Bedard: Antonio Delamea's handball was 'foolish' but not reason for another Revs' loss

FOXBOROUGH — In a corner of the Revolution's locker room, Antonio Delamea carefully put on a dry blue Revs shirt after a physically and mentally draining 90-plus minutes inside Gillette Stadium.

He slowly stood up to face the media. He repeatedly ran his fingers through his damp, dirty-blond hair as he searched for the right words. His eyes never made contact — they stayed fixated on the floor as if some comforting words might spring from them.

But the didn't, and they won't. Delamea knew what had happened. He knew the gravity of the situation and his error. It was the type of situation every professional athlete hopes will never happen to them, but deep down they know it's only a matter of time.

In as close to a must-win game as you can get with 11 games remaining, the sliding Revolution rose from the dead (they were down 2-0 at halftime) to tie the game 2-2 with 24 minutes remaining.

The Fort was delirious. The Revs were surging and it seemed only a matter of time before they deposited the go-ahead goal, and perhaps another.

They were feeling it. The Revs appeared to be on the verge of the type of victory that can knock a team out of a 1-3-4 rut and propel them for the rest of the season.

And then it happened. Call it the Hand of Good-God, Not Again.

Delamea got turned around on a corner kick, inexplicably raised his hand, and the ball caromed off it for a blatant handball and a penalty kick. Fabrice-Jean Picault buried it from the penalty spot to give the Philadelphia Union a 3-2 lead.

There were still 14 minutes remaining plus stoppage time, but you knew it was over. In two months worth of gut punches, this was the type of body blow where you can't stand erect for five minutes.

Final: Philadelphia 3, Revolution 2. The victory jumped the Union into fifth in the Eastern Conference and knocked the Revs back to seventh — and on the outside looking in if the postseason started today.

Brad Friedel didn't mince any words.

"Disheartening? I think it was foolish," he said. "There’s no excuse for that at all. Mark your man, head the ball away. You’re a central defender. I mean, Toni will know that, I’ll say that to him. It’s very cut and dry. There’s nothing ambiguous about it.”

Delamea was left grasping for an explanation.

"I was marking a guy who made a wide run on the far post so I was more concentrating on him than the ball," he said. "I turned around, the ball was already, I guess, too close to me. It was just a quick reaction. I thought I could head it over but I was too low and it hit my hand. I raised my hand to protect myself from the guy from the far post but I misjudged the position of the ball and it just hit me in the hand.

"I feel really bad right now. When you step on the field, you know things like this can happen. Today, this game is on me. I can only say sorry to everyone. I think in a situation like this, you need to take responsibility, put your head down and work even harder."



Forward Brian Wright, who is one of the closest players on the team to Delamea, knew this would hit his friend hard.

"It's part of football, it’s unfortunate that it happened," Wright said. "I know he’ll be disappointed about it but the season is still playing. We have to look to move on."

Sure, Delamea's boner was everything Friedel said it was. And Delamea should take it hard — it ruined what should have been a breakthrough win for the Revs.

But the truth of the matter is the Revs shouldn't have been in that position, and it was one of the countless plays the Revs could have made but didn't. They had nearly twice as many total shots (26-14) and had 17 — 17! — shots in the box (Philly had 10). New England had 10 blocked shots to Philly's one. There were errant passes that should have been converted easily. There were wide-open shots that had no chance at the net.

And Delamea's mea culpa fell right in line with all it. It was the type of play that happens to a team that can't get out of its own way. It's the type of play that happens to these Revolution.

"Yeah, we all make mistakes," said Teal Bunbury. "It’s tough to sit there … obviously you beat yourself up about making silly mistakes or missing a penalty, missing a shot, missing a mark. It’s tough, you deal with that. And fans will see that and get upset and whatever, but we’re also human too and we’re not happy about certain mistakes we make.

"He’s not the only guy who has ever made a mistake on the field and there’s plenty of mistakes that we made tonight. I feel for him, but we have to kind of pick each other up and not dwell on that particular play because there are other plays where we had chances, myself included. I had some chances that I could have scored, other guys too. That’s how it goes."

Delamea is sure to take heat from fans for his mistake, and certainly, that comes with the territory. But at least he faced the music — which from the sounds of it, hasn't exactly been going on inside the Revs' locker room as things have slid away from them.

"I just feel like we’re a bunch of guys that don’t take the responsibility when it’s necessary," Delamea said. "So I think today can start with me. I messed it up. It’s my fault that we lost this game and I think everyone can be mad at me. I’ll take the blame and just try to prevent things like this from happening in the future."

A foolish play, to be sure. But an admirable stance after the game.

Maybe all wasn't lost on a soggy Saturday night after all.