By Michel Pierre-Louis
The New England Revolution suffered their 2nd straight defeat to start the 2014 MLS season, after going down 1-0, on Saturday at PPL Park, in Chester, PA.
Looking to bounce back from their 4-0 defeat last week in Houston, the Revolution looked noticeably more organized through the first 20 minutes of the encounter. Newcomer Teal Bunbury made his second consecutive start for the Revs, and was playing as the lone striker. Notably absent from the Revs squad this week, was Jose Goncalves who did not even made the trip to Philadelphia. With a relatively subpar performance last week, and his contract talks still ongoing; this situation will be very interesting to monitor.
The Revolution’ s defense would crack in the 30th minute, when Andrew Farrell, who apparently was looking for a call went down rather softly and allowed Leonardo Fernandez to put the ball into the box where Sebastian Letoux poked it past Shuttleworth to put the Union ahead. Diego Fagundez had a great chance to pull the Revs level in the 38th minute when Teal Bunburry crossed the ball into the box behind all Union defenders, but Fagundez saw his shot blocked by the Union keeper from point blank range.
At the start of the second half, Jay Heaps brought in Jerry Bengston to replace Donnie Smith. Diego Fagundez had another great chance in the 59th, when he struck a powerful shot from well outside the box, that the Union keeper barely managed to punch out for a corner kick. With time running out, and the Revs still trailing by a goal, Revs’ coach Jay Heaps brought in Saer Sene in the 78th to replace Tierney. Despite increasing pressure from the Revolution in the final minutes of the game, they would not be able to even the score.
The New England Revolution have now lost 2 in a row, and conceded 5 goals to start the 2014 season. They will try to score their first goal and look for their first points of the season when they host the Vancouver Whitecaps next Saturday for their home opener.