Revs fall at finish line
Two late goals lift LA
FOXBORO — The crowd of 36,573, the largest at home for the Revolution this season, was already upset that it would not see international superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic — as the LA Galaxy striker chose to stay home and not play on Gillette Stadium’s artificial turf.
But the massive throng was even more angry after the final whistle, as the Revs threw away a gutsy victory by surrendering two goals in second-half stoppage time to drop a 3-2 decision.
After playing down a man for 62 minutes, and despite that holding a one-goal lead through almost the entire second half, LA defender David Romney got a free header on the back post to tie it in the 92nd minute, and veteran Chris Pontius scored his second of the night a minute later to bushwhack the Revs.
“To me, that was one of the worst losses that I’ve suffered at this stadium,” said Revs forward Juan Agudelo. “The most important thing was our resiliency. We faced a lot of adversity going down a man. I saw guys to my right sprinting, guys to my left sprinting, to lose a game like that, we don’t forget a game like this.”
Revs coach Brad Friedel called it a “monumental effort” by his players despite the late collapse.
“I’m very proud of my players and the effort that they put in tonight. (LA coach) Sigi (Schmid) said it best here after the game: They didn’t deserve to win the game; we did,” Friedel said. “It’s frustrating, it’s heartbreaking. The players know we put in the better effort. The players know we were the better side. The players know we gave up three soft goals.That’s part and parcel of it . ...
“But we had a lot of good performances. When we went down to 10 men, there wasn’t an ounce of frustration, there wasn’t an ounce of panic. It was business as usual. There are positives we can take out of it. I thought we passed the ball quite well.”
The Revs went down a man in the 23rd minute, after winger Cristian Penilla was taken down on a hard tackle by LA’s Romain Alessandrini. While on the ground, Penilla kicked out at the Galaxy player, right in front of Robert Sibiga. Alessandrini was shown a yellow card for his foul, and then Sibiga turned and sent off Penilla with a red card.
But it was the Revs who responded. Agudelo controlled the ball outside the area and dished to Luis Caicedo, who sent a terrific through ball to a streaking Diego Fagundez. The Leominster product timed his run perfectly to get behind the Galaxy defense and easily beat keeper David Bingham for a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
The Galaxy tied the game 10 minutes later, when defender Jergen Skjelvik counter-attacked through the middle and slid the ball to fullback Ashley Cole, who crossed to an unmarked Pontius for the equalizer.
But the Revs were the ones to retake the lead just before halftime. Right back Andrew Farrell curled a cross to midfielder Luis Caicedo, who got behind the LA defense and had a clear header past a helpless Bingham for his first goal of the season.
Despite the man disadvantage, the Revs continually pressed the issue in the second half, looking for insurance. Farrell set up Teal Bunbury for a tip-in attempt in the 74th minute, and then Cole made the defensive save of the year at Gillette when he headed a shot by Bunbury off the goal line in the 78th minute. Cole later was sent off after picking up a second yellow card to even the sides after 85 minutes.
But instead of seeing the game off, the Revs gave the victory away. So instead of moving ahead of Columbus into fourth place in the Eastern Conference, the Revs fell to 7-5-7, with victorious Montreal closing within a point of them in fifth place.