Revs 3-2 New York

The Revolution beat NYRB 3-2 last night in one of the most well-played games we've seen from at Gillette this season. Preston Burpo's injury was one of the focal points in the game, and not undeservingly, but there's a lot of other things to talk about in this one.

Hans Backe said after the game, "This was a joke the first half...it was absolutely ridiculous. They had one chance and scored twice. It was one way traffic for forty-five minutes." This is a slight exaggeration. Red Bulls were definitely the better team. They forced Burpo and Shuttleworth into a handful of really good saves, and they made the New England defense look pretty useless at times. However, New England played pretty well at times too, especially through the midfield. Joseph, Perovic, and Tierney were especially good in the first half.

The second half was a bit more even than the first. New York still passed the ball very well, and had some great chances. What killed them were the two red cards. The first was warranted; Mendes's tackle was pretty ridiculous, and he didn't complain too much when he was shown his second yellow. The second sending off was a terrible call, and we could tell how bad it was in real time from the Fort, at the other end of the stadium. It may not have even been a foul at all. Anyway, after that, it was only a matter of time before New England scored, and it was on a very nice headed goal by Schilawski from Joseph.

You know how at games, before the game and at halftime, they show messages from players on the big screen saying "Get Loud" and things like that, to pump up the crowd? Maybe I never noticed it before, but last night they had one where the PA guy said something like, "Let's show the Red Bulls why New England has the best home field advantage in MLS!" It was funny because the Revs hadn't won at home since the home opener against Toronto, and they have pretty low attendance these days. So low, in fact, that Brian Billelo said preseason that the reason they wouldn't build a new stadium is that the projected attendance numbers wouldn't be sufficient to pay off the cost of building it.

Anyway, it was a big win against a big Eastern Conference team, which they perhaps didn't fully deserve, and a very fun game to watch.

-John