FOXBOROUGH — Cleaning out the notebook and the pre-frontal cortex ...
Houston’s 25th-minute goal was the first of the road trip -- and first in Foxborough since 2013
Believe it or not, the Dynamo have lacked some scoring punch, even with Alberth Elis (5 goals, 6 assists) in the lineup. But without him, the team has been absolutely stagnant offensively. Houston had lost last weekend, 4-0, to Portland, before losing to San Jose, 2-0, at midweek.
So suffice it to say, after losing their scoring boots somewhere along Houston’s 5,950-mile road trip — or leaving them in a trash bin at IAH before getting on the plane — getting Darwin Cerén’s first goal of 2019 came at a good time for the visitors.
However, it couldn’t hold up to give the Orange and Black its first win here since 2013 — which, incidentally, was the last time the Dynamo have won on turf in the regular season. That means no wins in Portland, no wins in Seattle, nothing in Atlanta … for nearly six full years.
Houston has only won twice at Gillette since moving from San Jose to the Space City before the 2006 season: the 2013 win, and May 3, 2009.
And believe it or not, it was the first goal Houston has scored in front of the Revolution fandom since a 1-1 draw on Sept. 28, 2013; both 2013 games between the two sides were played in Foxborough.
Revs now 4-0-2 against the West in 2019
It’s interesting, isn’t it? Four wins against the West, including two in a row. All of those wins came against teams in the Top 7.
And look who’s on deck for The Boys In Blue: the Colorado Rapids, a team that is unbeaten in their last seven (5-0-2), with three results against the East in that stretch. They are still 10th in the West.
Of course, the Revs are heading to Denver for Thursday’s holiday matchup. The question will be how New England handles the elevation; the last time the Revs played at elevation was last October at Real Salt Lake, and that was a disaster.
But that was with Brad Friedel at the helm, and the Revs out of the playoffs. This team has a different mentality, or so we believe. We’ll get to see if that’s true when they fly to the Mile High City.
A couple of other things:
- One of the things Bruce Arena touched on Wednesday night? Cristian Penilla’s fitness. “We just have to get him a little fitter,” Arena said. “And I don't necessarily know completely his background as a player that would suggest that we're playing him in the right position and all that but, you know, there's a way to go a little bit and the way we want to do things, but he's a talented kid. And I think a little patience and some hard work on his part, he's going to move forward. I did notice last year that he was was a very dangerous player for the Revolution, and I know he scored a bunch of goals. So hopefully, you know, over the next month or so we can really get (Penilla) going at full speed and be real dangerous.”Through the first 18 games in 2019, the Ecuadorian has only scored three goals. And when we spoke with Penilla in the preseason, he told us that he believes he signed a two-year contract.
But what’s interesting to me in that quote? He doesn’t know if Penilla is playing in the right position. Could a move to a more central role or a move up top be in the cards? He would certainly be faster than a few of the current options up top.
Another player who I think could benefit from a positional change? Scott Caldwell. Watch when he plays how he sinks back to supplement the back line. Could he give depth to the back line, primarily as an outside back, in a pinch?
Something to consider. - Arena believes he has the coaching staff filled out for the rest of the season.“Then we need to continue to build the technical side with on the scouting and the academy side, and the second team for next year,” he said. “So there's there's a lot of work ahead. And certainly they'll be a few other people come in, but for now, you know, the coaching staff is set.”
- When asked how important the second team — which we spoke about last week, and he pretty much confirmed it’s coming — will be to the further development of players, Arena said he believes it will.But he added one caveat: the unknown factor.“I don't think anyone in the league right now is completely certain as to how you utilize the team between the academy program and first team,” he said. “There's been a lot of different opinions in the league, whether it’s the USL platform or our own reserve league or U-20 teams, U-23; no one's certain at this point. So I think over the next year and a half, we’re going to come to some kind of agreement in the league as to how we put that platform in place to be between our first team and Academy. No one yet knows the direction we're going to be going.”
It will be interesting to see what teams do… but I would hope that these second teams will be open to media coverage so Revolution fans — and not just Revolution fans; any fans of any club — will know how they are doing.
- With the way Megan Rapinoe is taking set pieces in this tournament, it should not surprise anyone that she went with the low line drive like she did on that fifth-minute free kick. She went low on the corner service against Sweden, she went low against France. England better prepare for low line drives Tuesday, or else it’ll be eating crumpets without the tea.
- And by the way, that’s two straight braces and four straight goals by Rapinoe. No one has ever done that for the US in the Women’s World Cup.
- I don’t think Hanson’s Samantha Mewis had an especially good game Friday. Either her passes/clearances were atypically offline, or France had her scouted really well. They yielded no space to her whatsoever.
- I thought the defending, particularly by “left back” Crystal Dunn and defensive midfielder Julie Ertz, was outstanding. Dunn has taken a lot of criticism for being an attacking player being out of position, and some of it is warranted for sure, but the way she handled the France wingers … she quieted the talk, and really played her ass off.
- I don’t know if Dunn was offside or not on the disallowed goal by Tobin Heath, but the build-up was absolutely sensational football. And note to the AR — if you’re not sure, keep that flag down.
