Recap Remix: #NEvSJ
- Updated: March 28, 2015
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Kelyn Rowe put all the questions about the Revolution’s scoring woes to bed with a blast that caromed off the forehead of Shaun Francis to give his club a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
Rowe’s 21st minute goal ended New England’s season-opening goal drought at 290 minutes, and paved the way for their first win of the season – a win that was sealed by a second strike from Rowe in the 37th minute.
The game-winning goal came from a Chris Tierney free kick that found Darrius Barnes, who snapped it toward goal before Rowe pounced on it and put it through to give the Revolution a two-goal lead to work with going into the half.
Like any Dominic Kinnear-coached team, the Earthquakes were far from out of it with plenty of time to work with. In the 61st minute, 5-8 Scott Caldwell brought down 6-2 Clarence Goodson near the edge of the area for what looked like a free kick. Instead, referee Jose Carlos Rivero pointed to the spot, where Chris Wondolowski cut the margin to single goal.
Although Wondolowski, Victor Bernardez and Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi each had opportunities to equalize, the score from the spot was the closest the ‘Quakes came to getting a result.
Analysis: Going into Saturday’s match, the Revolution had collected 21 chances according to OPTA – seventh-best in MLS – but without anything to show for it. So something had to give on Saturday, and it did. Rowe’s first blast may have taken a deflection off of Francis, but think back to the match at New York City in which Josh Saunders made a fortuitous – OK, utterly lucky – save of Juan Agudelo in the first half. The soccer gods taketh, and the soccer gods giveth. Luck aside, the Revolution simply were the better team on Saturday. They took more shots (20-10), were better on the ball (74 percent passing accuracy), and played with greater energy. If you want a performance to build off of, Saturday’s match is as good as any to do just that.
A winter wonderland:
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
Unsung hero: Daigo Kobayashi, who connected on 92.9 percent of his passes, and won the ball that led to Rowe’s opening goal.
Another stat the Revolution benefitted from:
#NERevs finished with 44% crossing accuracy. Revs season average entering the game was 16%. #NEvSJ
— NESoccerToday.com (@NESoccerToday) March 28, 2015
The Revolution will return to action on Saturday, Apr. 4 against the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. During the preseason, the squads played to a 1-1 draw.
Here’s how the Rapids fared in their match against the Dynamo on Saturday, which ended in a 0-0 draw:
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