Revolution Make Mistakes During "Pivotal Moments" In Loss To RSL

Porter: “We did not deserve to win the game. So, I take responsibility; I’m the coach. I just didn’t think we got good performances today."

Photo Courtesy of the New England Revolution

Head coach Caleb Porter saw some positive play from the New England Revolution after they allowed two goals in “pivotal moments” to lose 2-0 to Real Salt Lake.

While the Revs did produce a few examples of nice build-up play, they also had some bad giveaways. Fortunately for them, goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic made six first-half saves to keep the game scoreless.

With only minutes until halftime, Xavier Arreaga made a back pass that Anderson Julio picked up before scoring. The moment meant that the Revs went into the break with a 1-0 deficit.

“It was a head scratcher a little bit, that first half,” Porter said. “I thought we started giving the ball away and it gave them life and it seemed like it rattled us, and it really set a funk in our team and we never worked ourselves out of it.

“Ally [Ivacic] for me was excellent keeping us in the game, but eventually, if you continue to give a good team like Salt Lake chances, they’re going to score. Obviously, the first goal, we gave them the goal.”

Porter said it was a “huge mistake” by Arreaga, who showed remorse afterward.

“He feels bad,” Porter said. “He knows it can’t happen. He has been pretty rock solid, but that was for sure a really bad mistake. I felt that was a big difference in the match.”

RSL scored again 11 minutes into the second half. After Nick Lima’s forward pass was blocked, the defender committed a foul on the edge of the box.

The ensuing free kick found its way to Philip Quinton, whose shot deflected into the back of the net.

“I thought we gave up some key goals in pivotal moments,” Porter said. “The second goal is another example. We get stripped on the sideline, we foul, and then it’s a set piece.

“So as bad as we were in the first half, we could have gotten to the break 0-0, that would have given us a chance. I felt that if we didn’t give up that second goal, we would have for sure gotten a goal. I thought we were knocking on the door.”

Porter said the substitutes gave the Revs “a lift.”

Giacomo Vrioni and Ian Harkes entered for Bobby Wood and Mark-Anthony Kaye at halftime while Dylan Borrero came on for Ema Boateng in the 54th and Luca Langoni for Esmir Bajraktarevic the 57th. Peyton Miller replaced Lima in the 73rd.

Vrioni had three shots, the most on the Revolution. He nearly chipped the goalkeeper and later hit the woodwork.

“I feel like there are positives in that second half,” Porter said. “It was much better. We were better with the ball. I thought Ian came in and gave us better ball retention. Obviously, the front three that we subbed into the match, they were dangerous, lively. We were much better in the final third.

“I’m glad that those guys are now going to be close to being able to play major minutes now. They needed another game. We felt they were kind of 30 to 45 minutes fit, max. Now, we feel like they will be close to 60, hopefully, with a good week of training. That gives us a lot of optimism for the next game.”

Porter noted that the team will study the film before hosting St. Louis CITY SC next week. He explained that everyone, including himself, has to look at themselves in the mirror.

“Overall, just not enough today to win the game,” Porter said. “We did not deserve to win the game. So, I take responsibility; I’m the coach. I just didn’t think we got good performances today. You can’t come on the road and play against a good team like Salt Lake and expect to win that game, that type of game, with the performance that we had, especially in the first half.”

The hope is that the Revs can limit mistakes during the final nine games of the season. If missteps do happen, the Revs need to be ready to respond.

“Mistakes are going to happen, and we are never going to blame each other for mistakes, because this is not a choice,” Ivacic said. “Mistakes happen to better players than us and it's part of the game.

“What we can blame each other is for fight, is attitude, because that's a choice. Mistakes, they are not a choice, it's going to happen. As I said, we're not going to blame each other for that. But tonight, we didn't fight enough. I think we didn't want enough. Today, we were not winners, let's say. When it was hard, we didn't really push through.”