Saturday, June 17, 2017

Antonio Delamea Is Actually Good

After a convincing 3-0 win over Rochester Rhinos midweek in the US Open Cup, the Revs were back at Gillette in MLS action and taking on Chicago Fire, who came into the matchup sitting in 2nd place with 28 points, just one back of Toronto.

Chicago has been a team who, prior to this outburst in 2017, have always been towards the bottom of the league in recent years. A team others would see coming up on the schedule and be confident about a good result. Now to some extent that sentiment remains solely for the fact that they are, indeed, Chicago Fire and sometimes stigmas are hard to shake, kind of like the Revs choking in big games. So while they are a team that should undoubtedly be taken seriously, in the back the minds of the rest of the league and fans, in places you don't talk about at parties (mainly because if you talk about MLS at parties you'll look like a nerd and no one will want to be around you, this is from personal experience), you assume that Chicago will still bungle this.

The lineup remained what has become the de facto and preferred starting XI.
You can make the case that Kouassi instead of Koffie in the midfield and maybe Agudelo for Kei or Caldwell would make the actual preferred XI, but for right now, this is the best XI we can put out there.

On the Revs side, the first half was marked by good buildup followed by dud after dud int he final third. That last pass just was not there. One of those games where everything looks good right up until its time to finish, much like a date or a final exam.

On the Fire side, all the talk coming in was about German international legend, Bastian Schweinsteger, and with good reason. The former Bayern Munich man has been a stud in the midfield in his inaugural season stateside. He's looking like one of the highly touted singings that DON'T flop (see: Villa, David for one example).

But the man the Revs really needed to worry about was Nemanja Nikolic.


The Serbian-born, Hungarian international has been white-hot this season, bagging 12 goals heading into this match in his rookie season after transferring from Legia Warsaw in the Polish first division. Sometimes as a striker you need a bit of luck, and not hat goal Nikolic had all the luck in the world. Not to take away from his ability, because he has that in spades, but luck can be just as important.

Juan Agudelo came on for Caldwell to start the second half, and despite some more good looks with he extra attacking presence, it took away from the defense.


Anguoa basically gets forced to play the ball in the air and that leaves Solignac open for a close range strike.A defensive breakdown that suddenly changes the entire complexion of the game.

And you know what? We didn't see the Revs fold like a wet paper bag. Antonio Delamea put home what can only be described as a gritty goal.

Agudelo keeping it alive and Delamea clangin' and bangin' to get a head on it.

Teal Bunbury and Lee Nguyen both missed golden opportunities late in the game. And then in the 89th minute, off of a corner there were three shots and three blocks. Possible handball, but great defending overall from Chicago at the end, and on a set piece to. And the final chance from the Revs, at the death, after a phenomenal touch from Lee Nguyen, Gershon Koffie just puts one over the crossbar.

And that was it. Chicago takes all the points and ends the Revs 11-game unbeaten streak at home, dating back to August 2016.

I was again highly impressed by the play of Diego Fagundez. You can tell he has so much confidence in his game right now, and despite not being a 20-goal scorer right now, he's such a dangerous threat with or without the ball.

I was also impressed by Delamea once again. I love this guy. Tough as nails. It's been a big Delamea week. He got a call up with the Slovenian national team and played all 90 minutes in a 2-0 win over Malta, apparently learned how to play goalie...

...had a fantastic quote:

And has now bagged his first MLS goal. All while being the best defender on the team. I was also going to comment on how it may be problematic that the goalie and two central defenders do not share a first language, but I had forgotten how good Delamea's English is. Like it's really good for someone who just moved to the United States. The MLS website even went as far as to say he's proficient in English, which is great when it comes to his communication with Cody Cropper. Benjamin Anguoa on the other hand knows little English and speaks French as a first language. Delamea knows a little French apparently, but building silent chemistry between the three will be the quickest way to bypass the language barrier back there.

Man of the Match
I don't know what to put for Toni's music so here is some Slovenian rap.

Another good game from Toni. As much as Diego did tonight, the goal really helps push Toni over the edge. Especially at the end of the match, the guy was all over the place. He'd be back on defense and race up to play offense, was flying around on corner kicks and the last free kick. He's a special one. He could have done better on the opening goal, but to be honest I also thought that ball would not bound directly back to Nikolic with an open net.

Next up is a rare Friday match as the Revs head to the 6 (remember when Drake tried to make that a thing?) to take on Toronto FC. Toronto will be back to full strength, so it'll be a much tougher test than the last time these two played. 

Revs 1, Fire 2
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