Henrich Ravas Struggles In MLS Debut

"And then the third one, he already talked to us about it. He knows he’s got to be more aggressive there."

Photo Courtesy of New England Revolution

Henrich Ravas had a good start to his New England Revolution career but the same can’t be said of his MLS debut.

On Saturday the 26-year-old goalkeeper was between the sticks for the first time in league play. While he made two saves and had some quality distribution, his night will be marred by the third and final goal that he allowed.

A looping cross was sent into the center of the box to Christian Benteke. Ravas went to claim the cross but failed to do so efficiently and the former English Premier League striker headed the ball home for a hat trick.

After the match, Revolution head coach Caleb Porter discussed the performance of his goalkeeper.

“I think it’s difficult, right? We’re down a man, they’re a team that gets balls in the box, [Christian] Benteke is world class with his head in the air,” the head coach said. “I think on the third goal [Ravas] would agree he has to do better. He has to attack the ball. Obviously, he’s a tall goalkeeper. Benteke, you watch it, he gets up. But, you know, if he attacks the ball then that should be a save.”

The third goal was poor from Ravas but there is more than meets the eye for the first two goals. Benteke’s opener was technically stopped by the goalkeeper but the referee went to Video Assisted Review and ruled that the shot had passed the goal line.

The goal that gave Benteke a brace was due to Ravas being caught out of position but the striker appeared to possibly be offside. There was no review for offside.

Still the goalkeeper likely wished that he did a better job of securing the header as he was able to get his foot on the ball but it wasn’t enough to keep the score even at 1-1.

“I thought [Ravas] was solid tonight, withstood a lot of pressure,” the center back said. “I think the first goal, he made an unbelievable save, and once again, I haven’t gotten to see a replay of it to see if it was in or not. You would think if it was, it took the referee a really long time to decide and when that happens, you kind of think it's not clear and obvious and you go with the call on the field, and so kind of unfortunate not to have it go our way, but I thought he made a phenomenal save on [Christian] Benteke on that first goal that they called a goal. Second one, I don't think you can do much there. And then the third one, he already talked to us about it. He knows he’s got to be more aggressive there, but Benteke is obviously an amazing forward. He played in the Premier League for a while so he's definitely a physical presence, but Henrich knows.”

After the meteoric rise of Matt Turner and then Djordje Petrovic, expectations for Ravas were pretty high. It’s clear that the goalkeeper still has some work to do.