First Goal Continues to Elude Revs
- Updated: March 23, 2014
Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – At some point, the Revolution offense will score. And score. And score again. After all, even the dreadful 2010 D.C. United – which set the standard for offensive futility – found the back of the net 21 times.
But even though the Revolution know that the goals will eventually arrive, they couldn’t help but be frustrated following another attacking shutout, Saturday’s 0-0 draw to the Vancouver Whitecaps the most recent.
“It was a tough game,” Revolution midfielder Diego Fagundez said. “It could’ve gone either way. I think both teams worked hard. All week, we worked so hard to try to get that last pass, to get that last goal, to get that first goal for us.”
It wasn’t for lack of trying that the local XI came up short on the offensive end. In fact, they nearly put their goal drought – which reached 180 minutes going into Saturday’s contest – to bed not long after the opening whistle.
Inside of five minutes, Chris Tierney whipped a corner kick near post for Andy Dorman, whose header spun toward the upper 90 before David Ousted pushed it out of harm’s way.
But Tierney’s fifth minute corner wasn’t the only occasion afforded to the Revolution in their quest to end their scoring woes.
Through the first 12 minutes, New England collected four corner kicks, and registered a total of nine on the afternoon. Additionally, the offense found a way to fire 18 shots against an unremarkable Vancouver defense.
“I think we definitely had a lot of chances today,” Fagundez said. “I think it’s always because (when) we come home and we feel comfortable and we want to get a victory here.”
For all their efforts, though, the Revolution couldn’t clear the hurdles set in front of them. Dorman’s fifth minute header was the only shot on target that came directly from a corner. Only three of the 18 shots were on target, with seven of them blocked by Whitecap defenders.
In fact, one of the final opportunities the Revolution found met its doom well before it could reach frame. With just over ten minutes remaining, Andrew Farrell went sent it inside the box for Fagundez, who whiffed badly before it rolled to Daigo Kobayashi.
For a split second, it appeared that Kobayashi’s shot could be the one that, finally, ended the drought. That thought promptly died, though, when Andy O’Brien blocked its path before it escaped beyond the end line.
The offense undeniably performed better than it did a week before at PPL Park, where the Revolution only collected five total shots. But the end result was the same as it was there, and the output identical to that seen at BBVA Compass Stadium.
“When you have your full roster and the full players, I thought we did well at times, but (we’re) still coming together a bit in that final third,” Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. “That’s always the hardest part early in the year.”
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