Revs get third shot at rival Fire
New England looks to avoid season-series sweep vs. Chicago
Related
GILLETTE STADIUM, Foxborough, Mass.
Aug. 9, 2008 | 7:30 p.m. ET (HDNet; TV38; My50 Chi.)
WEEK # 20 | GAME # 128
Fresh off their championship in SuperLiga 2008 when they overcame one previous bogey team, the New England Revolution return to league action for the first time in more than a month, facing another -- at least this season -- in the Chicago Fire. The Revolution knocked off the Houston Dynamo to win the second edition of the North American tournament, returning to league play still with the best overall record. But they've lost twice to the Fire this season, both by heavy margins, although they've eliminated Chicago on their way to the MLS Cup Final in each of the last three years.
REFEREE: Kevin Stott. SAR (bench): Joe Fletcher; JAR (opposite): Sean Hurd; 4th: Alex Prus MLS Career: 156 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 40; pens: 32
INJURY REPORT: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION - PROBABLE: DF Chris Albright (L hip adductor strain); MF Gary Flood (L ankle sprain); MF Pat Phelan (concussion); MF Steve Ralston (L knee sprain); FW Taylor Twellman (R hip strain) ... CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: FW Calen Carr (L knee ACL tear); DF Daniel Woolard (thigh contusion); DOUBTFUL: FW Patrick Nyarko (concussion)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: NE: Michael Parkhurst (U.S. Olympic team) ... CHI: Brian McBride (U.S. Olympic team)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: NE: Amaechi Igwe
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: NE: Jay Heaps, Jeff Larentowicz, Sainey Nyassi ... CHI: John Thorrington
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (33 meetings): Revolution 13 wins, 48 goals ... Fire 14 wins, 48 goals ... Ties 6
AT NEW ENGLAND: (16 meetings): Revolution 9 wins, 27 goals ... Fire 6 wins, 20 goals ... Ties 1
• This is the third and final league meeting between the clubs this season, the second of two at Gillette Stadium. The Fire have won each of the first two, each by large margins, once at each stadium.
• Last season, the teams met three times in the regular season, each team holding serve on their home ground.
• The teams then met in a pulsating Eastern Conference Championship at Gillette Stadium, where the Revolution claimed a 1-0 victory thanks to a stunning bicycle kick from Taylor Twellman in the 38th minute.
• It was the third season in a row the two clubs have met in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Revolution have advanced in each of the last three (twice in the conference championship, in 2005 and '07), on their way to the MLS Cup Final on each occasion; in the six postseason meetings all-time, the Revs have won four series.
• In the regular season, the Fire have won the season series each of the last two years, winning four of the seven meetings over that time (with one draw).
• Coaches record: Steve Nicol v CHI: P23 W10 L10 D3 ... Denis Hamlett vs. NE: P2 W2 L0 D0 2008 (MLS): 4/3: CHI 4, NE 0 (Barrett 4; Frankowski 22, 39; Blanco 37) 5/3: NE 0, CHI 3 (Rolfe 29; Thorrington 50; King 76)
• In the first meeting, on April 3, a 10-man Revolution went down to a heavy defeat, in the rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Championship, at Toyota Park.
• Just four minutes into the game, the Fire had the lead as Chad Barrett turned home a Justin Mapp cross. Then three minutes later Revolution midfielder Jeff Larentowicz was shown a straight red card by referee Baldomero Toledo for a tackle on Chicago's Brandon Prideaux.
• The home side then exploded for three goals before the half was out. Tomasz Frankowski poked home from close range for his first MLS goal (22), Cuauhtemoc Blanco made it 3-0 when he converted a penalty kick after Sainey Nyassi tripped up Justin Mapp, and two minutes later Blanco swung a long cross-field ball to Barrett, who knocked it back into the mixer for Frankowski and he banged the ball into the net on the turn.
• On May 3 at Gillette Stadium, the Fire put a second heavy defeat on the Revolution. After 29 minutes in the rematch, a similar result was on. Putting together a 13-pass movement from their own goalkeeper into the Revolution end, John Thorrington split the New England defense with a pass to Chris Rolfe all alone at the top of the area, and he lashed home a shot on the half-turn.
• Thorrington doubled the lead five minutes after the break with his third goal in two games. Rolfe sent in a low cross from the right flank, Chad Barrett laid it off back to Thorrington just outside the area, and he curled home a shot inside the right-hand post.
• Stephen King then completed the rout with his first professional goal. Barrett took a pass from Cuauhtemoc Blanco at the edge of the box, but saw his shot blocked by New England 'keeper Matt Reis as he raced off his line. But King was able to hook the looping rebound back into the unguarded goal from the penalty spot.
• Here's Nicol's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Reis - Chris Albright, Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps - Wells Thompson, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Khano Smith (Steve Ralston 54) - Mauricio Castro - Kenny Mansally (Argenis Fernandez 74), Adam Cristman (Kheli Dube 55). Substitutes Not Used: Gary Flood, Chase Hilgenbrinck, Amaechi Igwe, Doug Warren
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-4-1-1): Jon Busch - Brandon Prideaux, Bakary Soumare, Diego Gutierrez, Gonzalo Segares - Chris Rolfe (Stephen King 69), John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Justin Mapp (Daniel Woolard 78) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chad Barrett (Andy Herron 83). Substitutes Not Used: Mike Banner, Calen Carr, Nick Noble, Dasan Robinson
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution will play their first league match in more than a month, returning to action still atop both the Eastern Conference and the MLS overall table. The Revolution have 33 points from 17 games, two ahead of the Columbus Crew in the East and six better than West leaders Real Salt Lake, their 2-1 win at the LA Galaxy on July 4 their second consecutive win.
LAST MATCH
• The Galaxy came into the match still atop the Western Conference, despite a loss and a draw in their last two games. The Revolution had lost just once since early May, and hadn't lost to the Galaxy in league play since April 2004.
• The Revolution took the lead with two goals in five minutes midway through the first half, both by Adam Cristman, and both from corner kicks. First, in the 33rd minute, Sharlie Joseph's snap header was blocked by Galaxy 'keeper Steve Cronin, but Cristman swept in to stab the rebound to the back of the net.
• Then in the 38th minute, another corner was swung in from the right and Cristman rose up over defender Abel Xavier to power a header past Cronin for his sixth goal on the season.
• Galaxy star Landon Donovan was not able to start due to illness, but with his introduction in the second half, the Galaxy attack started to find seams in the Revolution defense. In the 66th minute, Donovan finished off a nice movement with a shot that was blocked by Joseph, but only to the top of the area, where David Beckham steamed in to send a volley goalward that took a slight deflection before nestling into the goal.
• Revolution head coach Steve Nicol made no changes to the team that defeated Toronto FC 2-1 at home on June 28.
• Here's Nicol's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Reis - Chris Albright, Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps - Sainey Nyassi (Pat Phelan 70), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Mauricio Castro - Steve Ralston - Adam Cristman (Amaechi Igwe 79), Kheli Dube (Taylor Twellman 60). Substitutes Not Used: Chase Hilgenbrinck, Kenny Mansally, Chris Tierney, Doug Warren
• "We should have been 4-0 up and the game should have been over," Nicol said. "You can't afford to miss. ... We had two chances that should have been goals that would have killed the game. We end up holding on at the end. We felt like we deserved to win but we certainly made it difficult for ourselves."
TEAM NEWS
• It was a second consecutive league game where the Revolution were made to sweat over the final minutes before hanging on for the full three points. On June 28, the Revs got goals from Steve Ralston on either side of halftime before holding on for a 2-1 win against Toronto FC.
• "We easily could have been up 3-0 at halftime, and 3-0 is a lot better lead than 2-0. in the second half, we had a couple of chances to make it 3-0," Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst said. "We've had a couple of games like that. Last game here at Home Depot against Chivas, we let in a late goal and were barely able to hang on to win. It's something we need to get better at collectively, to put the dagger in teams and not make it close at the end."
• In their last competitive match, the Revolution finally got the measure of the Houston Dynamo in a final, winning the second edition of SuperLiga in a penalty shootout after playing to a 2-2 draw over 120 minutes.
• Nate Jaqua put the Dynamo ahead on 18 minutes, but Steve Ralston's volley pulled the Revolution level four minutes before halftime. In extra time, a Kei Kamara header again nosed the Dynamo in front (98), but Shalrie Joseph again rose up for a goal to head the Revs back into a draw. In the shootout, the Revs again fell behind as the tie-breaker went through eight rounds, before Corey Ashe's effort cracked off the crossbar and gave New England the victory.
• Here's Nicol's team in the final: Matt Reis, Chris Tierney, Amaechi Igwe, Jeff Larentowicz, Chris Albright, Mauricio Castro (Khano Smith 71), Shalrie Joseph, Steve Ralston, Sainey Nyassi, Kenny Mansally (Taylor Twellman 58), Kheli Dube (Adam Cristman 90). Substitutes Not Used: Doug Warren (GK), Pat Phelan, Brandon Tyler, Rob Valentino
• "I think that is as good as we've played all season. The worrying thing is when you don't capitalize on it, it generally can come back and bite you in the backside. They certainly finished stronger than we did but I think all that had to do with was the effort we put in as far as playing," Nicol said. "They defended well and so when you're defending well and a team's putting a lot of energy in coming into the game it kind of tells. We obviously gave them two terrible goals, which you cannot do to a team like this. We've gotten away with it tonight, we certainly have to get rid of that but we won the game."
• The Revolution did not lose in SuperLiga play, their first year in the competition. They finished atop Group B, with a pair of 1-0 victories against Mexican clubs in Pachuca and Santos, then drew 1-1 with Chivas USA in the group finale. They followed that with yet another 1-0 win against a Mexican side, Atlante FC, in the semifinals before getting the win in the final.
• "There are lots of factors that go into it. (Mexican teams) are in the beginning of their season. They have played every game in the United States. The teams in our group flew basically cross-country in two days and played a game. They went from playing us here to playing Chivas USA across the country," said Jeff Larentowicz. "I mean, it's not easy. I think that's why MLS is a tough league. They sort of saw that in this tournament. But as far as the MLS showing what they've got against Mexican teams, we still have a ways to go ... but this was definitely a great showing."
• Since May 3, the Revolution are now 11-1-5 in all competitions. The lone loss came on June 21, a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In addition, despite not having played a league game for more than a month, the Revolution maintained their lead in the Eastern Conference and overall table.
• "When we're sitting there coaching during the games it is hard to tell how good or bad it is sometimes, but certainly I felt that some of the play was excellent tonight and I'm sure it must have been exciting to watch," Nicol said. "If we can get a game like that in MLS Cup Final between the two teams then I would vote for that as well."
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire ran their unbeaten streak to six games, making an early goal stand up for a 1-0 victory against Chivas USA last Saturday evening at Toyota Park. The Fire remain in third place in the Eastern Conference with 29 points from 18 matches, two behind the Columbus Crew and four behind the New England Revolution.
LAST MATCH
• The Fire were coming in off a win and four draws in their last five MLS games, while Chivas USA were playing their first league match in three weeks after SuperLiga, with two wins and two draws in their last four league games.
• With both teams hampered by significant absences due to injury, suspension and Olympic team duty, the game's lone goal came in the 16th minute. Chris Rolfe latched onto a cleared corner kick at the top of the penalty area, and while his first touch got away from him, rookie Patrick Nyarko reacted quickly to it and hooked a high, curling shot past newly acquired goalkeeper Zach Thornton, making his second league appearance in as many years. It was Nyarko's first professional goal.
• Jon Busch was credited with eight saves in recording his third consecutive shutout, a league-best eighth clean sheet on the season.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett made three changes to the team that played to a scoreless draw with the Kansas City Wizards the previous weekend. Brandon Prideaux returned from suspension, Marco Pappa made his MLS debut and Patrick Nyarko was given his first MLS start, as Diego Gutierrez was out, Cuauhtemoc Blanco suspended and Tomasz Frankowski back on the substitutes' bench.
• Here's Hamlett's team: (4-4-2): Jon Busch - Brandon Prideaux, Bakary Soumare, Wilman Conde, Gonzalo Segares - Marco Pappa (Stephen King 73), John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Justin Mapp - Patrick Nyarko (Andy Herron 46), Chris Rolfe (Mike Banner 82). Substitutes Not Used: C.J. Brown, Tomasz Frankowski, Lider Marmol, Nick Noble
• "From day one I've said we've got 28 good players. Every time there is an injury or a suspension, it is another chance for our young guys to show us what they're made of," Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said. "Tonight we definitely had options. Our coaching staff believes in every player. These young guys -- Patrick Nyarko, Mike Banner, Stephen King -- continue to help us when we need them."
TEAM NEWS
• Hamlett rolled out his team with rookie Patrick Nyarko making his first league start, partnering Chris Rolfe in attack, and Marco Pappa making his MLS debut in a wide midfield role with Justin Mapp on the other side.
• "With Marco on the right and Justin on the left," Hamlett said, "they had the freedom to flip throughout the game. They're dangerous players on either side."
• Nyarko was able to play only 45 minutes after suffering a mild concussion in a clash of heads with Chivas USA defender Claudio Suarez part-way through the first half. Suarez was not able to return to the match, while Nyarko did return, though was not able to continue after the break.
• "Patrick gets a goal tonight. He should have had two," Hamlett said. "The kid has matured a lot in the last three weeks. He's a goal scorer. He can pass the ball and make plays." Said Nyarko: "All week in practice we talked about setting the tone early. It is our home field. There's nothing to be scared of. It was my first start. I worked as hard as I could."
• Pappa took corner kicks from each side, while running the Chivas defense ragged. Just 20 years old, Pappa is on loan to the Fire for the remainder of the season from Guatemalan side CSD Municipal.
• "I'm pretty excited to be here," Pappa said. "I am trying to get used to this lifestyle. I know that it'll be a good experience. I came to the right place with a great group of guys. Tonight I felt pretty good. That's thanks to the guys helping me adapt to the style of play and understand what the coach asks from us."
• Chicago is now undefeated in six games with a 2-0-4 record. While they have scored just five goals since June 7 (the last eight games), they have now gone 297 minutes without allowing a goal.
• "We've got to win," Mapp said. "We were at home. We had a great crowd. The last time we had a sellout we ended 0-0. We got one. We got the win and got us three points. Pappa and Nyarko were great. They brought energy to the game."
