Late goal nets tie for Revs
FOXBORO >> New England Revolution substitute striker Jozy Altidore scored in the 83rd minute to salvage a 3-3 draw with the Chicago Fire before 27,293 fans on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
The Revolution (7-3-4) secured a needed point in the first of three games in eight days. The Revs play at Atlanta United FC on Wednesday night and a matinee match at New York City FC on Saturday.
Center back Andrew Farrell, the reigning Ironman of MLS, eclipsed 30,000 minutes in his career that encompassed the MLS regular season, MLS Cup playoffs, U.S. Open Cup and Concacaf tournaments.
"To get a point on a night where we made too many costly mistakes, we should feel fortunate to walk off the field," said Revolution head coach Bruce Arena. "On the evening we played all right but there were just a couple of really lame plays on our part.
"Jozy getting the goal was so important and he contributed quite well."
Arena made personnel and strategic alterations to the Starting XI from last Saturday's 3-0 loss at Philadelphia. Arena employed dual strikers Bobby Wood and Giacomo Vrioni and inserted homegrown Noel Buck of Arlington in the central midfield in place of Carles Gil. The versatile Christian Makoun started at right back in place of Brandon Bye.
"He (Buck) had a solid performance, good over the 90 minutes," said Arena. "The position we played him at in the first half is not his position but we are short numbers."
Chicago scored first on a phenomenal individual effort by attacker Georgios Koutsias in the 10th minute. Koutsias ran under a deep clear by Kacper Przybylko and exploited an opening between Farrell and left back DeJuan Jones as he entered the penalty area. Koutsias went right foot and beat keeper Djordje Petrovic to the far post for his second of the season.
Chicago went up 2-0 in the on an own goal that went off Farrell in the 22nd minute. Defender Miguel Navarro joined the rush and fired a cross from the left flank that Farrell inadvertently deflected it by Petrovic.
"We obviously didn't start well, conceding two goals in the first 27 minutes made it real difficult," said Arena.
The Revolution cut the lead to 2-1 on an exceptional shot by Buck in the 38th minute. Buck took a pass from Wood and fired a 30-yarder that beat keeper
Chris Brady high on the left side.
The Revolution scored the equalizer on a corner kick in the 40th minute. Emmanuel Boateng lofted a rainbow that bounced of Makoun and was headed home by Wood for his teamhigh fourth of the season.
"Noel's goal was big, it gave us a lift and I think we played out best soccer in the first half after 30 minutes," said Arena.
Gil entered the game to handle a corner kick in the 62nd minute to handle a corner kick and regenerate the Revs' offense. But the Fire went up 3-2 on a goal by midfielder Haren Hailie-Selassie in the 79th minute. Altidore finished a corner kick from Gil to net the equalizer.
"The second half I thought we played well but conceding the third goal was poor on our part," said Arena. "Coming back after that was kind of incredible."