [got] it both times. They finished and I want to credit them. I don’t want to say that we handed them anything, they did well to finish them. We were assisting their opportunities.”
Gilberto’s 86th-minute goal sealed the Revs' fate and now they must sit on this loss, and the prior two results, for a bit as they are off the schedule next week. The chase for a playoff berth continues on another day – October 17 vs. the Montreal Impact at Gillette Stadium.
“We are not pointing fingers,” Tierney said. “We will all look in the mirror and take the loss like men together and look to win at home in two weeks.”
