Wow! Unbelievable! Jay Heaps chests one into the net in the third minute, and they spend the rest of the game playing defense, especially after Heaps gets a (stupid and deserved) red card for head-butting a Crew player in about the 40th minute. They couldn't get the ball out of their end in the 2nd half, but managed to keep it out of the net with some great communication and a little luck. Pierce goes down (again) and has to leave the game (reportly with a leg cramp), so they finish the game with Kamler and Ralston playing defense. Great effort, especially from Llamosa. Hernandez didn't play, supposedly to save him from getting another yellow card and missing game 3. On TV they mentioned that Razov is going to get an additional 3 game supsension next year for cleating Heaps in game 3.
effort A fabulous effort by the defense kept Columbus at bay. Brown wasn't even that busy. Seeing Kamler and Ralston in the back was a little frightening, but they stuck it out. Llamosa was in the right spot every time. A gutty, gutty effort...
I don't think that I've ever seen them play a gutsier game. They all displayed great character. They also have the confidence of a team that's mentally strong enough to keep the ball out of the net. Who'd have thought, when we had all of our defensive woes, that we'd see a back line with Ralston and Kamler hold off a non-stop challenge for most of the second half. We dodged another bullet, but we're still in trouble if Pierce and Twellman are injured.
From the Columbus Dispatch - 10/9 edition: 'Still, Crew forward Jeff Cunningham was confident enough yesterday in an interview on WBNS-TV to guarantee a Crew win. Later he said, "My teammates will back me up. You have to have confidence or there's no reason to play the game.''' Poor, poor Jeff 'Don't Call Me Richie' Cunningham. Emlyn: You're right. I almost gave myself surgery - sans sedative - in the 70th minute.
Wow. Kudos to the entire Rev team for gutting that one out. The Revs have shown more heart in the last month than in the prior 6 years combined.
After seven years of fandom and three years of what I can only describe as some pretty spotty journalism, I thought that I had reached a mature and even-tempered perspective with regards to the New England Revolution. I thought that win or lose I could see the team for what they are, a soccer club prone to long spells of losing and short spells of winning, rewarding my faithful interest with a minor trophy once every decade. I had come to terms with that arrangement. I loved the Revs, but I wasn't in love with the Revs anymore (you know what I mean). Now I feel like Al Pacino in Godfather III where he does that, "Everytime I think I'm out, they pull me right back in," line. I'm head over heels and giggly. I'm a nervous wreck. I'm thinking of asking the whole damn squad if they wanna go steady. I'm drawing our names in my notebook. And this after a 1-0 win on the road, playing a man down for 50 minutes...
It was great to see them pull the win out while being down a man for 50 minutes. It is sad that the REVS are sinking in a sea of RED! LLammosa, Heaps, Daoude. It is killing us. This is going to be one tired team on Saturday. They need to find a way to get some ball control going instead of being in that defensive shell for so long. So, we can lose the full game on Saturday and still be in it for the mini-game. MLS is strange.
These Are Two Evenly Matched Sides! So, over the last three meetings, spanning 290 minutes plus stoppage time, the aggregate score is New England 1, Columbus 0. That pretty much speaks against playing overtimes until one team scores, doesn't it?
OK, so I'm too lazy to do the math, but the Revs have now played something in the neighborhood of 200 matches in their history. I have seen or listened to almost every one of them and I can say without hesitation that this was the greatest game they have ever played. Has there ever been a more gusty, more exciting victory? Have they ever made you more proud to be a fan? The last 60 minutes of this match has to be called the Revolution's finest hour. (OK, so call the whole match their finest hour and a half, but you get my drift)
God does not sleep Diving, cheating, knavering by the Crew and the REVs are one man down. Eventually our best players in the game are out. Like my wife said: "God does not sleep". Divine Inspiration is the only way we can describe the REVs defense. Even Ian Fuller saved a few. What about Harris? He may be our next central defender. ¡¡ Llamosa !!, Franchino, how many saves...
Whew! Random thoughts while my heart rate slows down: Nichol has never looked more like a genius than tonight. The big question: why couldn't Crew score? That's got to be playing a huge number on the heads of the Crew right now. They have to have tried to figure this out after the first game. They needn't ask me. I loved it but I couldn't explain it. Many if you will have read the nice summary by FDA of the many 3 goal hemorrhages given up by the Revs earlier. Here they are 6 weeks later being ridiculed by the Crew fans as "boring, boring" Arsenal. (I'm sure some of them got the allusion.) How did the Revs get to be impenetrable? I think it's great that Llamosa and Harris got their own thread. They deserve it. Llamosa especially was superhuman. How did Nichol persuade Wolde that he was a Clydesdale rather than a polo pony? I also had no problem with the Heaps red card - I hope he learns something. I have to admit that, watching the replay, I kind of had the urge to headbutt Garcia myself. It's a shame that punk Dunseth's kicking Twellman in the back of the knee wasn't spotted.
Congrats on the win. Never thought I'd utter the words "New England Revolution" AND "MLS Championship" in the same sentence. Oooops! Did I just jinx you guys? found this match report: http://www.soccerage.com/en/13/h8729.html
This is what's unbelievable. To go within a couple of months from maybe the worst defensive MLS team of all time to the way they play now is simply mind boggling. They played with grit and tenacity and in the end, I think they simply wanted it more than the Crew. I'm so proud of this team. And I'm still shaking my head trying to think about how all this came about.
Just got back from Boston watching the game at the Overdraft. I sure am glad I went. The Revs delivered the finest, gutsiest defensive performance I've ever seen. They have learned to defend as a team. I don't know how many shots the Crew took but it may be a record number of shots for team that was shut out. The Lads sure are tired and beat up there is absolutly no sign of them quiting. I only asked that they leave oit all on the field---they sure did. WELL DONE REVS.
Llamosa was awesome. Brilliant game by the Revs. Finish off those clowns from Columbus on Saturday and you have our support here in Chicago v.s. LA in the cup final. If the Fire can't be there we say GO REVS!!!
Re-vo-lution! Boom-boom-Boomboomboom! Re-vo-lution! Boom-boom-Boomboomboom! Re-vo-lution! Boom-boom-Boomboomboom!