{"id":38865,"date":"2015-10-17T23:30:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T03:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=38865"},"modified":"2015-10-17T23:32:12","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T03:32:12","slug":"revolution-fail-to-clinch-playoff-spot-in-front-of-record-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=38865","title":{"rendered":"Opportunity Missed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo

Photo credit: Chris Aduama\/aduamaphotography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 The stage was set for a celebratory night at Gillette Stadium, as they drew a record attendance and only needed a point against the Montreal Impact to clinch a postseason berth on the 20th<\/sup> birthday of the Revolution.\u00a0 The playoff celebration was held off for another week, however, as the Revolution fell 1-0 on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Ignacio Piatti was the only player to find the scoresheet, while the Revolution were shutout by the Impact for the third time in three games in 2015.\u00a0 The 42,947 fans in attendance, which set a regular season record for the Revolution, either had filed out towards the end of the second half or booed in frustration at the final whistle.\u00a0 The Revolution managed only two shots on target, despite controlling the majority of possession throughout the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do like it when teams pack it in and do that and usually we\u2019re pretty good but tonight our movement was a little bit off,\u201d said Revolution coach Jay Heaps after the match.\u00a0 \u201cI thought we\u2019d get a little more early service and little more penetration in different areas.\u00a0 Ultimately we weren\u2019t able to and when you have a couple guys just a little bit off, a team that\u2019s back behind the ball is tough to break down.\u00a0 We were just a little bit off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Revolution actually appeared to strike first and break Montreal\u2019s defense early, when Jermaine Jones volleyed a Chris Tierney cross from a free kick into the net in the 10th<\/sup> minute.\u00a0 However, Jones was correctly ruled offside, and the game remained scoreless.\u00a0 The remainder of the first half was relatively dull, with only one shot on target for both teams.\u00a0 The Revolution appeared to be control of the match, with 80.2 percent passing accuracy, and holding the ball on the Impact\u2019s half of the field.\u00a0 After a Didier Drogba attempt in the 11th<\/sup> minute, the Impact failed to register a shot in the first half.<\/p>\n

The game was turned on its head in the 55th<\/sup> minute when Impact forward Ignacio Piatti gathered a loose ball at midfield, ran towards goal and scored on a long-range shot that beat the extended reach of Bobby Shuttleworth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on his heels and we were there but we probably should have taken a foul,\u201d said Heaps after the game.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d like to see us sense that a guy like Piatti, if he got a little bit more pace was going to be dangerous even though it didn\u2019t seem dangerous when he first started with the run.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Piatti\u2019s 9th<\/sup> goal on the season that tied him with Drogba for the team lead.<\/p>\n

Lee Nguyen had one of the Revolution\u2019s best chances less than two minutes later when he placed a low shot to Impact keeper Evan Bush\u2019s left, but Bush got a hand to it to tip the ball wide of the post.\u00a0 The Impact\u2019s defense locked down and prevented the Revolution from breaking into the box.\u00a0 Nguyen\u2019s shot in the 57th<\/sup> minute was the last of two shots on target for the Revolution, and the last shot overall besides a stoppage time attempt by Daigo Kobayashi, which didn\u2019t threaten the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

In the 79th<\/sup> minute, the Impact almost doubled their lead on a counter-attack when Drogba found Calum Mallace trailing the play with space on the right side of the field.\u00a0 Mallace fired a long-distance shot but missed the far post by a fair margin.\u00a0 The Impact had another counter attack in stoppage time, as Revolution players pushed forward leaving holes in the defense.\u00a0 After numerous passes and dekes, Patrice Bernier had a clear opportunity at goal from 10 yards out, but missed his clear-cut chance and put a shot over the bar.\u00a0 It was a moot point, as the remainder of the game passed slowly with no momentum or chances for the Revolution, and the 1-0 score held until full time.<\/p>\n

The Revolution head to New York City next Sunday to close out their regular season, when they face NYC FC.\u00a0 The Revolution still need a single point to clinch a playoff spot, and hold a large lead in goal differential over Orlando City even if they fail to earn a tie on the road next week.\u00a0 However, with only one point in their previous four games, the Revolution will be looking for extra momentum as well as that clinching point in next week\u2019s season finale.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just know we need to go into New York and we have to get a result and get points there and really go [into the playoffs] with a little momentum,\u201d said Scott Caldwell.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re disappointed in the results we\u2019re getting [over the past few weeks] but we still believe and still know that we can do it and turn this thing around and get the result.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the fourth straight game the Revolution failed to get the result they needed to clinch a playoff spot, this time in front of a record home crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":38866,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[891,49,119,888,892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/caldwelldrogba.jpg?fit=600%2C415&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38865"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38865"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38868,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38865\/revisions\/38868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}