In a beautiful day in New England the Revolution lost for the second consecutive game, losing 2-1 to D.C. United. Once again the Revs got an early goal, but their Achilles heel of conceding late, came back to haunt them again.
Revolution coach Jay Heeps gave Jose Moreno his first New England start and he showed his class when he scored in the 6th minute. Sene put over a brilliant cross from the left, and Moreno showed the kind of touch in front of goal that the Revs have been missing since Taylor Twellman retired and Clint Dempsey was sold.
New England was without Sharie Joseph due to suspension and with Benny Feilhaber only fit enough for a place on the bench, the Revs were short handed in midfield and it was not a surprise that as the first-half progressed that MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario started to stamp his authority on the game.
And it was no surprise when DC United equalized after 19 minutes. Poor New England defending allowed DeRo’s time to attempt a bicycle kick and his shot/cross was headed in by Maicon Santos.
The Revs best opportunities in the first half came from dead ball situations as Chris Tierney is developing into one of the best dead ball players in the league. He almost got his second goal of the season in the 28th minute when his free kick hit the post and six minutes later he saw another free kick hit the side netting.
The second half was very entertaining with both teams going for the win and creating chances. But it was DC who got the winner when the New England defense stood of Pontius and allowed him to turn and curl the ball past Riess from just inside the box. Really nice finish but poor defending by McCarthy to give Pontius too much time.
So the Revs fall to 2-4 now on the season. With all the changes that New England made in the offseason, we knew that it would take this young side time to jell together. And on today’s display that is very much the case.
Moreno looks like a good signing up-front while Sene and Nguyen have impressed through the first six games. Once Moreno, Sene, Nguyen plus Benny and Joseph get more playing time together I think that the Revs will be a much better team in the second half of the season than they are now.
The potential problem with that scenario is that the Revs run up a run of losses that just kills the teams confidence before they can gel.That happened last year and that is something that first year coach Jay Heaps has to guard against.
