Despite slow starts to the season from star strikers Talyor Twellman and Clint Dempsey, as the season winds to a close the New England Revolution now seem to be firing on all engines as both of their stars scored to gain a well-deserved 2-1 victory on Saturday night against league-leading D.C. United.
Seemingly unable to match the hot start to last year's campaign that saw the Revolution go unbeaten in their first 11 games, the 2006 season has once again seen the Revs finish with an end-of-season flurry as they have now gone undefeated in their last six games.
Dempsey, who has tormented opposing defenders since he burst into the league in 2004, has now scored in four of the last five matches. Just days after he was named the U.S. Men's Soccer Player of the Year for 2006, in addition to the game-tying goal, Dempsey had a bevy of missed chances in the second half to extend the Revolution lead.
"We came out a little slow, but when I got that goal [in the first half], it changed the momentum," Dempsey said.
"It's always good to get a goal. It's just one of those things where sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't," he said. "It's nice to finally to start putting some in the back of the net. That's what my job is, to try to help this team win."
Twellman's game-winning strike in the early minutes of the second half -- his 11th on the season -- was the 75th of his career, making him the third-fastest in MLS history to reach the plateau as well as the youngest ever.
"It's awesome [to score 75 goals]; obviously, all the credit goes to my teammates. I am just getting in the right spot at the right time, and it is a pleasure to do it in a Revolution jersey," Twellman said.
The Revolution, missing usual starters James Riley, Shalrie Joseph and Pat Noonan to injury, in addition to Avery John on international duty with Trinidad and Tobago, were forced to cobble together a makeshift lineup that featured a 4-4-2 formation with usual winger Steve Ralston at right back.
"It was OK. I prefer obviously to play midfield or even forward. Wherever I am asked to play, I'll play," Ralston said. "It is good to have experience to be able to play different positions. You never know what is going to happen later in the season or next season."
Despite the different look, the Revs were able to hold off the vaunted United attack with an array of counterattacks and solid goalkeeping from Matt Reis.
"We hadn't practiced it too much, but I thought it helped us a lot. We countered on them and had a couple chances there in the end to get the third," Reis said.
"In the second half we had some sustained pressure on us - we bent, but we never broke. I don't think we are going to switch to a 4-4-2 - this is a stop-gap measure to cover ourselves. But we've really bunkered down defensively. They had a lot of opportunities, but they weren't all that dangerous and I had a good look on most of them."
The victory also gives the Revolution further momentum heading into the last game of the season next weekend against the Columbus Crew, then the conference semifinal series where they will face the Chicago Fire.
"I think anybody you play now you want to play solid, get some good results, and gain some confidence going into the playoffs. We did that and we made a statement tonight and D.C. will be seeing us down the road," said feisty central midfielder Joey Franchino, who set the stage in the third minute with a hard two-footed tackle that earned him a yellow card.
The win, coupled with tonight's loss by the Fire, mean that the Revolution now sit in the driver's seat to earn second place in the Eastern Conference, which would give them home-field advantage against the Fire in their two-leg series.
"We didn't come here to draw, we didn't come here to lose, we came here to try to get the three points," said Revolution coach Steve Nicol. "From start to finish it was a tough game. They had a couple of chances; certainly we had some great chances. We were delighted to win 2-1."
Jordan Brown is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
