Friday, June 23, 2017

The Revs Have Problems Scoring Soccer Goals


I knew coming in this would be a tougher test than the win in Fortress Foxboro, and boy was I correct. Add in the fact Toronto had Jozy Altidore back while we went with a weaker lineup with the Open Cup in the middle of next week and a league match the following Sunday (and then another game in the middle of the NEXT week).

London Woodberry got the start at right back with Andrew Farrell moving over to left back, Je-Vaughn Watson was next to Gershon Koffie in the midfield, while Juan Agudelo got his first start up top since May 6 with Kei Kamara starting on the bench.

Toronto got on the board first through Drew Moor...
Watson... What in the blue hell are you doing? Really, what was that? You're embarrassing us out there man!

Since I was mean but correct there I will now say a nice thing. One thing I did like was then looking for Delamea on corners. When my strongest Slovenian son is on a hot streak, you ride it.

As has been the case with his team for a few games now, they started slow and picked it up as the first half went on. This is, in fact, not the best strategy. I know, I am also shocked at this revelation. The Revs had a few chances as the first half began to wane, but the final touch wasn't there.

They came out a lot better in the second half, though still down a goal. So what did Jay Heaps do? Get that BUM Je-Vaughn Watson out and put Kei Kamara in. The Juan/Kei/Lee trifecta was looking good for a bit before Juan was injured, so I'm hopeful they can pick up where they left off and, assuming none of them get injured, carry the Revs through the rest of the season. But back to the game.

Lee Nguyen made a fantastic goal-line clearance on a Sebastian Giovinco free kick that was surely going to go in had Nguyen's head not bounced it off the crossbar.

A sidenote, I am continually amazed at Diego's ball control. It's quite literally glued to his feet.

As much as I lambast London Woodberry, often deserved, he had a very nice play in shutting down Giovinco on a break and holding him up until Anguoa arrived to help. Not talking about any old ball player, we're talking about Giovinco here.

Now I could go into detail about every chance the Revs had in the second half to equalize, but it's easier to just say that Juan/Kei/Lee/Kei/Teal was INCHES away. For most good teams, the outlier game is when these chances don't break their way. In the case of the Revs, it's an outlier game WHEN they go our way. I am very close to declaring Kei Kamara a BUM, because when London puts in a good cross and you have a wide open chance, you NEED to put it away, especially with his salary and pedigree. This goddamn team...

To make matters worse, my strongest Slovenian son Antonio Delamea collided with Koffie and ended up having to be stretchered off. He's obviously though as nails so I am hoping it's nothing too serious,  maybe just a busted nose that a mask could cover. Avoiding a concussion or broken bones around the face is paramount.

And as the icing on the cake, we got vintage Giovinco at the end of stoppage time...

Oops, wrong clip...

Goddamnit......

Man of the Match 
No one. Look, you could maybe make a case for a few guys, but for me, no one really stood out enough and we didn't take any points. Just thought it was a poor overall performance.

Our finishing needs so much work. We need a left back prospect up with the first team. If we trot out Andrew Farrell or Kelyn Rowe out of position to play there out of necessity one more time my head will explode. We didn't address AJ Soares leaving for 3 years, I'd like to address Tierney's replacement now so it can be a seamless transition, even though seamless is for sure not what this team does.

Next game is the Open Cup on Wednesday hosting DC United at Harvard with a 730 pm kick off. Definitely expecting another B-squad type of lineup in that one, so buckle in for that rollercoaster.

REVS 0-2 TORONTO

 #SORREY
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