Sunday, April 17, 2016

Revs Draw 2-2 With Orlando City In A Chaotic Game

Oh lord, what a game. And not really in a good way. That was one of those "Taking years off my life in the same way jumping off a bridge does" kind of games. For what it's worth let's all agree to call it a 1-1 draw instead of 2-2. I'll get to it later. Let's roll...

-Lineup notes: JoGo apparently picked up a slight injury so he was out completely. That pushed Watson inside next to Farrell and Woodberry to right back. And Juan still isn't ready I guess, so Teal got another start up top with Charlie still on the bench. 

-Moment of silence for Brek Shea's hair:


-Orlando's fans were great as usual. About 36,000 was the official number. They were a little quiet in the middle but at the start and after about the 70th minute they were great. One of my favorite MLS fan groups.

-Revs got off to a lava hot start:



-Giving up a penalty 14 seconds in. I'm almost impressed at the innovation by this team to give away goals. Penalty call is a little iffy. There appeard to be a handball on Baptista right before he turns, and at first glance it looks like it was maybe a dive (which Taylor Twellman shouted on commentary), but ESPN showed a nice close, HD shot that makes it pretty clear Watson clipped the back of his heel. Whether or not he embellished is a matter of opinion, but I can see it either way.

-A note on the ref from today. ESPN said he gives the most penalty kicks in the league. Something to keep in mind.

-There was a nice ball played to Tierney down the left (by Lee I believe) that looked like it went out before he could get a foot on it but there was no call. Perhaps a precursor of what was to come.The pass was beautiful though.

-Tierney looked shaky to start. I don't know if it was the captains armband or something but he was off to start. He settled down after some uncomfortable play with the ball, both passing and receiving.

-Nguyen and Fagundez had some nice combos going in the first half that they couldn't quite finish. Sidenote-if I describe something and there's no video it's because I didn't take any Vines or anything because my computer doesn't do rewind apparently. That's a Jimbo, I'll own that.

-Twellman made note of Orlando's shaky back line. The Revs did a good job in attempting to exploit it. They were chasing Nguyen around, creating pockets for others to get into. And when Lee had the ball and would run right at the two center backs, they would retreat and allow other players to run by them looking for a pass. It caused havoc in the Orlando formation. Right idea, just need to work on execution and finishing.

-More Nguyen, nifty moves that ultimately led to a corner:


-Teal levels it at 1:



Nice combo by Lee and Tierney gets Chris some space on the wing and he showed why he has the best left foot in the league. Great cross and good work by Teal to get in the open space. Hard to miss form that distance, though if anyone could do it it's him. Hoping that goal breaks him out of the funk he's been in. He did look better today than in past weeks.

-After the nightmarish start, the Revs really dominated play in the 1st, and even into the beginning of the second. Cyle Larin and Molino both came on for the Lions and that's when it got very dicey for the Revs.

-Kaka realized he could exploit the hell out of London Woodberry on the left and spent most of the 2nd over there digging the youngster a grave. One instance:




-Superb from Je-Vaughn Watson to rob Larin. Playing in a position where he has yet to play this season and he stepped up big time.

-Odd moment when it looked like Daigo was coming on for Scotty, even though Koffie had a yellow. You'd think they'd want to eliminate any chance of a second yellow. But then Heaps changed his mind after the 4th official had put the sub board up. Caldwell ended up making a nice play after that, but in the end did come off for Daigo. Just really strange.

-Kevin Alston nearly scored against his old club, somehow just putting it over Bobby. Alston got his first start of the season today, good to see for a likable guy in his 7 years in New England.

-Charlie came on for Diego in the 60th minute and had a real nice look in the 85th. Tierney served him up an absolute beauty of a cross into the box that he couldn't head home. Twellman mentioned the wind had a factor in it, basically saying it causes the ball to dip a little and increase or decrease in pace based on the direction, but I still think Chuck should have buried that. Golden opportunity wasted.

-Back to Twellman, he said Shuttleworth's nickname is "Big Save bobby", which I have never heard before. after today it may have to become his nickname. Orlando sent a barrage at the defense towards the end and Bobby stood toe to toe with them. Two big saves starting with Nocerino:


-And then on Rivas:



-And then the controversy started. Molina scored what seemed to be the game winner:

That's a handball. He plays it from his shoulder down his arm and intentionally moves it to his advantage. So it looked as of the Revs were going to be done in by poor refs yet again. But then:

Oh boy. So Carrasco gets called for a handball outside of the box, meaning free kick. Two problems: 1) As much as I want it to be, that wasn't a handball. It hit his shoulder.  And 2) Since he did call it, he has to initially call for a PK since Carrasco was INSIDE the 18  when the ball hit him. So the ref messed up on both fronts. In the end the 4th official corrected the spot of it since he can't overturn the handball call, and gave a PK to the Revs. It took about a minute and a half of the ref putting his hand to his ear pretending to listen to his headset and getting shoved around by Orlando players, but Lee put it home at the death:


-And thus it ended 2-2, but really 1-1. The result was justified. Horribly officiated game so the teams split the points. Ref had zero control over the game, it can't be understated how piss-poor MLS refs have been this year.

-But wait, there's more! The real fireworks started after the game:



-Crazy Jay Heaps and Adrian Heath went at it afterwards. I mean Jay is always crazy but today especially. Since the Internet never lies, Heath apparently was yelling at Lee Nguyen the call was bullshit and basically scolding him for not intentionally missing the PK. Adrian Heath graduated from the Jesse Marsch school of ethics. Hey Adrian, get LAWST you LOSER. Heaps will put you through the moon door like he did with Marsch. Talk about class, I'll leave this here...



UPDATE-Apparently Heath was mad at how Heaps and the Revs reacted to Orlando fans throwing shit at them after the equalizer? Are you kidding me? You're mad because the opponent was a little miffed about YOUR fans throwing stuff at them? WHAT PLANET AM I ON?!?

Man of the Match
Based on the last few minutes alone it could be Bobby, but for the first time ever, and because I make the rules around here, the CO-MOTM: Je-Vaughn Watson and Lee Nguyen.


(I have yet to decide on music for Watson yet, forgive me)

Watson showed off his versatility playing at center back instead of his usual right back spot. That was part of the reason the Revs wanted him. He can play literally anywhere along the back line or in a defensive midfield role. He was solid going up against a very good Orlando attack. Lee was the focal point of the Revs offense as always, but was far more involved than in recent weeks. He caused headaches for the Orlando defenders, worked nice combos with Tierney and Diego, played some beauties that couldn't find the net, nearly put home a free kick late in the game, and buried the winning PK. 

Away again Saturday April 23rd in the nations capital to take on DC United. Good god I'm hoping we can get a win. I've had enough of the draws.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)