HOUSTON - The New England Revolution's 1-0 victory against Houston Dynamo involved the same teams as last year's MLS Cup Final, but, at least according to the Revolution, Saturday's game at Robertson Stadium was emphatically not a MLS Cup 2006 rematch..
"It's not really a rematch. You can't compare winning a league game to losing a final," said Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis.
If one were to compare Saturday's match between Dynamo and New England to last year's final, it would be apparent that the Revolution actually played better in last year's MLS Cup loss.
"It was absolutely a case of winning ugly," New England coach Steve Nicol said. "I think you saw the other side of our team tonight. We didn't pass the ball, we didn't possess it well at all. But when it gets hard, we'll dig in and fight. We'd certainly love to be able to play great soccer all of the time, but it's not possible. Sometimes it gets rough and tough, and we tough it out."
The Revolution had no choice but to tough it out, spending most of the game corralled in their defensive half of the field and fending off Houston's attack. Though Taylor Twellman has been the star for New England thus far this season, the Revolution have the defense to thank for the victory.
"The back four were fantastic. They defended well, but give credit to everybody else, as well. As much as we didn't do well on the [offensive] side of the ball, I think defensively we got bodies in the way and did our work," Nicol said.
Much of that defensive work was done by Reis, who totaled four saves on the day in addition to breaking up a number of corner kick and set piece attempts. Reis' most dramatic play of the game came on a jumping, diving save of a header by Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark.
"[Clark] got through and he was open," Reis said. "The ball was bouncing, so I thought for sure he was going to try to play it over me. I kind of got a little bit of a jump right before he got it, which allowed me to just touch it, and then as he was coming around, I turned like a cat and caught it in my paws."
Reis' acrobatic save preserved New England's 1-0 lead as the team held on for the win and another valuable three points on the road. And, according to Reis, those three points are even more valuable because they come early in the season.
"There's only one game this season where we haven't gotten points, and in the end that's going to be huge," said Reis. "It's important for us to start well, because we're going to have a lot of guys leaving over the summer. Notoriously, we kind of drop down in the summer, so it's important for us to start well."
The only goal of the game was scored by midfielder Shalrie Joseph off of a pass deflected from the back of Clark's foot. The goal was Joseph's second of the season.
"It was important that we picked up a goal early, especially tonight," Joseph said. "They were all over us, and we didn't play that well as a team. But tonight we got a goal early and defended well."
Lucas Ogden-Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
