New England Soccer Today

Early Returns

Saer Sene (left) and Jose Moreno may give the Revolution a formidable one-two punch up top this season. (Photo of Sene: Joshua Pearson. Photo of Moreno: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)

 

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For the first time this season, the Revolution finally featured what could be considered a legitimate first-choice striking tandem on Saturday.

After using a variety of pairings and deployments up top, head coach Jay Heaps finally found the opportunity to scribble down the names of Saer Sene and Jose Moreno on his lineup sheet against D.C. United. And it didn’t take long for the tandem to bear fruit.

Six minutes into the match, Sene crossed an impeccably-weighted ball from the left flank into the box, where Moreno met it with his right foot and buried it. Just the way it was scripted.

“You can see the quality that they have,” Revolution keeper Matt Reis said. “And it’s going to help us in the long run.”

Although it may be early, the offseason acquisitions of Sene and Moreno have Revs fans optimistic. Since Taylor Twellman’s last game on the field – back in 2009 – the forwarding corps often struggled to put points on the board.

But through the team’s first six games, the duo have already accumulated 60% of the team’s goals. Granted the sample size may be small, but it’s indicative of the fact that the team’s finally getting some much-needed production in the final third.

And even though the early returns have been favorable, Heaps acknowledges that his imposing (Sene at 6-3, Moreno at 6-0) goalscoring tandem still needs more minutes on the field before a bonafide partnership can be fully established.

“It’s their first time getting reps together in a real game,” Heaps said. “They looked good at times. I think Moreno’s still getting used to what we’re going to be able to do off of him. He’s trying to hold the ball and there’s players running off.”

Fortunately for Heaps, he’ll have two weeks worth of training time to integrate Moreno, who joined the team less than a month ago, in the mix with the team on its bye this week. Although it may not be game action, any amount of time that Moreno and Sene can work with their teammates, even on the practice field, certainly can’t hurt.

“It’s going to take a little time for us to incorporate them into the team,” Reis said. “But having the next two weeks is going to help a lot.”

And the Revolution will need all the help it can get from the tall striking tandem. Though both have combined to score the majority of the team’s goals, the unavoidable truth is that the Revs have already been shutout in three of its first six games. So, it goes without saying that there’s still a lot of work to do to get all the cylinders firing.

Even so, Heaps couldn’t help but be encouraged by what he saw from his strikers on Saturday.

“I liked some of the stuff they did,” Heaps said. “And the other stuff was just a little bit (off), (it’s) just (from) not having played together. The more reps we can get together with them, the better they’ll be.”

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