New England Soccer Today

Soares: Teams Foul Us “Because We Play Really Good Soccer”

Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber suffered an early foul at the hands of Patrice Bernier during Sunday’s contest against the Impact. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – You couldn’t tell the Revolution were in the throes of a six-game winless spell with the way Revolution defender A.J. Soares was describing the team’s overall form following Sunday’s game.

Although the Revolution have been held to a pair of goals amid the skid, Soares believes that their opponents have employed rough tactics to combat his club’s attacking style of play.

“People foul (us) because we play really good soccer,” Soares said after the 1-0 loss to Montreal. “We move the ball really well. Teams can’t hang with us when we have it, so they hack us down and we just have to deal with it.”

But when asked how the team can finally put a stop to the disruptive approach, the second-year center back hinted at an obvious problem area.

“If we got a little bit better on set pieces, maybe,” Soares said. “Overall, (there’s) no single reason why we haven’t scored alot off of set pieces because the service has been great. I feel like we’re getting the balls, but sometimes it just doesn’t bounce your way.”

Bad bounces are one thing. However, the fact that the Revolution have only scored one goal off a set piece this season seems to suggest that it’s more than just an uncooperative ball keeping the club from capitalizing.

Meanwhile, Soares says he has no complaints about the physical style other teams bring to Gillette Stadium. Granted, he admitted that he wasn’t happy to see the Impact chop down Benny Feilhaber twice during Sunday’s clash.

But, at the same token, the former UCLA Bruin, who’s accumulated two yellow cards in his last three games, has no problem mixing it up on the field.

“I like the physical part of the play,” Soares said. “I like hitting guys…but not in a dirty way. That’s just my job on this team. I have to be physical.”

While he doesn’t mind dishing it out when necessary, he is aware that the team can’t continue to get pushed into a corner. At some point, they’ll have to make an opponent pay right where it hurts the most: on the scoreboard.

“We have to adjust more, I guess, and get a little bit better when they do foul us,” Soares said. “We’re playing some good soccer. We’re getting behind defenses, we’re shooting the ball well, and we’re hitting the goal, like we did (Sunday). It’s just not going our way right now.”

Even so, Soares, for his part, doesn’t expect the winless streak to last much longer.

“I know we have great players up the field,” Soares said. “We’ll turn it around.”

2 Comments

Leave a Reply