New England Revolution Fail To Capitalize On Early Lead, Fall To Orlando City
Bright start wiped out in the second half as consistency remains elusive for the Revs
A humid night in Foxborough saw the New England Revolution squander an early lead, falling 3-1 to an Orlando City team that claimed its first away win against New England in nine attempts. A second-half brace by Facundo Torres was enough to overcome Giacomo Vrioni’s opener and send the Revs to their third loss in the last four games.
New England’s opener was a well-constructed one and a deserving capstone to an opening half-hour that saw them playing largely on the front foot. Esmir Bajraktarevic whipped a dangerous ball into the area and DeJuan Jones played it back across the front of goal allowing Giacomo Vrioni to finish easily from close range for his eighth of the season.
Following the goal, the balance of play began to tilt back towards the visitors although their chances were mainly from outside the area and came to nothing. Their best opportunity came in the 41st minute when Dagur Dan Þórhallsson took an Ivan Angulo cross first time, but Aljaz Ivacic was well-positioned to make the save.
After half-time, Orlando City picked up where they left off and they didn’t have to wait long for their reward. Angulo dribbled into the area and played a quick one-two with Ramiro Enrique before sliding the ball across the box to Facundo Torres. The Uruguayan curled the ball back across the face of goal past a sprawling Ivacic to bring the two sides level.
The visitors took the lead less than ten minutes later following a corner. A ball to the far post was headed back across by Cesar Araujo and Enrique was able to get in front of Ivacic to poke home his second goal of the campaign.
The Revs mounted a fair response to going behind, seizing the initiative for the first time in the second half but failed to generate much in the way of meaningful opportunities. Vrioni and Jack Panayotou had attempts inside the box blocked and the game once again swang back towards Orlando City.
Torres provided the finishing touches in the 81st minute. A searching long ball was not fully cleared and the ball fell kindly for substitute Luis Muriel. The Colombian touched the ball wide to Torres whose finish was nearly a carbon copy of his first: a left-footed shot curled past a sprawling Ivacic.
New England couldn’t mount much of a comeback in the time remaining, failing to register a shot after the 72nd minute as the clock wound down on their seventh loss in 12 home games. The result leaves the Revs mired in 12th place, but still only two points out of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with two games in hand. They return to action on Wednesday with a trip to last-place Philadelphia.
What would the score be if they DIDN'T treat it as a cup final. Good 1st half. 2nd half was not good. The bench was very shallow but the substitutions made little sense regarding the timing. TMac not being 90 minutes fit - why not sub at half rather than 9 minutes into 2nd half. Could have brought on Spaulding and moved Jones to wing instead of Kaye. When chasing a goal why wait until 80th minute to bring on Wood. Could have brought on Dias and Fry at 70. Porter needs to do better with what he has rather than wringing his hands and blaming injuries. Be creative. Try 3 in the back with Arreanga, Kessler and Romney and use Bye and Jones as wingbacks as an example.
3 thoughts: if we only play 45 minutes, our record would be better. 2) every time we go back to our goal, we have the opportunity to give the ball to the opponents so they can score , just stop.3) it was good to see Tommy Mac back.