FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England captain Shalrie Joseph knew exactly how he wanted the Revolution to lay the foundation for the 3-1 victory over Seattle on Saturday night.
In order to counteract any lingering effects from Wednesday night's 2-1 defeat to Monarcas Morelia in the SuperLiga final and pounce on any repercussions from Sounders FC's rigorous travel itinerary this week, Joseph and his teammates wanted to start the match quickly to set the tone for the remainder of the evening.
“As the first whistle blew, I told Matty [Reis, Revolution goalkeeper] – and we talked about it before the game – that we wanted to push the game, take it to them and don't let them breathe,” Joseph told MLSsoccer.com after the match.
“I was yelling at Matt when the ball went out of play to just keep it going, keep it going. They traveled and they played midweek, too. They had to be tired. We had to put the game against Morelia behind us with the MLS season still ahead.”
The approach worked. New England started the match positively, pressed forward often and worked the ball around midfield fairly well. The improvement from the Morelia defeat seemed to prompt a better result on this occasion, but the Revolution once again needed to overcome a pair of persistent weaknesses before reaping the benefits.
Despite creating several chances during the first half, the Revs took none of them. Steve Zakuani punished New England for its profligacy and a momentary lapse at the back by completing a well-worked move off a throw-in by slotting inside the far post after 59 minutes to give Seattle the advantage.
“We gave up a goal just out of nothing,” Joseph said. “It was just a mental lapse. We weren't concentrating hard enough for them to score like that. We had guys behind the ball as usual and we just didn't talk or communicate. That's been our downfall for the last couple of games.”
Instead of folding up shop and submitting to a fifth consecutive loss in all competitions, New England responded with a rare offensive outburst. Chris Tierney notched the equalizer – and his first career goal – by nodding home a Joseph flick-on from Kevin Alston's long throw after 70 minutes.
The goal – plus an earlier incident between Joseph and Seattle defender Patrick Ianni – unsettled the Sounders FC back line and led to two more goals within 11 minutes. Marko Perovic tucked home the match-winner three minutes later after Osvaldo Alonso mistakenly poked the ball toward his own net to create the opportunity, while Kheli Dube stunningly stroked home his first goal of the season nine minutes from time to seal the victory.
“We felt we were pushing it, which we wanted to do,” Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. “We had some chances and couldn’t take them, and obviously going one behind was disappointing to say the least. But the players just kept pushing and we got three goals in the end. But we deserved to win. No doubt about it.”
The early pressure and the late charge handed New England an important boost after the recent skid and showed the Revs possess the necessary fortitude to push forward ahead of a three-match road trip slated to start at Chivas USA on Friday.
“That says a lot,” Revolution forward Ilija Stolica said. “We lost a few games. There were many different reasons why we lost those games – and I don't want to speak about those things – but behind us we had a very difficult and tough game on Wednesday to recover from psychologically. It shows the strong character the team has because we won this crucial game for us.”
