New England Soccer Today

Staying Alive

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It may have taken a wild own goal and a late Juan Agudelo strike for them to pull it off, but the Revolution will take it as the seventh-place squad claimed an important 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

The critical sequence unfolded in the 75th minute when Kei Kamara sent it toward the left edge of the area, where Lee Nguyen fired a shot that smacked off the post and ricocheted off defender Kevin Ellis before it settled into the Kansas City net.

Agudelo put the match out of reach in the 83rd minute when he blasted a ball from Kamara into the upper netting to keep the Revolution’s postseason hopes alive.

The own goal came nearly half-an-hour after Dom Dwyer put the match on level terms on a ball that was set up by Ellis and Benny Feilhaber in the 49th minute.

Kamara opened the scoring inside of four minutes by toeing Sporting’s high line, then darting ahead to grab a pass from Juan Agudelo before running alone on Tim Melia and burying it inside of four minutes.

Kelyn Rowe, who missed last week’s match due to illness, returned to the lineup and was a key part of the squad’s offensive forays early. He nearly found an opportunity to grab goal no. 2 when Kamara played him through inside the box where Rowe’s shot was immediately walled by Melia.

While Rowe’s return was a welcome development for the Revolution, the likes of Jose Goncalves and Gershon Koffie remained out of action as they continued to nurse lingering injuries.

Saturday’s victory boosted the Revolution’s postseason chances with only two games remaining. Following next weekend’s bye, the locals will close out the season at Chicago (Oct. 16) before facing Montreal in the season finale in Foxborough on Oct. 23.

New England is a combined 4-1-0 against the Fire and Impact across all competitions this season.

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