A determined Joe Public FC club from Trinidad and Tobago defended its home field and defeated the New England Revolution, 2-1, on Tuesday night in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions League preliminary-round series at Marvin Lee Stadium. However, Mauricio Castro converted a late penalty kick for the Revs, giving them a crucial goal in the two-game series that will be decided on aggregate score.
Castro's goal is even more critical in that it was scored away from home, giving New England a possible edge in the first tiebreaker should the Revs and Eastern Lions finish even on aggregate after the second leg on Sept. 2 at Gillette Stadium. If the two teams are tied on aggregate goals after the second match, the first tiebreaker is away goals.
Just as they did in Toronto three nights prior, the Revs began the match in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Steve Ralston playing as a withdrawn forward behind lone striker Taylor Twellman.
Joe Public -- which out-shot the Revs, 11-2, in the first half -- had a great chance to open the scoring in the ninth minute when forwards Gregory Richardson and Reon Nelson linked up inside the box, but Nelson didn't connect on his shot and the effort rolled harmlessly wide.
New England was forced to shuffle its formation in the 25th minute, as back spasms forced Ralston out of the game, to be replaced by Wells Thompson. Castro shifted into Ralston's withdrawn forward position, while Thompson slotted into left midfield.
The Revolution's best chance of the first half came in the 35th minute, when Twellman was taken down 20 yards from goal to set up a free kick in the center of the field. Jeff Larentowicz, filling in as a center back, stepped up to strike the free kick, but his driven effort was parried over the bar by Joe Public goalkeeper Alejandro Figueroa.
Nelson almost put the host Lions into the lead right before halftime when he ran on to Kerry Baptiste's long ball behind the Revs' defense, but again his shot went wide.
The home side finally did take advantage of its possession and go ahead, 1-0, in the 51st minute. Baptiste broke free down the right wing and played a ball across the face of goal to Richardson, who tapped into the empty net from six yards out to finish the move.
Joe Public forward Jamal Gay replaced Nelson in the 69th minute, and then proceeded to score with his first touch of the game just one minute later to put the Eastern Lions ahead, 2-0. Once again, Baptiste burst down the right wing before playing a teasing cross to the six-yard box, where Gay one-timed a shot past Revs goalkeeper Doug Warren.
Six minutes later, New England cut the deficit in half, as Castro converted a penalty kick after Shalrie Joseph was taken down in the box. The goal was Castro's first for the Revolution since joining the team prior to the start of this season and handed the Revs a huge boost heading into the final match of the series.
New England will host the second leg of the preliminary series at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 2, with the winner of the series advancing to the tournament's group stage. The match will once again be televised nationally on Fox Soccer Channel at 8 p.m. ET.
Before finishing the preliminary-round series with Joe Public next Tuesday, the Revs will host David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy in an MLS regular-season match at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Gillette Stadium.
New England Revolution at Joe Public FC
August 26, 2008 - Macoya, Trinidad (Marvin Lee Stadium)
Scoring Summary:
JPF - Gregory Richardson (Kerry Baptiste) 51
JPF - Jamal Gay (Kerry Baptiste) 70
NE - Mauricio Castro (penalty kick) 76
New England Revolution (4-4-1-1): Doug Warren (GK), Chris Tierney, Jeff Larentowicz, Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps, Mauricio Castro (Joe Germanese 80), Shalrie Joseph, Pat Phelan, Sainey Nyassi (Amaechi Igwe 65), Steve Ralston © (Wells Thompson 25), Taylor Twellman
Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton (GK), Matt Reis (GK), Rob Valentino
STATS: Shots 5; Shots on Goal 2; Saves 4; Corner Kicks 3; Offside 2; Fouls Committed 7
Joe Public FC (4-4-2): Alejandro Figueroa (GK), Jason Springer, Keyeno Thomas, Christopher Harvey, Carlyle Mitchell, Wolry Wolfe (Kerry Noray 81), Dale Saunders ©, Arnold Dwarika (Lyndon Andrews 83), Kerry Baptiste, Reon Nelson (Jamal Gay 69), Gregory Richardson
Substitutes Not Used: Andre Foster (GK), Peterson Desrivieres, Gary Glasgow, Elusma Pierre
STATS: Shots 15; Shots on Goal 6; Saves 1; Corner Kicks 3; Offside 4; Fouls Committed 11
Misconduct Summary:
NE - Wells Thompson (caution) 26
JPF - Wolry Wolfe (caution) 55
JPF - Carlyle Mitchell (caution) 74
JPF - Jamal Gay (caution) 78
NE - Michael Parkhurst (caution) 88
Referee: Courtney Campbell
Referee's Assistants: Egbert Paesch (SAR), Pablo de Avila (JAR)
Fourth Official: Jaggernath Goolcharan
Time of Game: 1:55
Weather: 82 degrees and cloudy
Attendance: 2,100
NOTES
• The match was not only the first-ever meeting between New England and Joe Public FC, but it also marked the first time that the Revs played any team from Trinidad and Tobago.
• While the CONCACAF Champions League is in its inaugural year of competition, the Revs twice competed in the region's previous premier club tournament, the CONCACAF Champions Cup ... New England played in the round of 16 in the 2003 Champions Cup and the quarterfinal round of the 2006 Champions Cup, falling to LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica both times.
• Mauricio Castro's goal was his first for the Revolution in all competitions ... Castro, who joined the Revolution prior to this season, has three assists in all competitions.
• Goalkeeper Doug Warren started in place of the injured Matt Reis (R adductor strain) for the third straight match, though Reis was available as a substitute on the bench.
• Khano Smith was unavailable for the match, as the midfielder is with the Bermuda National Team for the Digicel Caribbean Cup.
• Chris Albright was unavailable after suffering a concussion and a left hip flexor strain in the Revs' previous match at Toronto (Aug. 23) ... while the rest of the club went straight from Toronto to Trinidad, Albright flew back to Massachusetts.
• With Chris Albright unavailable, Jeff Larentowicz moved back to the center of defense to pair with Michael Parkhurst, while Jay Heaps moved out to the right.
• Forwards Adam Cristman, Kheli Dube and Kenny Mansally were all unavailable because of injury.
• Amaechi Igwe replaced Sainey Nyassi in the 65th minute, pushing Wells Thompson to right midfield while Igwe took over at left midfield.
• New England altered its formation once more in the 80th minute when Joe Germanese replaced Mauricio Castro ... Amaechi Igwe dropped back into the center of defense with Michael Parkhurst, Jeff Larentowicz slid into defensive midfield, Germanese took over on the right wing and Shalrie Joseph played behind lone striker Taylor Twellman.
• The surface at Marvin Lee Stadium is FieldTurf, similar to that at Gillette Stadium.
