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RSL reserves topple Revolution

WillJohnsonShalrie (ISIPhotos.com) 

By IAN HOLLIDAY

For the second time in four days, the New England Revolution wound up in a three-red-card match. Unfortunately for the Revs, this week they were unable to salvage a result, falling to a largely reserve Real Salt Lake squad at Gillette Stadium Saturday night.

Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis made wholesale changes to the squad that ousted Saprissa from the CONCACAF Champions League Tuesday night, but the weakened side never looked uncomfortable against the Revs. Goals from Chris Schuler and Paulo Araujo Jr. provided the goals to give RSL a 2-0 victory that kept the visitors unbeaten and gave New England it's first loss of the season.

The match began with 20 rather uneventful minutes, but it ended with 20 chaotic ones as Shalrie Joseph, Pat Phelan and Will Johnson were all sent off during several on-field skirmishes after minute 70.

Real Salt Lake opened the scoring in the 27th minute when defender Chris Schuler headed home his first ever MLS goal off of a Collen Warner corner kick. The goal came on the heels of a terrific shot from Ned Grabavoy that nearly opened the scoring itself. The 20-yard drive beat the Revs' backup goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, who started his second straight game for the injured Matt Reis, but it couldn't beat the inside of the right post, caroming out to the six-yard box before being pushed over for the goal-yielding corner.

Paulo Araujo Jr. doubled RSL's lead in the 47th minute. The Brazilian forward ran onto a pass from Warner behind the New England defense and calmly slotted home.

The seeds of conflict were sewn in the 60th minute, when Revolution defender Kevin Alston received a yellow card for a hard challenge that sent Johnson slamming into the advertising boards surrounding the field, causing tempers to flare for the first time in the match.

The situation escalated with the introduction of Kyle Beckerman in the 62nd minute. Beckerman and Joseph almost immediately began sparring physically and verbally, and eventually Joseph poked the RSL midfielder in the face with referee Jasen Anno looking on. Anno showed Joseph a straight red, though the replay showed his decision was rather harsh.

Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said he hadn't had a chance to look at any of the red cards, but was disappointed to have lost two key players for the club's next match.

"For that game to have three red cards is pretty incredible," Nicol said. "It's tough to swallow. We weren't good tonight, but we've lost Shalrie and Pat Phelan for next week in a game that had no real challenges in it up until the red card."

The Revolution's best chance of the game came when Kenny Mansally lost the ball at the top of the Salt Lake penalty area in the 68th minute. The loose ball rolled to Marko Perovic, whose hard shot forced a good save from backup goalkeeper Kyle Reynish, who started for the resting Nick Rimando.

Neither team managed a shot until the 21st minute, when Johnson blasted a hard, curling free kick that forced a good save from Shuttleworth.

The Revs' best chance of the first half came in the 42nd minute, when Pat Phelan headed defender Kevin Alston's cross just wide.

After the match, Kreis said he was "very pleased" with the way his reserves performed.

"They did an excellent job," Kreis said. "We put the challenge to them to rise to this occasion, to step out and step up and kind of make a statement for themselves — not only to us, but to everybody in the league — about what kind of players they are."

The win keeps Real Salt Lake perfect (3-0-0) on the young season going into Wednesday night's Rocky Mountain Cup showdown at Colorado. The Revs (1-1-3) will return to action on Sunday, April 17 at the Houston Dynamo.

Comments

  1. I recorded the match and watched the Alston collision over again. He clearly went for the ball and actually had a foot on it before he and Johnson went down (his foot actually seemed to land on top of the ball and his ankled rolled, which sent him to the ground. It looked 50-50 to me, but I think the sound made it seem way worse than it was. Of course, having the wear a jason-quality mask didn’t help Alston much (in terms of optics), but he’s not a player with a reputation for fouling, despite a long run playing for a crappy team in equally if not more frustrating losses. Alvarez, however, as third player in, who actually shoved Alston after the play certainly deserved a yellow as well. The game had already gotten chippy and the refs failure to caution fairly when showing Alston the yellow, and sufficiently in advance of the last 30 minutes or so just made matters worse. Seriously, Phelan, and I’m no fan of his, got fouled all over the field all game prior to being thrown out and RSL got away with it practically every time.

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  2. Alvarez hasn’t shown much this season…Yes he’s capable of a moment of brilliance, but every time he’s played this year I have observed bad give aways and his left-footed reliance makes it much easier for defenders to predict where he is going…

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  3. Joseph is an adult and should know you don’t poke people in the face, so he deserves the card for just being stupid! Alston was the weenie out there. He could’nt handle anything, and it was getting to him. I also agree that slamming Johnson was NOT going for the ball, and did start the bad attitudes. As for Alvarez- I’m sure the Kreis has keep him on the reserves until he’s starts being a team player. Jason won’t keep a “Jeff Cunningham” type of player on the team. And lastly- The annoucners for N.E. do suck! The only thing I thought was slightly intelligent from them was “It would be bad for the Rev’s if they can’t get a result against RSL’s B-team” So true. And it is!

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  4. Same guys that said LA could “wrap up a triage and return a favor to RSL [ending their unbeaten streak at home]”, 30 seconds later, Andy Williams scored the opener haha.

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  5. That excitement will turn into disillusion fairly quickly. Having seen him play for 2 years with the Quakes i will tell you he really isn’t much.

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  6. Everyone needs to keep their hands off RSL Players until CCL championship games are over. I knew Kries was going to do the smart thing in resting his starters for this Revs match. My guess is we’ll see most starters against Colorado because JK wants to make another statement to the league.

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  7. I’m most excited about RSL’s newest addition Arturo Alvarez. He had a couple strong pushes for goal in last twenty minutes, one that looked a lot like Paulo Jr.’s attack up right field that ended in goal, however the ball never found the net with Alvarez, I think partly because of too much fancy footwork, a little too much hesitation. Two other times Alvarez found a clearing right at the center of the goal poised for a left foot shot on goal. Both were beautifully attacked but once again never found the net. Still, i’m very impressed with Alvarez, his confidence on the ball. I was also happy to see him rush to Johnson’s defense when Alston hit him into the side fence, it shows that he has quickly made himself part of this team and a defender of the Claret and Cobalt.

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  8. You might wanna watch a replay. Alston never attempted to get the ball. He clearly put his shoulder into Johnson, an easy yellow. Do I think Alston meant for him to go flying into the boards like that, no, but it still was a dangerous play.

    REVS need to keep their hands and fingers off RSL players faces and throats.

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  9. As one of the 7900 people ther, the yellow card on Alston was overblown; it was two players fighting for the ball too long, too fast, and too close to the sideline; the call coulda gone either way, or just left it. That said, it was dangerous and probably left both players ticked off.

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  10. I thought Beckerman changed the game as soon as he came in. He distributed the ball to both sides of the pitch and made the attack a lot more dangerous. Jean Alexandre filled in well for him but it showed how important Beckerman is to RSL.

    As soon as Beckerman came in the game Joseph tripped him from behind which started all the nonsense. And I’m sure Beckerman had something nice to say about Joseph’s manly hair style.

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  11. +1. they were even more horrendous than David “The Pacifier” Ferreira’s goal celebration. Maybe he was trying to make sure he wasn’t twinsies with Beckerman?

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  12. It’s unarguably still shameful that numbers are so low, but as a Revs fan without a car the investment of time and money just to get down there is somewhat daunting. Plus, despite how much I love Nichol, Shalrie (antics and all) and the rest, the “more-with-less” approach is becoming somewhat absurd (although, to my delight, RBNY has showed that more-with-more isn’t exactly a surefire bet either).

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  13. Embarrassing attendance numbers coming out of New England. 7,114 last week and 7970 yesterday. Is their front office even trying?

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  14. Overall some bad referee work today. That red to Joseph was so ticky-tack. It’s one of those calls that I’m sure could be backed up with the rule-book but could not be backed-up with common sense. MLS needs to improve the referee play.

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  15. I guess I’m the only one awake this late or I could be the only one on the internet while everyone else is out having a good time.

    Whats up with Shalrie Joseph? He seems to be out of control. Time to drop him off my fantasy team.

    I’m thinking RSL reserve team can beat TFC, Crew, Earthquakes, Dynamo, Timbers, Chivas, Revs and Dead Bulls.

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