Revs tie at home to CD Chivas; Dorman with the equalizer

By: Sabin | July 7th, 2007

It’s been awhile. Last week’s loss to Chivas put me in such a bad mood that I just couldn’t face posting anything. Combine that with the US MNT’s performance at Copa America (more on this tomorrow), and it was a tough week. It’s time to get back into it, though, so here we go.

Revs Points so Far

The New England Revolution dropped a goal in the first five minutes to a well-placed Suarez header, but built their game up to eventually bring it level with an Andy Dorman volley in the second half.

In a game that “felt like a loss”, the Revs showed some of their old spark after the 15th minute and controlled the flow of play for the bulk of the remainder of the game. Wells Thompson continued breaking the rules with his desire to dribble and weave forward, but in truth the game didn’t pick up until Khano Smith came in for Avery John in the second half.

With Smith in, Michael Parkhurst — who started in a DM position — was able to take up his spot in central defense, and Smith hung out on the left. Within his first 10 minutes, Smith was dropping crosses into Chivas’ box and the Revs were on the attack.

With full credit, I have to commend Preston Burpo on a phenomenal game. He had — last I checked — 8 saves against the Revs for the evening, three of which were off of quality headers from Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan. Once Parkhurst moved to the back line, Matt Reis had very little to contend with.

In the final minutes of the game, a terrific header from Twellman floated a ball across the box to Dorman who struck at it and found himself being struck by Jay Heaps, who also figured he should take a shot on goal. I’m not sure what Heaps was doing attacking goal if he’s slated for the RB position, but that would be the last real chance the Revs had to win the game, and they left Gillette tonight wondering where it went wrong.

The Eastern Conference is an extremely close race, with the Revs now tied for first place with 23 points next to DC United. Kansas City plays LA Galaxy tonight, and a win from KC will move the Revs back to second place.

In order to have a chance at either of the cup competitions next year (Revs are currently fourth place in overall points in the entire league), or a real shot at the MLS Cup this season, the Revs are going to have to play every game like they played the last 60 minutes of tonight’s. With only three losses so far, the Revs have a solid chance to turn themselves out of the current slump and take a shot at winning it all.

They take on the Rochester Raging Rhinos on Tuesday in the 3rd round of the US Open Cup and then take on the Red Bulls at home on July 14th.

More on Twellman’s performance at Copa America, and why I think he’s good for the US Men’s Team coming up later.