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Caraglio and Richards net braces as Revs and Red Bulls draw

DaneRichards (ISIPhotos.com)  

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By IAN HOLLIDAY

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — For the third straight match, the New England Revolution scored first. And for the third straight match, the Revolution squandered its lead.

Recently signed designated player Milton Caraglio netted his first two MLS goals in the first half, and Dane Richards scored a brace of his own in the second as the Revs and the New York Red Bulls split the points in a 2-2 draw Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

Revolution players and head coach Steve Nicol alike were at a loss to explain the club's inability to hold onto a lead.

"It's deja vu," Nicol said. "We've lost to many points that we should have had in the bag."

Asked what the team could do to improve its performance, Revs captain Shalrie Joseph echoed his coach's sentiment.

"If I knew the answer to that, I think we'd probably be the happiest bunch of guys ever right now," Joseph said. "It's more than three games, honestly, if you think about it, we've been fortunate enough that we've been able to take leads in games and we just can't hold onto the lead."

The result continues a string of ineptitude for both sides. The Revolution (4-11-11, 23 points) has won just once in its last 16 matches, while the Red Bulls (6-6-14, 32 points) have won just twice in their last 18. Still, the visitors have to feel better about the result than their hosts, said Red Bulls' head coach Hans Backe after the match.

"You must be happy with a tie when you're two down and playing away," Backe said.

Richards netted the equalizer in the 87th minute, tapping home a driven cross from Joel Lindpere. Richards had previously cut the lead in half with a 53rd-minute goal off of a long pass from Tim Ream. The Jamaican midfielder ran onto Ream's long ball behind the Revolution defense and had time to settle in the box before calmly finding the back of the net.

Both sides had a player sent off for a second yellow card in the second half. Kenny Mansally saw red in the 55th minute for the Revs, and Teemu Tanio was off in the 69th.

The Revolution were fortunate to have a penalty waved off just before halftime. Dax McCarty got behind the Revs' defense in the 45th minute and was one-on-one with Revs back-up keeper Bobby Shuttleworth, who started in place of the suspended Matt Reis. Shuttleworth cleaned out the midfielder and looked about to be sent off for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity.

Referee Juan Guzman initially pointed to the penalty spot, but after conferring with an assistant referee, he changed his mind and booked McCarty for simulation. Replays seemed to show that Shuttleworth had indeed made contact with the midfielder's knee.

The two coaches differed predictably in their assessment of Guzman's call.

"I think he did get the non-penalty call in the first half right," said Nicol. "Somebody pressed a button and [McCarty's] legs disappeared. That was a great call."

"[It's] a 100 percent penalty and probably a red card," Backe said.

Caraglio's brace was the first for a Revolution player since Zak Boggs did it on May 8, 2010 against the Columbus Crew, a 47-game span.

Caraglio opened the scoring in the 15th minute with an impressive individual effort. After pushing his way through three Red Bulls defenders and forcing a good save from Coundoul,the Revolution designated player collected his own rebound, shifted to his favored left foot and drove home a shot at the near post.

The designated player got his second in the 37th by beating Rafa Marquez to head home a Mansally corner.

Caraglio nearly opened his MLS account ten minutes earlier than he actually did. The Argentine did well to head down a high cross from Mansally at the back post, but his shot had too much force behind it and bounced over the goal.

Both teams will play their next match on Sunday, the Red Bulls return to a sold-out Red Bull Arena to host the Los Angeles Galaxy, while the Revolution hit the road to take on the Philadelphia Union.

Comments

  1. Carl Robinson isn’t a starter and wouldn’t add anything to the team. Agudelo plays too casually for MLS and Rafa just doesn’t care, i’ll agree with you there.
    I honestly watched the game with a notebook to mark down every time Ballouchy was on the ball. I did not find one time he successfully kept the play moving, let alone moving forward. Every time he was on the ball he passed to the Revs, held on to the ball too long before he got it tackled away or tried to dribble through his mark. There was one time in the second half he go fouled, but that was his one and only positive contribution to the team.

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  2. Red Bulls need to get rid of Balooochey, Marquez and Agudelo to start. Rafa is just plain lazy, Balouchy runs around like a chicken with his head cut off and Juan cant control a ball to save his life! Once they’re all gone, get rid of Backe as well and start getting some competition for positions. The problems start at the top and he’s the man to blame. When we’re talking about the injury woes of not having Luke Rodgers and Carl Robinson as a reason for not winning, something is seriously messed up.

    Both teams should have had their penalties and that ref should be back judging little girl football games.

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  3. “You must be happy with a tie when you’re two down and playing away,” Backe said.

    This has been the season of diminishing expectations. Next Sunday against the Gals is going to be ugly.

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  4. New York needs to change their jersey’s to green and keep Marquez as the captain, that way maybe he’ll think that they’re Mexico and he’ll show up.

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  5. For what it’s worth, the first yellow that Mansally got looked like a dive on replay, but if I were a ref I too would have given Mansally a card b/c he really sold it. However, the ref was in a bad position for the 1st “penalty” that Dax should have had (where McCarty received the yellow). He asked his AR –which we all say a ref should do– and the AR said it was a dive. I’d bet the Dax penalty that WAS a penalty towards the end was not called as a result of the first two. As for Caraglio’s penalty, I would bet that wasn’t called b/c they didn’t want to affect the outcome (a little late for that but whatever). If the Revs had tracked back and not complained Richards wouldn’t have gotten his second goal. Refs shouldn’t have an effect on a game, but players need to learn to adjust to bad calls. It was a lose-lose draw. Revs continue to find new ways to drop 2 points in the last 3 minutes. RBNY continue to think that 1 point is the most you can earn per game.

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  6. I am *so* tired of watching Marquez sleep-walk his way through matches. He is the senior and star central defender, but shows no real interest in doing the hard work of defending. He does not communicate with his defense partner, jogs back instead of running, and shies away from contact. I know defending is a collective effort, but Marquez is supposed to be the leader and the best defender on the team.

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  7. There’s been worse officiating. McCarty’s fall in teh 1st half should have been a penalty, but he dived in the 2nd half.

    Plus, the Revs had a fairly legit penalty denied as well, so it all evened out there.

    And Mansally and Tainio fully earned their red cards. Mansally was carrying a yellow when he elbowed Solli in the head. Easy call: 2nd yellow, red card.

    Tainio probably could have gotten a straight red for the that ugly chop from behind on Joseph. That was a stupid, dangerous play. The fact that he already had a yellow made his sending off even easier.

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  8. Just because something happens after something else doesn’t mean the latter “led directly” to the former. But fair enough, this is a silly game. As are all these MLS matches where the officiating is so bad that the result is more or less arbitrary.

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  9. The lack of a penalty called at one end led directly to a goal at the other end. If we’re going to play this silly game, it should’ve been 3-3. I’m glad we can all agree Guzman was inept, anyway.

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  10. “You must be happy with a tie when you’re two down and playing away,” Backe said.

    Why was the team down 2 in the first place? Stop lowering the standards and pretending everything’s OK. This team has been an embarrassment, and at this point, it doesn’t look like they’re making the playoffs. Pathetic.

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  11. Glad to see Caraglio is showing he’s worth DP status. The Revs are starting to put some goals in, but need a couple quality defenders so they can close out games

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  12. I actually thought the no-call in the first half was a great decision. No, I’m not a Revs fan and I don’t hate NY.

    Watch the replay closely. McCarty started to fall before he was touched. The GK barely touched his shorts, not nearly enough to make him fall. I’m tired of players feeling minimal contact and diving. It’s not good for the sport.

    I thought the play in the second half was much more deserving of a penalty.

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  13. 4th…enough is enough with this club. It is becoming disgusting just to sit and watch this and call myself a fan anymore. I unfortunately have tickets to 3 more home games this season…wish I never bought them at this point. However, even as a Red Bull fan, I am looking forward to the Galaxy dismantling them next week so it is clear to the entire organization how far behind this team is right now.

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  14. 3rd, although I would prefer both Soler and Backe together, two clowns that have squandered $13mn and the most talent any MLS team has ever seen. Oh…and they also traded away our entire youth and foundation for the future…is anybody awake at the Red Bull management wheel?

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  15. Hey Hans. Work on set pieces. Hey Red Bulls. Stop getting injured. Hey defenders. Start throwing your weight around and wake up. Hey Red Bulls. Let’s get some meaningful possession.

    Vamos Metro.

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  16. Would that be the Revs, who had a clear PK denied thirty seconds before the game-tying goal?

    Agree on horrible refereeing, but this guy was bad to both teams.

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  17. Jesus Christ, what does a guy have to do to get a penalty if he plays for NY!! The referee points to the spot and then changes his mind after talking to the stupid side judge?! That is just inexcusable. And to boot, Dax gets the penalty?? WOW.

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  18. Dax just does not look frail enough to ever have been worthy of drawing a penalty. He looks like an “energy” guy on the Devils checking line. But that absolutely was a penalty at the end of the first half, and also one near the end of the second half; he was just shoved off the ball! Only in MLS is that not a PK. Oh, well.

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