Toronto stuns Revolution

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s playoff hopes took a major dent on Sunday night as they fell 1-0 to Toronto FC in front of 11,543 at Gillette Stadium after surrendering a second minute goal. Toronto FC picked up just their second road win of the season, despite completing just 61.4% of their passes and maintaining just 36.3% of the possession.

Toronto FC opened the scoring with what would prove the game winner in just the second minute after a poor giveaway by Jose Goncalves saw Matia Laba pick up the ball near midfield with the Revolution defense out of position. Laba dribbled all the way into the box, juking around Stephen McCarthy and dribbling around Bobby Shuttleworth before hitting a shot on frame. Scott Caldwell blocked the initial shot, but the ball fell back to Laba, who hit it into the empty net to give the visitors the early lead.

“It was a disappointing night,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “I think that the start that we had put us in a hole and unfortunately you can’t give a goal away in the first 10 minutes of the game. But, we should’ve been able to get back in it and we didn’t, but I’m not going to sit here and not credit Toronto. Give the team credit, they got the win and we didn’t.”

The loss left New England (8-8-6, 30 points) in sixth place in the East, three points behind Houston for the fifth and final playoff spot, while Toronto (4-10-8, 20 points) remain in ninth place.

New England made two changes to the team that won 2-1 at D.C. United last weekend, starting  Scott Caldwell over Clyde Simms and Juan Toja  over Kelyn Rowe. The changes seemed to make little immediate difference as the Revolution got off to a slow start and fell behind early for the second straight match.

“That goal just killed us,” said Revolution defender Chris Tierney. “Giving away an early goal, we’ve been talking about starts and how we need to improve them. Same thing tonight, we just didn’t start well. It’s the same thing tonight, we just didn’t start well. I don’t know what the issue is, but it’s such a poor goal for us to concede, especially because we knew they were going to try to nip one on the counter and sit in, which is exactly what they did.”

After falling to an early deficit, New England’s first chance came in the 10^th minute when Tierney found Diego Fagundez with a cross from the left flank after a Revolution throw-in. Fagundez attempted a header, but his effort was just high of the crossbar.

Fagundez was in the think of the action again in the 13^th minute. Dimitry Imbongo broke into the left side of the box and with little angle, blasted a shot on frame. His effort was pushed out by goalkeeper Joe Bendik, but fell right to Fagundez. Fagundez powered a shot on frame, but Ashtone Morgan was there to block it off the line.

The Revolution kept on the attack in the 17^th minute and after Andrew Farrell and Saer Sene combined down the right flank, Sene found Lee Nguyen at the top of the 18. Nguyen volleyed a shot on target that a diving Bendik could only push wide for a Revolution corner.

Imbongo then had a chance in the 23^rd minute when Nguyen played him through the defense. Imbongo ran towards the six yard box, but under pressure, sent his shot into the side netting.

The Revolution came close again in the 34^th minute after Farrell acrobatically bicycle kicked a cross into the box that found Imbongo. Imbongo chested the ball to Diego who got just enough on it to send the ball past Bendik, but saw his effort cleared off the line by a defender for the second time in the first half.

Sene then should’ve equalized for the Revolution in the 42^nd minute when Imbongo hammered a shot across goal. Bendik tipped the ball to Sene, who, with a gapping net to shot at, sent his right-footed effort into the side netting.

The second half got off to a slower pace, but the Revolution had a chance in the 59^th minute when Fagundez and Nguyen combined to play Sene into the right side of the box. Sene hit a low shot on frame, but Bendik was able to make the save for a corner kick.

“We just lost our rhythm a little bit [in the second half],” said Tierney. “They sat even deeper in the second half and left some physical guys up top that were chasing balls, so it was tough for us. We couldn’t get a rhythm, we couldn’t figure it out. Service into the box wasn’t good enough, from myself included, and we didn’t finish the few chances that we did get.”

A minute later it was Fagundez with a run into the box, but again Bendik made the save from close range.

New England continued to press for an equalizer, switching to a three man backline in the 74^th minute with Chat Barrett entering for Stephen McCarthy, but the team struggled to breakdown Toronto’s defense as they put more numbers behind the ball.

“It was just [Toronto’s] game plan,” said Nguyen. “They were going to bunker in and they were happy to come away 1-0. It was just unfortunate that we gave a goal up early and that fell right into their game plan. It’s always tough to breakdown a team that plays 11 men behind the ball like that.”

Toronto did well to waste time as the match wore on, but New England had a late chance deep into stoppage off a long free kick from Nguyen. Nguyen curled a cross to the far post where Fagundez volleyed a shot that was denied only by the post. Referee Ricardo Salazar blew the final whistle seconds later, giving Toronto FC the shock win.

New England returns to action on Saturday, Aug. 10 with a difficult away fixture at Sporting Kansas City.

“We’ll look at what we did wrong, what we need to improve on and then it’s on to the next one,” said Tierney. We’re not going to hang our heads for too long. We know there are still plenty of games to be played, but there is definitely a lot that we’ll look at that we can improve upon. The same way we look past winning games like we did the last two, we’ll look past losing this one.”