I just got back from Chicago/Bridgeview where I came to this conclusion: the 2006 Revolution suck. If these are strong words, they may perhaps be the only thing “strong” associated with this club. I’ll get my comments about Bridgeview out of the way first: It is a perfectly nice place to see a game. I did find it a bit too open, especially the ends. From what I could see, here isn’t a bad seat in the house. The replay screen above the stage had an amazingly crisp resolution, yet they didn’t replay close calls or controversial plays. (Is this a league policy?) It is a nice place and you are forced to pay for it. Parking is $15 Imported beer like Okocim is $7. It is not Wrigleyville, there are no restaurants/pubs close by –unless you count a White Castle. Public transit to venue is limited, consisting of a shuttle bus to Midway airport. A Fire fan told me that because city residents can’t just roll off the El half in the bag it has hurt attendance. We were there for the warm ups and cheered the Revs who applauded us back. Given his comments to the Globe, I cautioned Jay Heaps to “keep it clean and stay on the pitch.” He laughed. There may have been 1,300 people there at the most. The Revs came to win and were aggressive from the start. The pushed up from the first minute and controlled the early run of play. Herron scored a solid goal on the counter, as Heaps kept him onside. Twellman equalized by burying a header from Dempsey. For the rest of the half the Revs really pushed the Fire to the brink. Unfortunately, Pickens made some quality stops. Taylor’s problems with headers continued, as he missed another open one around the 30th minute. Dempsey made some quality runs, but really had little to no help from Noonan or Twellman. Needless to say, our forwards are really struggling and our restarts are absolute garbage. None of our corners really challenged Pickens, with exception of the first Fire goal. Having said all this, the Fire were really lucky to go to halftime with a 1-1 tie. The second half was a different story. The Revs once again pushed forward, leaving us open to the counter. Warren made an absolutely sensational top on one of their counters, stopping what looked like a sure goal by Curtin (I think) by cutting down the angle and making himself big. Parkhurst made a great header to clear a very dangerous long ball as well. Nicol waited too long to sub for Noonan and Joey, who each lack pace. They were very SLOW and dragged our offense down. Herron made a very nice run through our undermanned defense and Warren deservedly got called for the penalty. The second half was poor in nearly every facet of the game. It was a just and fair result, which was the only consolation that my friend and I could take to the gate as we skulked out. To lose this match to what amounted to the Fire reserves was personally very disappointing after having come so far to see it. The Revs seemed to want it, but they simply lacked the qualities needed to win. Where did these qualities go?
we have all been wondering the same thing about the trip...how many Revs fans were out there? was it just you?
I got to go to the game, and Tea Men summed it all up perfectly. Oner thing that I still don't fully understadn is why Fire fans eem to think its the hardest place to get to. Its no Soldier field where the El train will drop you off almost inside the thing, but its definatly no PhP, or Crew Stadium. I have to fly into O'Hare, and it took almost 2 hours to get to the satdium. But I'm a poor bastard with no car. I spent about 8 bucks total to get to and from the stadium. O'Hare to downtown, free transfer to go all the way back the way I came to get to Midway, and then a game day express bus to the stadium. With that said it would take anyone living in the city a little over an hour to get to the stadium. Really all i'm saying is that its not the new stadium that's driving attendance down, its the crappy team The game was fun to watch, despite the loss. The game was a pit stop for me on my way to seattle, and I got to bring my friend to his first ever soccer match and he enjoyed it. The next day I was making my way to seattle, and O'Hare was in the middle of a storm (surprise!) and almost every flight was delayed forever. But for once in my life I enjoyed walking around O'Hare for an indefinate amount of time since I stumbled across the Revs waiting for there flight also. Got to talk to Noonan about his injury, and he said that he did re-injure himself, and he will miss the next few games. But he was walking around, and seemed relatively happy so it should not be too long. I took the oppertunity to ask nicol a few "angery fan" questions, the main one being "what must be done to fix our scoring drought?". He gave me the usual we have to be sharper on the ball, and pass more efficianly. But He did mention speed. Not just speed of play, but physical speed. He said that "We need to move around more", which is probably the most honest thing he could have said. This team is static, and he realizes it. We need to move around, confuse and mix up the defence. I saw a little bit of that in the Crew match, don't know if it was becasue we had Simms or he really is using training sessions to teach the guys that moveing off the ball is a good thing. RRRRREV IT UP