After two long weeks on the road, the New England Revolution returned home Saturday afternoon hoping to notch their first win of the season. They weren't able to do so in a 0-0 draw against Vancouver, which also marked the third straight game in which they failed to score.
Since 2007, there has only been one other playoff team who didn't notch a single goal in its first three games of the next season: last year's Chicago Fire. And in that case, the Men in Red were only able to turn it around after acquiring the the eventual MLS MVP winner.
To start scoring some goals, the Revs will need to get shots on target, something else they haven't done much of through three games. On Saturday, New England put only three of their 17 shots on target, matching their total from last week at Philadelphia. In their first game at Houston, they put only two on target.
The good news is that they're averaging two more shots per game than in 2013. But if the Revs don't start converting those opportunities soon, they may need more than just an MVP-caliber performance from one of their offensive weapons.
Other notes:
• Speaking of Chicago, Toyota Park has been a house of horrors for the New York Red Bulls since it opened in the summer of 2006. After Saturday’s loss, they are now winless in 11 appearances in Bridgeview. The Fire have been dominant at home against two other Eastern Conference rivals as well, losing only once in 19 games against Toronto and Columbus.
• Colorado have already been awarded three penalty-kick opportunities through just two games this season. They will only need one more attempt to match their total in each of their last five seasons and five more to match all-time team record for penalty kick attempts in a season set back in 2009.
• Fabián Castillo is taking players on at an incredible rate through three games. He has completed 4.3 dribbles per game, which would far outpace his personal and MLS best (since 2010) mark of 2.8 per game set back in 2012. It is unlikely he will be able to keep this pace up for another 31 games but it’s definitely something worth watching.
