New England Soccer Today

Clincher Proves Elusive for Locals Again

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Revolution will have to wait yet another week to seal their playoff spot after they dropped a 1-0 loss to the Montreal Impact on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

Ignacio Piatti struck in the 55th minute after running past three Revolution defenders, then ripping a shot from distance that beat an outstretched Bobby Shuttleworth.

The loss extended the Revolution’s winless stretch to four (0-2-2), and also marked the fourth straight occasion in which they weren’t able to clinch, a streak that goes back to mid-September.

On the opposite end of the pitch, the Impact punched their ticket to the postseason with their second straight win.

Quick analysis: For the third time in their last four games, shoddy defending betrayed the Revolution in their quest for the postseason clincher. While Piatti’s strike was brilliant by just about any measure, the fact that he was able to race forward and uncork the shot virtually unimpeded was symptomatic of their defensive struggles. Making matters worse, the attack remained silent, and have now only scored three goals in their last four games. In what was a classic, late-season match between two sides each vying for a postseason berth, the Revolution simply weren’t up to snuff yet again, which begs the question as to whether the locals have the mettle to make another deep postseason run.

Stat of the match: Saturday’s match was the first time the Revolution were shut out were at the hands of the very same Impact, who battled the locals to a 0-0 draw on Mar. 21. In fact, the Revolution were kept off the scoreboard by Montreal in all three games this season.

Record-setting crowd: The Revolution set a new benchmark for single-game attendance on Saturday as an announced crowd of 42,947 showed up for the regular season home finale. The previous record for a stand-alone regular season game at Gillette Stadium was the 39,256 on hand for an Aug. 30, 2008 match against the LA Galaxy.

Woodberry back in XI: Right back London Woodberry was in the lineup for the first time since the Revolution’s 2-1 win over the Red Bulls on Sept. 16.

Wrapping it up in NYC: The Revolution will close out the regular season – and likely grab that elusive postseason berth – on Sunday, Oct. 25 against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5:00pm. The squads have split the (1-1-0) series to date.

Going into the final week of the regular season, the 13-win Revolution have a plus-eight goal differential advantage on the 12-win Orlando City for the final playoff spot in the East.

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