FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Amid the traffic and fanfare associated with the visit of the Los Angeles Galaxy to Gillette Stadium, the New England Revolution placed their focus squarely on the game at hand and claimed all three points with a 1-0 victory Sunday evening.
After meekly succumbing to D.C. United 3-0 at home last Sunday, New England wanted to atone for last week's transgressions and hoped to impress a sell-out crowd with its performance.
Building upon a 2-1 midweek victory over USL Second Division side Harrisburg City Islanders in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, New England stamped its authority on the game by dominating play in midfield and snuffing out the Galaxy attack on the way to victory.
Revolution head coach Steve Nicol was pleased with his team's performance on the evening and felt his side merited all three points.
"I think we fully deserved to win the game," Nicol said. "We should have had it wrapped up. When we scored the goal, we went a wee bit defensive."
Much of the offensive impetus came from striker Taylor Twellman. Twellman hadn't scored in the league in the past three matches, but he created opportunity after opportunity in the first half.
"It's the most encouraging first half in a while for me," Twellman said. "It was four or five games without a chance, and I was creating chances."
With Twellman's ability to find space and Pat Noonan's ability to supply him with service, it was a matter of time until the U.S. international found the net and he tallied the game's only goal on 55 minutes. Twellman latched onto a poor clearance from Ty Harden after a through ball beat him and Kevin Harmse, and he quickly turned before slotting home past Joe Cannon to register his ninth goal on the campaign.
It was all the Revolution deserved after a first half in which they dominated play and couldn't find the scoreboard.
"It was easily our best performance in the first half," Twellman said. "Hopefully, it continues."
New England then took the air out of the game in the late stages to seal the three points and open up a six-point lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.
With David Beckham in town, the team's gaze could have wandered, but Nicol said that his team was not particularly interested in whether or not Beckham would play. Placing emphasis on his team's focus, Nicol indicated that his team relies on what it does rather than what the opponent presents.
"We're not interested in the lineups of the teams we play," Nicol said. "At the end of the day, we go out with the attitude that they'll have something to worry about when we go out there."
Nicol was bolstered before the game with the news that Michael Parkhurst was fit to play. Parkhurst trained this week after hyperextending his knee in last Sunday's loss to D.C. and earned the green light to start and play 90 minutes for the Revs.
More troubling was the forced withdrawal of Steve Ralston in the 87th minute after Ralston collided with Gavin Glinton.
Nicol said that he had no further information on Parkhurst or Ralston after the game and suggested that the team would evaluate the pair early in the week in advance of the Revolution's trip to Colorado for MLS Primetime Thursday.
"They're a little bit sore," Nicol said. "We'll see tomorrow."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
