First-half Dorman goal enough for win … luckily

By: Sabin | July 15th, 2007

In a bit of a snoozer, the New England Revolution walked away from Giants Stadium with a full three points, and — thanks to some late-game heroics from FC Dallas — a one-point cushion at the top of the Eastern Conference.

For minutes at a time, the Revs looked out-of-synch with their passing rhythm and forward movement. They also dropped back instead of applying their usual pressure for stretches of the game, and I got up off of the couch after full time thinking that with any team other than the Red Bulls we would have lost this one.

There were, of course, moments of brilliance like the sequence that led to Andy Dorman’s goal in the first half. Steve Ralston dribbled the ball from the Revs’ back field about thirty yards through a pack or Red Bull shirts and laid of a pass across the backwards diagonal to Shalrie Joseph who immediately angled the ball upfield into the path of Dorman who struck the ball with his right foot to the far post for goal tying him with Taylor Twellman for goals this season. Clinical, clean, and a great moment.

Suprisingly, though, it was one of only a handful of Joseph’s forward passes that went right.

From a defensive stand-point, the Revs did a solid job of isolating Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna with the result that both players had relatively little time on the ball. The two times Angel did get the ball in front of goal, however, led to shots on, so kudos to his quality. Frustration mounted for most of the game, however, and he was red-carded in the 91st minute for a flying elbow against Joseph’s head.

I don’t know if the Revs play to the level of their opponents, or if they just tend to have off nights, but whichever it is, I have to hope that this coming weekend’s home stand against Houston Dynamo shows the Revs in a little more positive light.

At any rate, the Revs sit — albeit precariously — at the top of the Eastern Conference, on pace with league-leading FC Dallas for points. Their bench has depth, and they haven’t lost any of their scrappiness or tenacity. Plus, this is the second week that Dorman’s name made it to the headline.