The Morning(ish) After: #SKCvNE

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

It was a sudden end to a surprising season.

Late goals from Seth Sinovic and Claudio Bieler conspired to end the Revolution’s postseason dreams as Sporting Kansas City claimed a 3-1 win (4-3 on aggregate) in Wednesday’s second leg of the Conference semifinals.

Here are some facts, stats and assorted potpourri from a wild 120 minutes of MLS playoff action.

-Although they were generally outplayed by Kansas City across the first and second legs, it’s worth noting that the Revolution were in a deficit for only six of a total 210 minutes. Granted, they were the final six minutes of Wednesday’s clash, but staying ahead or remaining level with one of the best clubs in the league for 204 minutes is something of an accomplishment for a club that many predicted wouldn’t reach the postseason.

-It was another lock-the-door-and-hide-your-children kind of night for the Revolution in the passing department. Diego Fagundez emerged as the club’s most accurate passer (82 percent), with Lee Nguyen (78 percent) and Jose Goncalves (77 percent) not far behind. But on the whole, the Revolution only completed 68 percent of their passes.

-On the other end of the spectrum, Kansas City didn’t sweat itself much on the passing tip. Aurelien Collin led the way with a 92 percent figure, followed up Dom Dwyer (92 percent) and Seth Sinovic (89 percent). As a team, Kansas City completed 84 percent of its passes.

-Passing is one thing, but turning the ability to string multiple passes into dangerous chances is another. Case in point: Kansas City essentially lapped the Revolution in the shooting department by a 32-5 margin, and outpassed them 670-363. According to OPTA, the hosts collected nine “big chances” to the Revolution’s two.

-Overall possession isn’t the end-all, be-all stat, to be fair, but the possession intervals at the time of K.C.’s goals are impossible to ignore. Prior to Collin’s opener, the K.C. had the ball for approximately 93 percent of the time between the 35th and 40th minutes. Before Sinovic scored, K.C. had it for about 85 percent of the time between the 75th and 80th minutes.  Minutes before Bieler’s series-winner, K.C. had it for 89 percent of the time between the 105th and 110th minutes. Conclusion? Pressure busts pipes. It also busts a club’s chances at getting a win.

-Jose Goncalves was the busiest defender on Wednesday after collecting 17 clearances (12 effective). Collin was the most active Kansas City defender with 15 clearances (six effective).

-A.J. Soares on Matt Reis’ late injury: “That’s been the story the last couple months. Matt Reis has been phenomenal. I’m really sad to see him go down with that injury. Hopefully, he can bounce back quickly. He’s a stud and really led us into the playoffs and through that last stretch of games where we needed to win all the time. He was that backbone, the guy we leaned on all the time and when we needed something to be said, a veteran presence to come in and let us know how it was going to be done, he was the guy. When we slipped up in the back, he was the guy that made the save. He was great and tonight he was great again and I’m just bummed out he went down with that injury.”

-Kansas City coach Peter Vermes on the Revolution’s attempt to push offensively at Sporting Park: “Teams decide to try and do that here, but then they start dropping off over the course of the game because they can’t go anymore. Their coach was trying to get them to step up, step up, step up, but they couldn’t. They couldn’t sustain it. These guys break them down, break them down, break them down and that’s a part of who we are.”

Tweet of the night:

Proud to be apart of this team. The boys worked until the last whistle tonight. Thank you for sticking with us through this ride. #NERevs

— KelynRowe (@Krowe210) November 7, 2013

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