Player Ratings: Sporting Kansas City at New England Revolution

Rookie Andrew Farrell put in a good performance, despite the Revolution’s struggles with the wind. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Brian O’Connell and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the New England Revolution’s 0-0 draw with Sporting Kansas City.

Matt Reis – Average Rating:  6.25 (Brian 5.5, Sean 7)
Confident inside his own area, but distribution struggled given the conditions. Shook off an early episode of miscommunication with Caldwell and snuffed out a Bieler breach in the second half. (Brian) … It wasn’t Reis’ busiest night, but he was quick off his line-up when he needed to be and made a huge 73rd minute save to deny Claudio Bieler on a breakaway and preserve the shutout. (Sean)

Kevin Alston – Average Rating: 4.75 (Brian 4.5, Sean 5)
Slow to react on Sapong’s 18th minute shot; throw-ins were ineffective, but strung together some decent passes. (Brian) … Solid showing defensively facing some physical attackers, but lost C.J. Sapong on his 19th minute chance. Rarely ventured forward and found teammates with just seven of his 19 throw-ins. (Sean)

A.J. Soares – Average Rating: 4.5 (Brian 4, Sean 5)
A clinic on playing it out of the back it was not; had nearly twice as many passes off target as on target; otherwise did a decent job of winning balls inside the defending third. (Brian) … Played strong in the air to defend Kansas City’s long balls, but his distribution out of the back – even given the conditions – was poor, mostly blasting long balls forward and finding teammates just 34% of the time. (Sean)

Jose Goncalves – Average Rating: 4.75 (Brian 4, Sean 5.5)
Fell into the same trap as Soares, trying to hoof it down the field whenever the opportunity presented itself. Shout for penalty was a bit of a stretch. (Brian) … Distribution was only slightly better than Soares, but made some key plays defensively to help preserve the shutout. (Sean)

Andrew Farrell – Average Rating: 5.75 (Brian 5.5, Sean 6)
Had the best day amongst the back four in terms of passing accuracy; provided width heavily involved in the defensive effort. (Brian) … Given the conditions, Farrell was one of the better players on the pitch at finding teammates with his passes. Had a few decent forays forward, including one that led to a penalty shout when his cross was blocked by a Sporting defender’s upper arm. Only found teammates with seven of 14 throw-ins. (Sean)

Lee Nguyen – Average Rating: 5 (Brian 5, Sean 5)
Coughed it up too often, and looked the most uncomfortable with the wind wreaking havoc. (Brian) … Struggled to get much going offensively in the conditions and had trouble adjusting his set pieces to the wind. Still, did an OK job helping the Revs maintain possession and unlike many of his teammates was smart with his throw-ins, finding teammates on all seven. (Sean)

Cylde Simms – Average Rating: 5.5 (Brian 5, Sean 6)
Another Simms-like performance – short passes, often back to his defenders, rarely pressed the issue. (Brian) … One of a few players to leave the match with a decent passing percentage, though as per usual, his forward passes were few and far between. Made a crucial sliding block on Sapong’s 19th minute shot to keep Kansas City off the scoreboard. (Sean)

Scott Caldwell – Average Rating: 5.75 (Brian 5.5, Sean 6)
Connected on a team-high 38 passes, and bolstered the defense with 10 recoveries; another solid outing by the Homegrown player. (Brian) … Solid passing despite the wind. Some good plays defensively, but like the rest of the team, was unable to get anything going offensively. (Sean)

Kelyn Rowe – Average Rating: 5.25 (Brian 5, Sean 5.5)
Solid defensive stand made up for the lack of consistency when he crossed the halfway line. Passes went awry too often. (Brian) … Struggled to get anything going offensively, but salvaged his night with some big plays defensively. Has shown lots of improvement over last season in his defensive game. (Sean)

Juan Toja – Average Rating: 5.5 (Brian 5.5, Sean 5.5)
Involved himself often, and nearly squeezed one through on a 77th minute free kick (Brian) … Had the only decent shot of the night for the Revolution, coming close with a late free kick. Solid passing numbers given the conditions, but couldn’t get anything going around the box. (Sean)

Chad Barrett – Average Rating:  4.75 (Brian 4.5, Sean 5)
Showed good fight chasing down long ball after long ball, but the tempo of the game conspired against him. (Brian) … Effort was there, but didn’t see much of the ball and despite physicality couldn’t get on the end of many long balls as he was often isolated up top. (Sean)

(sub) Ryan Guy – Average Rating: 4.5 (Brian 4.5, Sean 4.5)
Beat up pretty badly in an unremarkable cameo that saw him lose possession far too often. (Brian) … Worked hard up top and paid for it by taking several hard hits, but was unable to create anything offensively in his time on the pitch. (Sean)

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