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Revolution snap winless stretch with victory over D.C. United

McCarthy (Getty Images)

By AVI CREDITOR

WASHINGTON — The New England Revolution have been looking for a ray of hope in their recent streak of futility, and they finally got one Wednesday night.

Rookie Stephen McCarthy headed in Chris Tierney's 73rd-minute corner kick, and the Revolution held off D.C. United for a 1-0 win under hot and humid conditions in front of 15,597 at RFK Stadium. The victory completed the season sweep of D.C. for New England and snapped a nine-game winless stretch.

Playing without suspended midfielder Benny Feilhaber, the Revolution (4-9-7) also won on the road in league play for the first time this season, improving to 1-6-3 away from Gillette Stadium.

Charlie Davies missed a first-half penalty kick for D.C. (5-6-8), which had numerous quality chances but either missed or was denied by stellar New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, who was credited with six saves.

None of those chances were more opportunistic than the penalty, which was awarded in the 43rd minute after Pat Phelan got caught with his elbow extended and was whistled for handling Josh Wolff's cross inside the area.

Davies stepped to the spot for the fifth time this season but missed for the first time, skying his attempt well over the crossbar to spoil the chance to go ahead heading into halftime.

"I leaned back, and it went over," Davies said. "It was pretty painful to see that go over the bar."

The missed penalty gave new life to New England, which had its fair share of chances — specifically forward Rajko Lekic — despite being on its heels for extended stretches of the match.

"I felt like this is it, if there's a game that we're going to win now it's going to be this one," McCarthy said. "The way things have been going, the horrible luck, bad bounces, and we got that (missed penalty), and I think the whole team thought, 'All right, this has to be the one.' That was a game-changer."

It wasn't until the 73rd minute when the game tilted in the Revolution's favor for good, when Tierney placed his corner kick in an ideal spot for McCarthy in the center of the box. The goal was the second of the season for the 6-foot-4 rookie midfielder out of the University of North Carolina.

"(Tierney) puts them on a dime, so I'm lucky to have him out there," McCarthy said.

The Revolution put numbers behind the ball after capturing the lead but almost succumbed to an equalizer in the 82nd minute. Dwayne De Rosario was played into the area by Andy Najar, but De Rosario's right-footed shot was expertly stopped by Reis' kick save.

De Rosario also came close to scoring on three occasions in the first half. His sliding one-time attempt off a Najar cross went left of the near post in the opening minutes; his shot from outside the top of the area whizzed over the crossbar in the 16th minute; and he was stopped by Reis two minutes later with another blast from the edge of the box that the keeper pushed wide with a diving save.

While the result represents a building block for the Revolution, it conversely represents a lost opportunity for D.C. The team failed to win at home for the sixth consecutive game and missed a chance to capitalize off the momentum of a four-point haul from consecutive road games at New York and Dallas.

"It was just one of those games where no matter what, the ball wasn't going in the net," Davies said. "That's tough to take especially against a team that we got the better of, and they haven't done so well, and it's a game where we expect to get three points."

Despite struggling for the bulk of the season, the Revolution seem to have United's number this year. New England knocked D.C. out of the U.S. Open Cup in the preliminary rounds and also won the teams' other regular-season meeting, taking a 2-1 result in Foxborough, Mass., back on March 26.

NOTES

The Revolution wore black armbands in honor of Myra Kraft, the late wife of Revolution owner Robert Kraft. She passed away on Wednesday after a battle with ovarian cancer. … The heat index in D.C. was at 101 degrees at the time of first kick. … Newly acquired Austin da Luz made his United debut, entering as a 71st-minute substitute for Chris Pontius.

Comments

  1. He dives more than Greg Luganis.

    Americans don’t dive. I appreciate he recovered from that horrible crash, but since he’s now a diver, he’s easy to root against.

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  2. “…to watch a mid-table club play a bottom feeder.”

    4 points seperate the two teams with DC having one game in hand (and DC has allowed 3 more goals).

    Let’s not get too carried away with ourselves. If anything, DC is pretty much “feeding the bottom,” too.

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  3. WOW.

    I’m about a big a Kitchen fan is there is among the DCU fan base, but to say he was man of the match last night makes me think we literally did not see the same match.

    Did you miss the part where he completely ****ed a back pass to Hamid that led to the corner where New England scored?

    His touch was horrible all night. Outside backs have to participate and make good decisions in the attack. He made terrible decisions and looked technically weak. I love the guy but he had a terrible night (as did we all, as a result).

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  4. Blah. The ghosts of RFK were howling last night. The only positive from the game is the 15,000 supporters who came out on a Wednesday night in 100 degree weather to watch a mid-table club play a bottom feeder.

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  5. DC United completely outclassed New England tonight but this is what happens when you control a game and fail to score. The general trend of the game was simply the result of technical level, though. DC’s effort was not very good and most of the team (well both teams, actually) looked slow and sluggish. This was probably in part due to the heat and humidity (It was absolutely brutal, even in the stands) but also because of the shorter break between games with this being a Wednesday game.

    Davies was very lackadaisical tonight. I don’t remember him hitting a full sprint once in the 90 minutes. His penalty was atrocious and you could tell it was going to be before he even took it. The guy simply did not look confident in the least out there tonight. Wolff was pretty sluggish and at times invisible. Pontius was M.I.A. tonight. Najar was decent but he lost the ball a lot more than he should. I liked what I saw from De Rosario for the most part but he seemed to get lazy in the second half. Fred was better than most in his brief time tonight and I wish him the best in Melbourne. Ngwenya was awful but I have to credit him for his consistently strong effort. He just simply isn’t a good player in my eyes. The back line was fairly solid but needs to be better on crosses. Hamid was not really tested and had no chance on the goal.

    Now that I’m done complaining, as jcl said, Kitchen owned the pitch tonight. IMO, he was far and away man of the match. He was like a man among toddlers out there tonight. I remember one particular moment late in the game when the Revs’ player tried to run time by shielding the ball in the corner and Kitchen deftly got around him, brushed him off, turned to face the field, and finished it off with a nonchalant meg. He pretty much controlled an entire quadrant of the field with no hiccups all game. He has an incredibly bright future and will almost certainly be gone before too long.

    If DC United want to be serious contenders, they are really going to have to improve their crossing and finishing. Many of the crosses tonight either went directly to Matt Reis or over the “danger area” and simply never threatened the Revs. The finishing tonight was also not good; most shots either went directly to Matt Reis or off-target. These have been recurring problems for the team. Acquiring a new forward during the transfer window seems necessary at this point. I think the acquisition of Da Luz was a step in the right direction. This team really needs more depth. The bench was ripe with so-so players and there was never really a substitute who could come on and give the opponent problems. Brettschneider and Quaranta were probably the closest thing we had to that but now they’re both injured. Da Luz didn’t have much of a chance to show what he had but he played hard and appeared to fit in reasonably well given that it was his first game with the team. Having seen him play some in New York and quite a bit at Wake Forest, I know he can be a difference maker and he should help the team going forward.

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  6. The fact that he recovered from the injuries is impressive but it doesn’t change the fact that he is easy to root for outside of a USMNT shirt

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  7. It is funny to see all of the hate for Chuck D. The guy has battled back from injuries that most people would not recover from, let alone play a professional sport. Charlie honed his game in Europe, in Sweden and then briefly in France. Once he brings back that part of the game to the States… he is a villain. The criticism is comical. Once we start playing well against the top teams in the world, then we can debate the theatrics of the players.

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  8. Sat (or jumped rather) with the Barra Brava for the first time, 3 thoughts for whatever they’re worth:

    Davies was completely off tonight (penalty miss aside), and refused to make runs back to fetch or demand the ball. Pointing forward with a sense of entitlement and expecting MacDonald or Woolard to hit you a perfect 40 yard through-lob every time is not going to be a successful strategy. Get over yourself and do some work.

    Nobody made runs at ALL in the second half, except De La Luz.

    On a positive note, I thought Kitchen completely bossed Schilawski tonight.

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  9. Davies was already dancing. No one in 232 would bet he’d convert, the assclown. When knew United would lose before he shot. Can he be gone soon, please?

    He’s an assclown, the diver.

    Reply
  10. As a DCU fan, disappointing to see good interchange among our attackers come to nothing. Reis made several good saves – as usual had DCU’s number – and NE scored on a well taken, opposite post header from a bending cross away from goal box.

    Reply

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