Farrell: “I Don’t Think We Can Take Anything” From SKC Loss
- Updated: August 11, 2013
Andrew Farrell refused to point fingers after Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Sporting K.C. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)
It was a game in which nothing went right and everything went wrong for the Revolution.
Whether it was their league-leading defense giving up three goals, the red cards issued to Dimitry Imbongo and Andy Dorman, or Benny Feilhaber bagging one against his ex-teammates, Saturday’s 3-0 loss at Sporting Park was one to forget for the guests.
“Sometimes you can take something from a loss, but I don’t think we can take anything from this game,” Revolution right back Andrew Farrell told the media after the game. “We knew we had to play well, and we just didn’t do that tonight.”
While referee Baldomero Toledo may have unduly taken criticism for how Saturday’s game played out, the fact is the only party to blame for the Revolution played at Sporting Park was the Revolution themselves.
Whether it was their possession rate, which fell below 25% during certain five-minute increments, or their inability to complete passes in the first 20 minutes (56% percent passing completion rate), there were plenty of indications that Saturday was not going to be the Revolution’s night.
And in the 25th minute, their typically-stout defense conceded the only goal Sporting K.C. needed when Soony Saad crossed it to Kei Kamara, who rose above Kevin Alston and buried it to put the hosts on top
“We didn’t start that well and gave up a goal in the first half,” Farrell said. “But even then, we had a lot of chances and the game could have gone either way. Had we scored any of our chances, we would have been in it.”
The best the Revolution could do by way of dangerous chances before the interval came in the 40th minute. Lee Nguyen played a long ball ahead of Imbongo, who beat the K.C. backline and had a clear path to goal. But Jimmy Nielsen raced over, then kicked away Imbongo’s shot to snuff out the opportunity.
Kamara struck again shortly after the break, with Saad serving as the architect again. Kamara’s powerful header eluded Bobby Shuttleworth before it nestled inside the net in the 50th minute.
“The key on the road is to defend and take your chances when you create them,” Revolution midfielder Chris Tierney told the media after the game.”We had some good chances in the first half but they didn’t go in for us. Their second goal and then the red cards killed us off.”
The first red card came in the 65th minute, when Imbongo earned his second yellow after throwing his elbow into the face of Uri Rossel. The second came when Dorman, who only came on minutes earlier, when he went in on a dangerous tackle from behind on Kamara near the halfway line during the 86th minute.
The final moment of indignation came two minutes into stoppage time, when Feilhaber, the ex-Rev himself, scored from a free kick in the shadow of the 18 in what can only be described as an irony of ironies.
Although Toledo’s cards may have cast him as a villain in the eyes of some Revolution partisans, Farrell felt the blame lay square on him and his teammates.
“We’ve just got to find a way to get those goals,” Farrell said. “Sometimes we play really good soccer, but we’ve just got to calm down and get results in these two upcoming home games.”
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