Steve Nicol rarely leaves RFK Stadium happy. Generally it's because his New England Revolution have lost their share of games there, but this year there has been a new element added: some type of officiating controversy.
The Revolution boss was dismissed from Sunday's match in the 68th minute after a non-call by referee Abbey Okulaja allowed a turnover leading to United's go-ahead goal moments earlier, as the home side scored three second-half goals on their way to a 4-2 victory.
"Don't get me wrong, D.C. is a good team. But it's even harder when we have certain people -- I'm just going to leave it like it is. It won't get me anywhere," said a frustrated Nicol. "What are you supposed to do? We can set up to play against teams but we can't set up to play against officials."
New England's Khano Smith came in hard and took down United's Ben Olsen almost directly at the center line. As Smith got up to take the ball the other way, Olsen subtly clipped him in the back of the leg, which went uncalled by the referee.
"I'm not talking about a hairline decision one way or the other," said Nicol. "I'm talking about a free kick that everybody within 20 yards could see what it was. Not one of them saw it? That's what they'll probably tell you. And if they did see it -- are you kidding me?"
Said Olsen: "I got him first, then he got me a little bit and I think [Okulaja] let them both go."
United had taken a 1-0 lead through Fred in the 31st minute, but then goals from Taylor Twellman and Jay Heaps on either side of halftime put the Revolution in the lead. From the incident in midfield, United went the other direction and scored through Jaime Moreno; two goals from MLS leader Luciano Emilio then gave the United the eventual win.
"I think that's a good play on his part. He was going for it and if (he doesn't do it), Khano is going the other way so it was kind of a tactical play." said Heaps, whose goal was his first since June 25, 2005. "As players, you're out there trying as hard as you can and you expect a fair playing ground and today we felt like we were up against it."
"The last time here we got it as well," said Nicol. "Shalrie Joseph got sent off for nothing and they got a penalty for nothing. So what can you do?"
During a 1-1 draw at RFK in May, James Riley's shoulder bump that sent Moreno tumbling in the penalty area was called a penalty kick by Terry Vaughn and nine minutes later, Joseph was ejected on a straight red card in the 59th minute by Terry Vaughn on a hard but not cynical challenge on Olsen.
"Every time we come here there's something," said Heaps. "The number of goals they score when the linesman is making a big call is (you can count) now for me, on more than one hand in my career here. I think it's a shame to be honest with you. We're 0-0 at that point and that first one was clearly offside, clearly."
Heaps was referring to United's first goal in the 31st minute. Fred was adjudged to be kept onside by Steve Ralston, on the far side of the field from the assistant referee, and the Brazilian went in unopposed and blasted a right-footed shot into the upper right corner of the net past Matt Reis.
"That happens and we've got to respond to that," Heaps said. "But we've got to finish that game -- we had a 2-1 lead. We fought back hard but they scored on three of their four chances in the second half so give them credit, but at the same time we've got to learn to put that game away."
The loss left the Revolution four points behind United in the Eastern Conference standings, but more importantly, they have not been able to put together a winning streak of more than two games since the middle of May.
"That tells you something -- we think we've got a good team," said a bemused Nicol. "It tells you the league is tough and every game you play is tough."
New England defeated Kansas City on the road and New York at home prior to Sunday's match. Before that, the Revs were pounded by United at home and Colorado on the road 3-0, while sandwiching in a 1-0 home win against Los Angeles.
"We've got to do a better job of finishing off games out right now," echoed Taylor Twellman, whose brilliant goal just before halftime equalized for New England. "We're shooting ourselves in the foot right now by playing bad soccer. Giving the ball away and not helping each other out.
"We weren't happy with the first half. We got lucky to get a goal at the end of the first half and to be honest, D.C. outplayed us today," said Twellman.
Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
