BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – There was no hiding the disappointment and frustration when head coach Jay Heaps faced the media after the 2-1 defeat at the Chicago Fire as good as signaled the end of the New England Revolution’s season.
Barring a sporting miracle next weekend, the Revs will miss out on the post-season for the first time in four seasons, as they trail the sixth-place Philadelphia Union by three points and a whopping 12-goal differential with just one game to go.
“It’s a tough position we put ourselves in. I think we can all agree that it’s disappointing to be where we are today,” a somber Heaps reflected.
The visitors rarely found the urgency, incision or guile necessary to overcome a dogged Fire side who, despite sporting the league’s worst record overall, had only lost on three occasions on their Toyota Park field this season.
New England’s situation did look somewhat promising when Diego Fagundez canceled out Michael de Leeuw’s ninth-minute opener with an opportunistic finish two minutes before the break. Meanwhile Luis Solignac’s sending-off in the 54th minute should have given the Revs the impetus to go on and win the game.
However, goalkeeper Brad Knighton earned himself a red card in the 73rd minute to reduce it to a 10v10 game, and the hosts finished strongest. The Fire's David Accam raced clear to slot home and win the game with a composed finish 10 minutes from time.
“These things happen over the course of the year and you just hope it doesn’t come down and happen in such an important game for us,” Heaps said of Knighton’s dismissal for an unnecessary foul on livewire Accam.
“We’re really disappointed,” he stressed again. “I felt like we were a little sluggish to start and Chicago did a nice job. But we responded before halftime, and I thought we were carrying the game there, and then the red card went our way. I still haven’t seen the other red card but it’s really disappointing. We gave ourselves very little room for error and tonight there was a lot of error.”
Heaps bemoaned a poor start in which the Fire looked sharper and hungrier and had plenty of opportunity to add to de Leeuw’s opener. That they found themselves level at halftime was somewhat fortunate, but they failed to capitalize after the hosts were reduced to ten men. Of course, the Revs ultimately paid the price with Accam’s late winner. This, despite enjoying 64 percent possession in the second half and a commanding 59 percent overall.
“It wasn’t a lack of urgency, it was a crispness; it was probably too urgent,” Heaps said of the first half's “sluggish” play. “The moment was big, and rather than taking a deep breath and playing -- playing urgency with patience. We were urgent but not patient enough on the ball and started to get loose passes. It wasn’t good enough.”
