2010 Sep 4 2010 Sep 4
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA
Goals:
59' SEA: Steve Zakuani (James Riley, Alvaro Fernandez)
70' NE: Chris Tierney (Shalrie Joseph, Kevin Alston)
73' NE: Marko Perovic
81' NE: Kheli Dube (Ilija Stolica, Marko Perovic)
New England: Matt Reis; Seth Sinovic, Emmanuel Osei, Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston; Chris Tierney, Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph, Kheli Dube; Ilija Stolica (Zack Schilawski 82'), Marko Perovic. Substitutes not used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Tim Murray, Khano Smith, Nico Colaluca, Edgaras Jankauskas, Roberto Linck.
Seattle: Kasey Keller; Leo Gonzalez, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke, James Riley; Steve Zakuani, Osvaldo Alonso, Mike Seamon (Mike Fucito 82'), Alvaro Fernandez (Nate Jaqua 73'); Fredy Montero, Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Terry Boss, Zach Scott, Tyrone Marshall, Tyson Wahl, David Estrada.
Match report from MLS:
The New England Revolution mounted a furious comeback with three unanswered goals in an 11-minute span for a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. The result kept New England's playoff hopes alive while bringing Seattle's seven-match unbeaten streak to a halt.
Steve Zakuani opened the scoring for Seattle after 59 minutes by finishing off a neat move with a cool finish inside the far post. New England equalized through a Chris Tierney header in the 70th minute and grabbed the lead three minutes later after Marko Perovic slotted home. Kheli Dube sealed the points with a stunning strike nine minutes from time to hand the Revolution a deserved victory.
New England coach Steve Nicol made one change to the side that fell 2-1 to Monarcas Morelia in the SuperLiga final on Wednesday. Seth Sinovic returned at left back with Cory Gibbs ruled out through a red card suspension. Dube continued at right midfield with Sainey Nyassi still away with the Gambian national team.
Blaise Nkufo (knee) and Nathan Sturgis (ankle) missed out through injury as Seattle coach Sigi Schmid made four changes to the side that defeated Chicago 2-1 last Saturday. Roger Levesque earned a recall to partner Fredy Montero up front and Michael Seamon joined Osvaldo Alonso in central midfield. Leo Gonzalez returned from suspension to reclaim his left back spot, while Alvaro Fernandez started on the right side of midfield with Sanna Nyassi away on national team duty with Gambia.
Dube put forth an industrious display in a first half in which neither side could engineer the breakthrough despite a series of fairly bright and entertaining exchanges.
New England forward Ilija Stolica squandered the best chance of the opening stanza after just two minutes. Dube slotted the Serbian forward through into space inside the Seattle penalty area, but Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller cut down the angle and saved the point-blank effort.
The Revolution manufactured the majority of chances in the opening half but Seattle had two good looks at goal through Seamon. The Sounders rookie smashed Zakuani's pullback straight at Matt Reis after a quarter of an hour and sliced a one-time effort from distance over the crossbar on 28 minutes.
Seattle finally engineered the opener after 59 minutes with Zakuani providing the finishing touch. Sounders FC caught New England napping on a throw-in and exposed the hesitancy with a one-two between Fernandez and James Riley. The former Revolution fullback pulled his cross back into Zakuani's path and the second-year midfielder slotted inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season.
The tenor of the match seemingly turned after a confrontation between Patrick Ianni and Shalrie Joseph as the Revs prepared to serve in a corner kick after 62 minutes. Neither player earned a caution for the little scrap, but the incident appeared to spark the Revs and unsettle Sounders FC.
Two goals in three minutes reversed the course of the contest and staked the Revs to a deserved lead.
Tierney missed a gilt-edged chance at the back post from a long Kevin Alston throw-in but he didn't make the same mistake twice as he headed home Joseph's flick just moments later for his first career goal after another Alston throw.
Perovic handed the Revs the lead three minutes later with Tierney once again involved. The left winger played a slide rule pass for Perovic at the top of the Seattle penalty area. Perovic collected the feed and stormed into the penalty area. After Seattle's Alonso mistakenly poked the ball back toward his own goal, Perovic ran onto the ball and slotted home for his sixth goal of the campaign to complete the comeback.
Dube grabbed the goal his performance deserved nine minutes from time to secure the points. The Zimbabwean played a quick one-two with Stolica on the edge of the Seattle penalty area. Sounders FC wanted an offside call on Stolica, but the forward played the ball back to Dube, who romped through to lash home his first goal of the season and snap the Revolution's four-match losing streak in all competitions.
Statistics:
NE SEA
Shots: 16 12
Saves: 2 6
Corners: 6 5
Fouls: 9 12
Offsides: 4 1
Misconduct:
66' SEA: Montero cautioned for pushing from behind
85' NE: Perovic cautioned for a reckless tackle
Referees: Silviu Petrescu; Corey Rockwell, Gregory Barkey; Landis Wiley
Attendance: 13,124
Postmatch Quotes
Seattle Sounders FC
Sigi Schmid - Head Coach
On the match: "I thought we were OK until we're up 1-0 and the altercation occurred between Shalrie and Patrick Ianni. At that point, I thought we lost our composure a little bit and gave away a couple of goals that we shouldn't have given away. Obviously the game turned and they scored their chances and the game was over."
On the defense: "We haven't made mistakes back there in a while. We've been pretty solid and I don't think we defended the throw-in well. We had just cleared one off the line right before. Nobody took charge of it and figured out that they were going to do the same thing again, so that was bad. The second goal, I really can't say anything about it in terms of that it was one of those plays - bang, bang and actually our player Alonso tipped it through to them. The third goal was a bad clearance by Ianni."
On allowing three goals: "I'm not happy about it, but on the same token we have players that are constantly learning and we have young players. I've seen guys make multi-million dollars at Juventus and watch a ball bounce inside the 18 and the other team scores a goal. So to say it's something that should never, ever happen ... unfortunately it happens. A lot of goals are scored off of mistakes and we made some."
Steve Zakuani
On the match: "I think that was probably the turning point with Shalrie and Patrick. There was like a five, six minute delay and we just scored and after that, I think we maybe - as our coach told us - lost our composure a little bit. We tried to get it back but they just really built off that. They scored the first goal and then the second one came just a bit fortuitous for them. As much as I said that we lost our composure there, we were pretty disappointed."
On the loss: "Despite some of the things that went against us, I think that when you're up 1-0 on the road after you've been playing, usually we're very solid team defensively. Today I think we had a few lapses and it's just a case of we let them carry too much momentum. You could just see their spirit and confidence building and we didn't respond to that. It got to the point where we were just chasing the game later on and they're just a big physical team. They're going to just keep the ball away. We've been winning, haven't lost in a long time but now we're going to see what we're made of. How do we respond from there?"
Mike Fucito
On playing in front of his family and friends: "It felt great. This was my first game back, too, after my knee surgery. I wish it were a different result, but it feels good to come back and have my family and friends come out. It's been a while."
On the result: "I think it's frustrating, especially going up 1-0. I think it's a game that we should win, so it's definitely frustrating. We were on a little bit of a roll, too, so we wanted to keep that going."
On his plan entering the game in the 82nd minute: "Just push forward and try to get a goal. At that point, we were two goals down, so just try to push and try for a goal.
Kasey Keller
On conceding three goals: "That was probably the worst 10 minutes we've played all year. There's really not much to say about. Hopefully that's the last of it and it can't happen again if we want to continue on. We just want to get this out and learn from it and if we don't learn from it, I'm sure there will be some changes. It's up to us to put it right on Thursday."
On the goals: "The first goal was just a long throw that was flicked to the post. [Osvaldo Alonso] was stuck with two guys at the back post. I thought from different times during the game, we didn't stick with our runners at the far post and they had multiple opportunities at the back post after a flick or a ball that went all the way through. We never figured it out and we eventually got punished for it."
On the second goal: "It just ping-ponged around inside there and ended up to them in a great position to tap-in. But still, I think we were a little flat-footed. We had guys who were there. There was no reason that the ball should have gotten through or the man should have gotten through. I don't mind the ball; the ball can get through all it wants. We've got to stay with the runners. I don't know what happened. We uncharacteristically just absolutely fell apart after we scored our goal."
On the game: "For 65 minutes, I felt like we were going to win the game. And then for some reason, after they scored they picked up the pace and we melted, which is just not like us."
New England Revolution
Steve Nicol - Head Coach
On the win: "I think it speaks for itself after the week we've had. We basically got robbed the three points last weekend. We were real unfortunate on Wednesday in the [SuperLiga] final. But to come back from those two games - the third game in eight days - and go about it the way we did I think says all we need to know about the players and their attitude and the commitment and how they stick together. It was fantastic."
On getting three goals after going down a goal: "We felt we were pushing it, which we wanted to do. We had some chances and couldn't take them and obviously going one behind was disappointing to say the least. But the players just kept pushing and we got three goals in the end. But we deserved to win. No doubt about it."
On if the dust-up between Patrick Ianni and Shalrie Joseph invigorated the team: "I think we were pushing anyway. The whole thing has come out and is happening anyway because we were pushing the envelope and putting pressure on them. It's always good to see the guys sticking together, but I think we were pushing them anyway. And we just continued to do that."
On Kheli Dube's performance at right wing: "First time he's played there for us is Wednesday. He obviously learned a lot and picked up some good positions tonight to start it going forward and get the ball and go forward himself. It's a great goal."
On Chris Tierney getting his first career goal: "We did say he was 'unlucky' with the first one."
Chris Tierney
On the match: "It's just a matter of getting the ball in the net, simple as that. We had a couple of decent chances in the first half, I thought. We played some good stuff tonight. We just - the story of the season - we just couldn't, that last ball was just missing a little bit. We knew that if we just stuck to it, with the way we were playing tonight creating chances, we were going to score goals eventually."
On impact of Shalrie Joseph and Patrick Ianni incident: "It lifted us a little bit, if anything. Shalrie doesn't go down easy, so you know something went down. I think that they thought that after they got that goal, they were going to, if they could mix it up a little bit, it would take our minds off of trying to get the ball in the net, which it didn't. We stuck to it and played hard and got goals."
On first career goal: "I don't really measure my game by goals to be honest. It's always good to get on the score sheet and I'm happy to get the first one. Now I get that zero off the stat sheet. It's just about the performance tonight. All around we were pretty good tonight and we deserved to win."
Kheli Dube
On his goal: "It feels good when you score a goal and today was the day I felt that I would score a goal. When I got the chance I made sure it was a goal. It was good to get a goal. It's been a long time now. Playing on the right side, I think I'm getting used to it.
On being down 1-0 in the second half: "When you fall, you get frustrated. But you've got to keep going, trying to make sure that when you get the chance, you score a goal. And in the second half, we created a lot more chances and converted the chances."
On describing his goal: "The ball came from a defender and when I got the ball, I realized Ilija was up there. And Ilija is a big guy, so I played one-two with him and he set me up good."
