Game Reports
July 17th, 2001: Los Angeles Galaxy at New England Revolution
Harris 7, Sunsing 32, Williams 51
Hernandez 28, 40
This was clearly the rebound game the Revs needed. The hustle was apparent from the start, and the 4-4-2 formation seemed to work wonders, as the Revs came out smoking right from the start and ran off deserving winners in the contest. LA looked a bit bewildered at times and didn't really seem to know what hit them. Surely this wasn't the 11th ranked team in MLS facing them, was it? It sure seemed like this Revolution side was of a different class.
Unfortunately, class is never uniform. Fernando Clavijo placed Jay Heaps out on the left wing. It was supposed to be some sort of improvement on his defensive exploits, but he never seemed to click out on the left. Perhaps it was his inability to float in a cross with his left peg, and he was deservedly switched back to the right wing near the end of the first half. You have to wonder how long Heaps is going to feature in the lineup with the impending return of Braeden Cloutier and Ted Chronopoulos from injuries.
The Revolution took a deserved lead in the 7th minute thanks to a glaring miscue by Matt Reis. Andy Williams made a good run down the left flank, and hit a decent cross through the middle. The ball was bobbled and dropped by Reis straight into the path of struggling striker Wolde Harris. Harris made no mistake from close range to put the home side ahead.
21 minutes later, we were back on level terms due to a sleepy Revolution defense. A brilliant individual run by Andy Williams set up a Caté chip that just missed the top corner. As the crowd and the Revolution stood in amazement, the Galaxy quickly countered down their left flank. Mauricio Cienfuegos crossed into the box for a waiting El Matador (soon to be renamed El Flopador after his diving exhibition last night) to finish his 7th of the campaign, and we were level at ones.
Thankfully for the home side, it was to be only three minutes before the Revs reclaimed the lead. It was William Sunsing with the magic this time. Running down the right flank after a pass from Williams, Sunsing had seemingly lost the ball in the corner. He took the ball back and made a great run down the end line and side footed home into the roof of the net past Matt Reis. Sunsing has experienced a rejuvenation of sorts in the past weeks, and his energy has brought a new urgency into the side.
LA were always going to be dangerous on set pieces due to their tall players in Lalas, Califf, and Hendrickson, and they struck in the 40th minute to level terms at the half. Simon Elliot, the vastly underrated Kiwi midfield conductor, crossed into Alexi Lalas, who headed the ball down to a wide open Hernandez for his second of the match. Despite their dominance at times, the Revs only went into the half level at two.
The second half was much different than the first with LA starting to take over the match in its later stages. However, just six minutes into the second stanza, the Revolution found a way to get the ball in the net. This time Harris turned creator, dishing off to Caté at the top of the box. Caté extended his point streak to six games by threading a ball into Andy Williams, who dribbled through the LA defense to put the Revs ahead to stay.
The most interesting bit of the match came with the entrance of Yari Allnut for the injured Rusty Pierce (a separated shoulder on a sloppy tackle by Luis Hernandez late in the first half). Allnut, playing in the center of defense, took up the role of marking the red-hot Hernandez. Hernandez barely got a look at the ball during the second half due to Allnut's marking. It was a brilliant performance from an attacking midfield pressed into emergency duty. More importantly, Allnut was supported by the ever-impressive Alan Woods and the rock solid duo of Mauricio Wright and Joey Franchino (who blocked two sure goals off the line during the match).
This was the performance we were all expecting from the start of the season, and while it took 18 games to find it, it bodes well for the remaining ten matches in the season. Clearly, the time is now for the Revolution with 8th placed Columbus 1 point up with three matches in hand. It will be a worried run in to the season, but if the Revs play as they did on this night, then the chips should fall into place quite nicely for a return trip to the playoffs.
Post-Match Quotes
Fernando Clavijo
-"Like I keep saying all along, if we come out and play with a good attitude, we have a chance to beat anyone."
-"We need someone with experience, someone who can win balls in the air (after Rusty's injury". Yari did a good job of that tonight.
-"Sometimes, we wait for mistakes to happen. Today, we forced the mistakes to happen."
-"I'm always worried...We let up a late goal we only come out with one point. We did the smart things; we went to the corners and held the ball. We beat a great team."
Revs Ratings
Causey (6)
Pierce (6)
Woods (7)
Wright (6)
Franchino (7)
Williams (8)
Heaps (4)
Alvarez (6)
Sunsing (7)
Harris (7)
Cate (6)
Subs
Allnut (7) [for Pierce, 46]
Torres (NR) [for Cate, 86]
Galaxy Ratings
Reis (4)
Caligiuri (4)
Califf (6)
Lalas (5)
Ezra (5)
Elliot (6)
Victorine (5)
Vagenas (5)
Cienfuegos (5)
Jones (5)
Hernandez (7)
Subs
Frye (6) [for Caligiuri, 46]
Waibel (5) [for Victorine, 69]
