Revs Rout Embattled RSL
- Updated: May 13, 2017
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. –Four different players scored for the Revolution before halftime as the locals cruised to a slump-busting 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
Scott Caldwell opened the goalfest inside of four minutes while Kei Kamara tallied in the 19th minute with an assist from Lee Nguyen. The skipper assisted on Diego Fagundez’s 34th minute goal before he collected one of his own in the 41st minute.
Cody Cropper made a pair of saves to record his third clean sheet of the season.
Saturday’s victory allowed the Revolution to snap their five-game winless streak as they improved to 13 points (3-4-4). Salt Lake’s loss, their fourth in a row, kept them on eight points (2-7-2).
What it means: Saturday’s match was another reminder of how good the Revolution offense can be when everything is firing. The operative phrase, of course, is when everything is firing. Real Salt Lake, which entered the game losing their previous three, struggled to string together passes on the wet and fast surface at Gillette Stadium. The return of Kamara and Tierney to the XI certainly helped matters, too, especially in light of Juan Agudelo’s absence due to injury. Yes, the Revolution won’t score four goals every game. And yes, they probably won’t face a foe as in poor form as Salt Lake is on a regular basis. But the Revolution should store Saturday’s performance in the collective memory bank when confidence is lacking and a goal is needed.
Noteworthy: The last time the Revolution hosted Salt Lake, the locals recorded a 4-0 win, which occurred on Apr. 25, 2015. Double coincidence: Scott Caldwell scored in that encounter as well.
Agudelo out: One of the Revolution’s most potent players as of late was unavailable for Saturday as striker Juan Agudelo missed the match due injury. Agudelo, who’s scored 12 goals in his last 17 games, was listed as questionable on the team’s match report ahead of Saturday’s clash with an upper extremity injury.
Kamara returns to the XI, moves up MLS scoring chart: After missing the last two games while awaiting the birth of his child, forward Kei Kamara was back with the team, getting the start up top with Agudelo injured. And he wasted little time making an impact when he scored his 89th career goal, which moved him into ninth-place on the all-time MLS scoring chart.
Backline shuffle continues: Revolution coach Jay Heaps made two changes to his backline by swapping out center back Josh Smith for Benjamin Angoua and reintroducing left back Chris Tierney to the XI. With Tierney back at his usual spot, part-time left back Kelyn Rowe returned to the midfield.
Another date with Columbus awaits: The Revolution return to action at 2:30pm on Sunday, May 21 when they host Columbus Crew SC, which handed the locals a 2-0 road loss last week.
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