On a night when D.C. United was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield in front of their adoring fans at RFK Stadium -- given to the team with the best regular season record for the year -- the New England Revolution came back from a goal down for a 2-1 victory and keep alive their hopes for home-field advantage in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Looking to get off to a good start heading into the postseason, United got the opening they wanted through Christian Gomez in the 26th minute. But Clint Dempsey pulled the Revolution level eight minutes later, then Taylor Twellman headed home from a corner just after the start of the second half to give the visitors the victory and gain a measure of advantage in advance of a potential Eastern Conference Championship meeting in about a month.
The latest meeting of the passionate rivals didn't take long to heat up, as the Revolution's Joe Franchino received an early booking from referee Jair Marrufo for a two-footed lunge at the ankles of Matias Donnet just two minutes in.
But the Revs' veteran, roaming the center of midfield on Saturday, also earned the Argentinian a yellow card when he flopped to the turf after the frustrated Donnet gave him a push.
In an effort to limit time and space for D.C.'s playmakers, New England coach Steve Nicol has used a packed midfield in recent matches against United, but this time he used a conventional 4-4-2 that gave his side ample width to send in crosses for Twellman and Dempsey up top.
After some early promising moves, the vocal RFK crowd was able to burst into life in the 24th minute when rookie Rod Dyachenko slipped through the Revs back line to take a pass from Moreno and hammer a shot past Reis, but the assistant referee's flag was up for offside.
However, it wasn't long before United grabbed the opening goal they craved. Just as his fellow defender Bobby Boswell had done a few minutes earlier, D.C. right back Bryan Namoff exchanged passes with Donnet to burst free down the right touchline in the 26th minute, evading Tony Lochhead to reach the endline and clip a low cross to Jaime Moreno inside the six-yard box.
Moreno was on the doorstep but his first touch got away from him, allowing the ball to dribble between his legs -- which suited Gomez just fine, as the playmaker arrived just in time to pounce on the loose ball and slot his 12th goal of the year past Reis.
Moreno has given Michael Parkhurst fits since the young center back entered the league last season and he tormented the 2005 Rookie of the Year again just seconds after the restart with two wicked cutbacks in the box, but Reis stood his ground and blocked the Bolivian's angled shot as Parkhurst scrambled to recover.
Yet the Revs would strike back with a fine solo run from Dempsey, recently crowned the 2006 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year. Andy Dorman's curling pass from the right looked to be intended for Twellman, but the rangy Texan cut it off at the top of the D.C. penalty area and his aggressive first touch left four United defenders in his wake.
Dempsey dashed into the box and showed further quality to lift his shot above advancing goalkeeper Troy Perkins just before Brandon Prideaux arrived, drawing New England level in the 34th minute.
Namoff made another rampaging run down the right wing four minutes later, sending in a low cross that was too far for Moreno, yet Reis flailed at the ball and could only punch straight to a waiting Gomez. He brought the ball down and looked to have a simple empty-net finish, but a spectacular goal line clearance by Jay Heaps kept the scoreline at 1-1 as halftime arrived.
The fans had barely returned to their seats for the second half when Twellman, Heaps and Dorman combined to put New England ahead 2-1 in the 47th minute.
Many in the stadium thought Jeff Larentowicz had given the visitors the lead on the previous play when his deflected blast rippled the side netting, but it was only the outside of the twine. Yet his team made good use of the ensuing corner kick as Dorman hit an outswinging service that Heaps flicked on to the far post, where Twellman dived headlong to power a rising header into the roof of the net.
The strike gave the Revs the lead -- and gave Twellman a place in the MLS record books as he became the league's youngest player to reach 75 career goals.
Dempsey should have scored his second after Dorman dispossessed Freddy Adu and whipped another good cross into Perkins' box, but the U.S. international mistimed his leap at the far post and watched his header float well high of the target.
The action quickly moved to the other end and Moreno showed fancy footwork to buy time in the Revs box and lay off for Ben Olsen, but the midfielder skewed his low left-footed shot wide of Reis' goal. Then United broke down the Revolution defense again with an attractive sequence of quick passes, but Dyachenko went inches wide with a snap shot on the turn.
The rookie's bad luck continued seconds later when Gomez set him up beautifully for what should have been his first-ever MLS goal after a defense-splitting Moreno through ball, but with Reis out of position and the goal at his mercy, Dyachenko hit his shot wide of the near post and into the outside netting.
United were pressing forward aggressively in search of an equalizer and Dorman nearly made them pay in the 67th minute as he and Dempsey led a quick counterattack that concluded with the Englishman curling a shot just over the bar.
Then United's supporters found fault with referee Marrufo. First, another sweeping United buildup resulted in a cross-field pass that found Adu matched up one-on-one with Khano Smith in the New England box. The tall Bermudian international made a clumsy challenge that sent Adu sprawling as he cut onto his preferred left foot, but Marrufo waved play on.
Later, Adu saw another penalty appeal denied after he went to ground under pressure from Larentowicz, adding to his team's frustration -- and the anger of their fans.
But the Revolution defense held on and when Marrufo blew his whistle for full time, New England left the field with a 2-1 victory and three points that keep them within a shout of Chicago and the second seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs.
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
