FOXBOROUGH — All you need to know about the Revolution’s 2-2 draw with Chicago Fire Saturday night, complete with BSJ quickie analysis and insight.
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Revolution fight for a point — but it’s not enough: The playoff picture for New England grew a touch murkier on Saturday night. Despite fighting back twice, the Revs couldn’t snatch the full three points against Chicago in what was a must-win game for the home side. The Revolution remain in eighth place in the East, tied on points (35) with seventh-place DC United. And with Montreal drawing, 1-1, with NYCFC in a concurrent fixture, L’Impact are now five points clear of the Revs and United at 40. New England now needs to win at least four of its last five, including two on the road, to have a chance of qualifying. There is still belief in the locker room that the team will clinch a spot with five matches left in the 2018 regular season.
New England concedes twice, both in ugly fashion: Chicago took a 1-nil lead into the half after Aleksandar Katai flicked the ball past Brad Knighton, but that would not have happened had Revs left back Brandon Bye not had a poor first touch on the sequence, nor had he lost his balance. Then, after the Revs equalized via Scott Caldwell, five minutes elapsed before a Fire counterattack burned New England a second time: Raheem Edwards crossed from the far corner into the Banner End penalty area, and while he looked for Nemanja Nikolic, his teammate was late in the slide, and instead, Revolution center back Michael Mancienne bundled the ball into the net. That 2-1 lead would only last three minutes.
Katai puts @chicagofire ahead! #NEvCHI https://t.co/fPe6IkXP96
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 23, 2018
Caldwell ties it up for #NERevs #NEvCHI https://t.co/iqnjSSEwAj
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 23, 2018
Spin move on the counter attack finds the equalizer for #NERevs #NEvCHI https://t.co/TCy5kBRxR8
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 23, 2018