{"id":13233,"date":"2012-07-02T05:15:24","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T09:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=13233"},"modified":"2012-07-01T23:58:33","modified_gmt":"2012-07-02T03:58:33","slug":"similar-scripts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=13233","title":{"rendered":"Similar Scripts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Revolution center back A.J. Soares gets ready to challenge Sounders striker Eddie Johnson for a 50\/50 ball during Saturday’s 2-2 draw. (Photo: Kari Heistad)<\/p><\/div>\n

A different lineup, a different opponent, and a different venue seemingly should have led to two very different games for the New England Revolution. Instead, two games in a row the Revs found themselves trailing deep into stoppage time only to grab last-gasp equalizers to draw 2-2 against the Seattle Sounders in Foxboro on Saturday and away at Toronto FC a week before.<\/p>\n

Besides both games featuring a 94th minute equalizer, the errors that led the Revs to being in that situation was quite similar. The positives \u2013 and the negatives \u2013 from both matches were nearly mirror images.<\/p>\n

The headlines were largely stolen by the positives from both matches \u2013 a last second equalizer tends to spin a draw as a point gained rather than two points lost \u2013 and the good from both matches is something to cheer about. In fighting back from late deficits, the Revs showed a never-say-die attitude rarely seen last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it shows a good resolve,\u201d said head coach Jay Heaps. \u201cIt shows that we have that instinct that says, \u2018uh uh, not today \u2013 we\u2019re going to fight to the end.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That resolve is certainly worth celebrating \u2013 as is Heaps\u2019 smart, game changing substitutions in each match \u2013 even if the Revs were able to take advantage of two teams in Seattle and Toronto that were in the midst of one of their busiest stretches of the season.<\/p>\n

But, for all the good both matches showed, the negatives were a real concern. Both of Seattle\u2019s goals and both of Toronto\u2019s goals all came off headers with the assists coming from crosses from the left flank.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the two games were almost mirror images of each other \u2013 to give up two unanswered goals on two headers,\u201d said Heaps. \u201cIt makes me upset that because we work on those things and it\u2019s not anything other than owning up to it. Owning it\u2019s coming in and you\u2019ve got to do better \u2026 it\u2019s just got to be on the player at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why Heaps would be upset. At fault for goals in both games was a failure of defenders, particularly German veteran Flo Lechner, to put pressure on their opposing flank players, allowing their opponent an abundance of time and space to pick out the perfect cross.<\/p>\n

While one might give Lechner a bit of a free pass against Toronto after coming in as a substitute and making his return from a long layoff due to injury, to see the same errors occur a week later against Seattle had to be frustrating.<\/p>\n

Of course, Lechner alone wasn\u2019t at fault. While his failure to close out on the crosser allowed for better service from the wings, it took poor marking by the rest of the defense for strikers to get on the end of the cross. Perhaps most surprising this late in the season were apparent miscommunications between veteran goalkeeper Matt Reis and center back A.J. Soares that led to easier finishes for opposing strikers in both the Seattle and Toronto games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t get close enough on a cross, unfortunately, on the second one, it was bad all the way around,\u201d said Heaps after the draw with Seattle. \u201cIt was bad pressure, it was bad by Matt Reis, he\u2019s got to come out and get that, and A.J. (Soares) can put a body on. So there\u2019s three guys who\u2019re at fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back at the Toronto game, undoubtedly both issues were ones the Revs sought to improve on. They didn\u2019t. Even the return of captain Shalrie Joseph from suspension \u2013 and subsequent readjustment of the line-up \u2013 didn\u2019t make the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately as the game went on, we made the exact same mistakes we made in Toronto,\u201d said Heaps. \u201cAnd believe me, we worked on that all week, so that\u2019s even more frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, the Revs still had chances to win both games. In particular, leading scorer Saer Sene wasted a trio of good opportunities against Seattle. Missed chances, however, will always be a part of the game a team has to overcome.<\/p>\n

By not letting wasted opportunities frustrate them, the Revs were able to come back to grab a point in both games. That ability to overcome adversity will serve the Revs well as they look to make a push for a playoff spot. Such resolve allowed the Revs to gain two points in two games where they could\u2019ve had none.<\/p>\n

What can\u2019t happen \u2013 if the Revs wish to return to the postseason \u2013 is giving up sloppy, easy goals to opponents and falling into early holes. And, making the same mistakes in back-to-back games is inexcusable. Such errors left the Revs with only two points from two games when they could\u2019ve had six.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe let them score,\u201d said Sene. \u201cThe concentration on the two goals \u2026 we have to be careful for that in the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the lessons weren\u2019t learned from the Toronto game, Seattle gave the Revs a refresher course. Now it\u2019s up to the Revs to take this week and do what they failed to do last week \u2013 learn from their mistakes and eliminate them against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The good \u2013 and the bad \u2013 of the Revs draw with Seattle was strikingly similar to last week\u2019s draw with Toronto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/AJEJ1.png?fit=498%2C261&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13233"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13236,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13233\/revisions\/13236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}