Devastated: Revs Fall Again in Final

This is a tough post to write. After such losses in the past, I would hide myself from anyone or anything that would mention the game in any way. This time, instead of a self-imposed blackout, I'll try and face the result and expound on what I think went wrong.

First of all, congratulations to Houston. They took the game from the Revs in the second half. Sure, the first goal was created by a cross that was going nowhere until Avery John headed it into open space which sent the New England defense scrambling. However, the second goal was a perfectly executed header by Dwayne De Rosario. With the way the Revs came out in the second half, those chances were going to present themselves for Dynamo and they seized the opportunity.

Did anyone really doubt the second half was going to play out the way it did? The Revs were surely going to stay tight in the back and let Houston press the advantage. The problem with that is, you need one of your three attacking players to trap and control the clearances. The Revs haven't had someone who can effectively counterattack an over committed midfield since Clint Dempsey left, something I'll address in a later post. At times in the first half, the Revs were running their opponents off the pitch. They needed to capitalize on the chances they had to put Houston away, but they failed to do so.

The Revs are a team in a league where they are basically equal with most of the teams. It was 50/50 in every game in the playoffs. Yesterday, their luck just ran out.

On the positive side, The Phoenix Landing was packed for the game and I only recognized maybe 10% of the people there. Here's hoping the Revs have a lot of afternoon away games next year, because they'll be happy to have us before it turns into hip hop thugster electric boogaloo at night.