Revs finally break out
Post first victory of season
FOXBORO — Revolution defender Chris Tierney stood up in the locker room on the cusp of his 200th start for the club and said a few words. He knew his teammates were frustrated about the season-opening defeats in Colorado and Dallas. He wanted to reinforce the stakes ahead of this home opener.
Tierney delivered a succinct, potent message ahead of the 5-2 victory over Minnesota United yesterday afternoon: Draw a line in the sand and go win the game.
“There are certain times in seasons where you just have to win the game,” Tierney explained after the Revs’ first victory of the campaign. “This was one of those days, and we did a really good job of it.”
This comprehensive display — including two goals from Juan Agudelo, plus one each from Kei Kamara, Lee Nguyen and Tierney — displayed the energy, the incisiveness and the movement required to dispatch the shorthanded visitors.
All of the signs of the rout to follow appeared within seconds. The intent emerged in a furious opening period. The frailties of a patchwork Minnesota United defense (18 goals conceded in four matches) rose to the surface. Tierney even provided the opener with a tempting cross for Agudelo to prod home inside the back post in the fourth minute.
“From what it seemed like, (the spaces) were all over the field,” Agudelo said. “It was good because everybody wanted the ball. Even one guy checking to the ball opened up a spot for a guy to get in behind.”
Not even Collen Warner’s surprising response — a well-taken effort inside the near post after a deflected clearance allowed Christian Ramirez to funnel the ball to his feet — diverted the match off course.
Kamara benefited from an incisive ball from Diego Fagundez into the channel and Nguyen’s tidy square pass to restore the lead after 21 minutes. Nguyen slotted past former Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth from the spot just after the half-hour after Vadim Demidov clattered Agudelo inside the penalty area. Agudelo completed the first-half outburst by thrashing inside the near post four minutes before intermission.
“We talk about it. We see the potential,” Revolution coach Jay Heaps said about his potent attacking trident. “You saw it at times. When it’s really moving well, we’re difficult to defend, and it makes more predictable for our defenders to be solid.”
Minnesota United benefited from a pair of substitutions and a switch to a five-man defense at halftime to close some of the evident gaps in their shape, but Brent Kallman’s first MLS goal four minutes into the second half — corralled home after Ramirez pulled back a free kick — marked the high point for the visitors.
The punctuation mark to a comprehensive victory arrived when Warner hauled down Fagundez inside the penalty area shortly thereafter. Nguyen yielded his usual duties to allow Tierney to thrash his spot kick into the upper corner and ensure this emphatic display fell on the proper side of that line.