Revs Squeak By Houston 1-0

In a game reminiscent of last year's Eastern Conference final, the New England Revolution scored early and then hung, hung, hung on for a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo tonight. Shalrie Joseph scored the lone goal before the Revs fell back into their version of the Maginot Line. Although our defense proved just as porous as that bit of French engineering, the outcome was different as the good guys repelled wave after wave of second half assaults from our orange adversaries. (click title to read more)

My immediate reaction is that we can't keep doing this. Then again, maybe we can. The way I see it, there will be at least another ten games this season where we will go into halftime with the lead. We have become so accustomed to this tactic, we have to be getting good at it, right? If we can only drop 6-8 points in those games, and have a few come from behind victories, we'll be close to the top of the table all year. How's that for a positive spin? Truth is, our form was piss poor tonight.

Khano Smith may have been ready to keel over and die from exhaustion towards the end, but he sure did play a lackadaisical game. Most of his passes seemed wasteful and without purpose. Andy Dorman had a bad game and came off for rookie Wells Thompson who looked even worse. Shalrie Joseph didn't exert himself much in the midfield, and came out around the hour mark. I hope he's not injured. Joey Franchino held himself admirably in his place. Riley continued to look shaky in the back and Adam Cristman disappeared in the second half. This is the type of game Taylor Twellman was ineffective in last year, and tonight was no different. Did I miss anyone?

Oh yeah, Micheal Parkhurst had a standout performance at central defense and Matt Reis played maybe his best game of the season between the sticks. Both were co-MVP's in my book. Without that duo, Houston would have probably won 3-1.

The only great thing the team can take away from this is they played poorly, yet still won. They have proven to be explosive at times, and are going into a very long homestand. Even with the national team callups, they should fare well over the next few months. A poor performance sometimes translates into hard, effective training sessions. Let's hope that is the case as the Revs get ready to host Kansas City next week. There should be a good crowd with Ireland playing beforehand, so let's hope the home team puts on a good show.


Other Recaps:

Boston Herald
Boston Globe
revolutionsoccer.net
Houston Chronical
ESPN Soccernet
Monsters & Critics
MLSnet