New England Soccer Today

Revs Blasted by Orlando City

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

Cruel and unusual punishment continued to be the theme for the Revolution on the road this season after they dropped a 6-1 loss to Orlando City at Orlando City Stadium on Wednesday.

A controversial 11th minute red card to Xavier Kouassi left the Revolution shorthanded for the third straight away game, a development that laid the foundation for utter failure as the proceedings progressed.

Antonio Nocerino opened the scoring in the 22nd minute before Seb Hines added another in the 32nd minute. Kaka made it a three-goal gap in the 43rd minute until Lee Nguyen brought one back in the 45+1 minute. Orlando City scored three more after the break as Kaka and Dom Dwyer netted tallies in the 77th and 84th minutes, respectively, before Yoshimar Yotún capped the spree in the 90th minute.

With the loss, the Revolution stay on 38 points (11-15-5) with only three games to go in the regular season. The victory put the lowly Lions on 38 points (10-13-8).

Wednesday’s match started out with plenty of promise for New England thanks to the return of Nguyen and Kouassi to the lineup. But any heady ambitions the guests may have harbored were effectively wiped out just as the home crowd began to settle in.

Inside 11 minutes, Kouassi appeared to get all ball on a tackle against Hines before the video assistant referee gave the play a second look. Moments later, Kouassi was issued a red card, leaving the Revolution with 10 men for the duration.

It didn’t take long for the Lions to take advantage. After Claude Dielna took out Kaka on the right flank, Yotún sent a free kick into the box where Nocerino flicked it through in the 22nd minute.

Yotún was the architect of Orlando City’s second goal when he curled a corner toward the top of the box, where Hines rose and knocked into the New England net ten minutes after Nocerino’s strike.

The bleeding didn’t end there. On a run deep into Revolution territory, Kaka cracked a shot from 20 yards that beat Cody Cropper to put the guests in an inescapable ditch in the 43rd minute.

Despite the strike from the talented Brazilian, New England showed some fight in first half stoppage time. On a free kick from 20 yards, Nguyen blasted it into the back of the net to give the Revolution some measure of redemption going into the break.

The second stanza proved nearly as eventful for the hosts. Kaka brought the crowd to its feet when he tapped through a loose ball in the box to restore the three-goal lead in the 77th minute while Dom Dwyer blasted a shot from the left that bulged the back of the net seven minutes later. Yotun converted a pass from Richie Laryea on the edge of full time to complete the embarrassment for the Revolution.

Fortunately for the Foxboro selection, who now sport a road record of 0-13-3, only one more match away from Gillette Stadium remains on the schedule: an Oct. 22 date against the Impact at Montreal.

The Revolution return to action on Saturday when they host Atlanta United FC at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is 7:30pm. The last time these teams met, Atlanta United went on a spree and, well, you know what happened.

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