After Jozy Altidore put Toronto FC ahead, 3-2, in the 80th minute on Sunday night, the Revolution had a good chunk of the ball over the last 15 minutes — the final 10 minutes of the normal 90, plus 5 minutes and a few seconds in second-half stoppage time.
However, the Revs only put two serious tries in the vicinity of Alex Bono’s goal.
Here’s a quickie form recap of what transpired:
After the re-start (80:41), New England enjoyed the next 2:30 or thereabouts of possession. The only thing of note that happened was Juan Agudelo snapping Laurent Ciman’s ankles out on the left, but the ball was eventually cleared.
During the early portions of that spell, the Revs cycled the ball on the outside of the box, with three players — Teal Bunbury, Luis Caicedo, and Agudelo — at the top of the 18, thanks to Toronto’s high back line. Agudelo, after calling for a taxi for Ciman, tried to feed it to Caicedo. And after a throw-in, Carles Gil tried to find Agudelo closing in on the near post, but Ciman, who had shifted with Auro, Jr., stepped in front and sent play the other way.
In that 2:30 segment, the Revolution only got the ball into the 18-yard box twice.
Toronto would have a corner — Michael Mancienne cleared Ayo Akinola of the ball near the corner flag — but the Revs cleared it and earned a throw-in. At that point, Brad Friedel made his final two substitutions of the night, putting Cristian Penilla and Juan Fernando Caicedo in for Scott Caldwell and Luis Caicedo, respectively. In theory, it was a prudent substitution: Friedel wanted to generate more offense.
But after watching the film Monday, the two had very little opportunities to touch the ball.
With play headed toward Bono, the Revs had a free kick in a rather delicious area: Michael Bradley had fouled Bunbury 24 yards from goal. Penilla’s free kick had several options inside the box, with Agudelo, Caicedo, Wilfried Zahibo, and Brandon Bye all in the box. In addition, Toni Delamea was at the top of the box.
It went to Bye, who had rushed through an opening; he headed it high and over the bar.
The Revs would then have two corner kick opportunities, with Gil’s first service finding Justin Morrow’s noggin instead of Zahibo’s at the top corner of the 6-yard box; the ball went over the end line, setting up corner No. 2.
The second corner went over the head of Zahibo, and partially cleared by Toronto. Penilla would get his first touch from open play and found his way blocked; he laid off to Gil, who found himself dispossessed.
So far, through 6:40 since the match-winning goal’s re-start, the Revs got the ball into the 18 a total of 5 times, and 3 times the ball touched a Colonial shirt. Bye’s header was the only threatening touch.
About 20 seconds later, Brad Knighton tried to find Caicedo with a booming kick, but he was whistled for a foul.
At 88:30, Edgar Castillo tried to play Penilla in, but over-hit it right to Ciman, who cleared it into the stands. New England then had several throw-ins, including an Agudelo throw-in on the far touchline to Bunbury at 89:20 which saw the Reds dispossess.
About 85 seconds or so into stoppage time, Penilla finally found extended seconds on the ball (he had touched the ball twice in the 6 minutes since he had come in, not including the free kick service to Bye) and tried crossing into the box, but the ball was cleared.
Mancienne got the ball back and started a fresh attack, with Penilla eventually getting the ball from Gil. He immediately gives service Bunbury’s way, with Bono coming out to punch. He did. It also led to some time on the ground, which slowed play in an effort to kill the game off.
Bono would re-start the game about 90 seconds later, with Mancienne fouling Terrence Boyd on the 50/50 ball. Toronto could have tried to play keep-away, but the Reds tried to play toward the corner; the free kick was too long. Knighton then sent play the other way, but the Revolution found the Reds to stiffen over on the right.
New England could not generate another attack.
Breaking this down:
- Toronto’s defending was stout in the final 15 minutes. Give credit to Greg Vanney’s side, who did just enough to flummox The Boys In Blue. At times in that final quarter hour, TFC had five in the back line, and when the Revolution had numbers forward, the Reds had an equal amount of bodies behind the ball to stifle the attack. They were organized. New England has difficulty in breaking organized sides down (see also: Columbus).
- After the foul by Bunbury on Bono, the Revolution could not get the ball back into the box. From the re-start after the Altidore goal until the full-time whistle, New England got the ball into the 18-yard box 6 times, with only two of those threatening Bono (the Bye header, and the Penilla volley to Bunbury at 90+2’).
- Of New England’s four on-target shots, none of them came when they needed them in that final quarter of an hour. In addition, the Revs played too carefully, and again could not unlock the defending save Agudelo blowing by Ciman, and there was little penetration into the box. And outside of the free kick that led to Bye’s header, Penilla touched the ball five times. Juan Fernando Caicedo had two touches, including a header.