Revolution battle New York City FC to scoreless draw
New England Revolution goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic reversed a disturbing trend with his sixth clean sheet of the season.
The Revolution (7-3-6) recorded their third straight draw in eight days with a 0-0 tie against New York City FC on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Petrovic was bombarded with 20 shots and made stellar saves on NYCFC’s five shots on target to secure the point.
“He was steady throughout the game with good distribution and it was good to get a clean sheet again,” said Revolution head coach Bruce Arena. “Djordje has been punished by some poor defending in front of him the last couple of games so it was good to see him get a clean sheet.”
The Revolution are 0-2-3 over a five-game winless streak and going into Yankee
Stadium, they had given up 11 goals in four games. The Revolution needed the kind of turnaround Petrovic provided as they are set to begin a three-game homestand against Inter-Miami on June 10.
“Djordje is Djordje, I think he is the best in the league,” said center back Andrew Farrell. “Djordje was standing on his head and it was a team effort to get that clean sheet after giving up so many goals.”
Things got interesting in stoppage time when NYCFC defender Brian Cufre drew a red card for spiking DeJuan Jones after a contested ball. The Revolution had some late chances but were unable to score.
“We’ve been in two tough places this week and getting a point in each game was a positive,” said Arena. “It wasn’t all positive, but I saw some good play from our team.”
To accommodate the compact schedule and
mounting injuries, Arena made personnel and schematic changes to the Starting XI he employed in the 3-3 draw at Atlanta United FC on Wednesday night. Arena reverted back to the dual strikers (3-5-2) scheme he used against Philadelphia
with Bobby Wood and Jozy Altidore up top.
Giacomo Vrioni replaced Altidore at the start of the second half and Gustavo Bou came in for Wood in the 75th minute. Bou had not dressed for nine straight MLS games with a
leg injury.
“Those were Gustavo’s first minutes in what my guess would be close to two months and for Giacomo, that was one of his longest runs to date,” said Arena. “Giacomo is getting better at holding the ball up and
Gustavo just needs more time because he has been out a fair amount.
“I think as we enter the second half of the season, we are hopeful to have Gustavo and Giacomo and Bobby Wood and Jozy all healthy and that will help our team.”
NYCFC showed proficiency at creating scoring opportunities with a glaring inability to finish, but they kept Petrovic on high alert in the first half. The Gotham crew caught a break when Wood’s breakaway tally in the 21st minute was ruled offside. Wood took a shot to the head following a set piece in the 27th minute and briefly departed the pitch to be evaluated.
The breaks evened out when NYCFC attacker Richie Ledezma’s rocket from the top of the box recoiled off the right post. NYCFC enjoyed a 11-5 shots advantage in the scoreless first half.