Adrian Heath was left to admire a “complete, dominant” performance from New England Revolution as his Orlando City SC team suffered another big road defeat, this time 3-0 at Gillette Stadium to make it five away losses in a row.
It was a tough night for the Lions head coach, shorn of three key men by international call-ups and another four to injury and suspension. He had no doubt that the scoreline reflected the balance of play.
“We just got beaten by a lot better team this evening,” he admitted. “They are probably the in-form team in the league right now on the back of four straight wins. That’s why they got to MLS Cup last year and why they will be close to challenging for it again at the end of this year. We can ill afford to be without the players we were missing against such a complete team as that. They were absolutely dominant, and deservedly so.”
Heath’s honest assessment followed another thin outing from his depleted squad, with every available player making the trip north. He put his most experienced XI on the field but saw them chasing shadows for much of the night as Lee Nguyen, Diego Fagundez and Chris Tierney all oozed class for the Revolution.
Orlando were outshot 21-8, and the final score could have been a lot worse for the visitors but for an inspired display from goalkeeper Tally Hall, who made five outstanding saves.
“Realistically, that’s the product of playing together for three or four years,” Heath said of the Revs. “They had everyone fit and were able to bring the likes of [Juan] Agudelo and [Teal] Bunbury off the bench. Everybody was on the same page and knew what to do. But that’s what we have to aim to build ourselves. It gives us something to look at for the next few years moving forward.”
The Lions boss wasn’t ready to concede that their playoff hopes are dead and buried just yet, although he admitted the Montreal Impact’s big 4-3 win over the Chicago Fire now makes it very tough.
Heath’s men also lost another player to injury, with fullback Corey Ashe going down with a knee problem that could well keep him out of next weekend’s home game with Sporting Kansas City. Meanwhile Darwin Ceren—away with El Salvador on World Cup qualifying duty—could be another casualty after suffering a knee injury of his own against Curacao.
Orlando will get skipper Kaká back after he plays for Brazil, and top scorer Cyle Larin should also be available again following his World Cup action with Canada. But there was scant consolation for the league new boys on their current 0-4-2 run and just one goal—an own goal at that—in their last five.
“We hung in there until the 42nd minute, and I couldn’t fault my players for their work-rate and willingness to try to get something from the game. But New England were better than us in every department," Heath concluded. "We have to be philosophical about the fact there is no shame in that. And the simple fact is for the last six weeks to two months there have been mitigating circumstances. We have had to cope with a constant stream of injuries and it showed tonight that, against this level of team, we can’t do without our best players.”
