In front of a home crowd of over 21,ooo people, the New England Revolution fell 0-1 to the league leading LA Galaxy.
The Galaxy scored on MiguelLopez’s flick on of a free kick from David Beckham in the 69th minute. It was Beckham’s 7th assist of the season, and the Argentinian’s first goal in MLS.
The Revolution, still without the services of Marko Perovic and Ousmane Dabo, started the match in the exact same formation they fielded in the 2-1 loss to San Jose a week ago. Benny Feilhaber and Shalrie Joseph featured in the middle of the field, supported once again by rookie Stephen McCarthy, and flanked by Zak Boggs and Chris Tierney. On the backline, Ryan Cochrane and AJ Soares resumed their partnership in the center, and Kevin Alston and Darrius Barnes took their places on the right and left. Rajko Lekic was the sole striker, with Matt Reis rounding out the roster in goal.
The Galaxy were coming off a midweek game against Houston, and were without the services of Juan Pablo Angel, who did not travel with the team. However, Bruce Arena was able to field the majority of the same team with out much impact to the line-up. Miguel Lopez and Chad Barrett got the start at top, with Landon Donovan, Juninho, Mike Magee and David Beckham in the midfield. Donovan Ricketts, who is heading off to the Gold Cup with the Jamaican National Team, was in his usual place between the goalposts, with his regular starting defensive team of Franklin, DeLaGarza, Gonzalez and Dunivant.
The Revs got off to a good start with an early break away from Feilhaber up the left flank, and did well to play a looping ball into Zak Boggs, but his effort was wasted as the ball sailed high over the ball. Minutes later Boggs did well to evade the defenders in the box and played an almost perfect through pass to Rajko Lekic, but the Danish striker could not catch up to the ball. Feilhaber too, found space in the middle of the field in the 11th minute, but his shot went wide.
In the 16th minute, Lekic collided with Ricketts at the top of the box, and it looked for a moment that the goalkeeper may have been seriously injured as he fell to the ground. However, after a short break, Ricketts was back on his feet, with a slight limp, and was fortunate that Lekic’s next attempt was high over the bar.
The Revs defense also played very well, with Darrius Barnes thwarting David Beckham’s early set piece by heading the ball out of play, and then clearing away the ensuing corner. Ryan Cochrane however took an elbow to the head and was down for several minutes before play resumed. He returned to the field but was not quite himself as the Galaxy began to pressure a bit more in the final fifteen minutes of the half.
In the 24th minute, Chad Barrett managed to get around Cochrane to strike the Galaxy’s first shot on goal, but it was well saved by Reis, who managed to parry the ball over the line. On the ensuing corner kick, Omar Gonzales headed the ball off the cross bar and it bounced straight down, and eventually out of play. With the Galaxy claiming the ball went over the line for a goal, Assistant Referee Jeff Hosking was quick to deny the visitors on their plea, and rightly so.
The rest of the first half finished with the Galaxy having a flurry of set piece attempts, 4 of them corner kicks. Landon Donovan did well to get his head on the end of a cross in the 42nd minute, but his attempt went wide and the half came to an end all square at 0 – 0.
The second half saw Ryan Cochrane substituted off in favor of Franco Coria, and the Revs came out quickly on the attack. Chris Tierney had a free kick that almost found Coria on the far post in the 47th minute, but the service was long and wide. Minutes later, Zak Boggs and Rajko Lekic combined for a little combination that threatened inside the box, but Lekic’s return pass was a bit too much for Boggs and could not connect for what would have been an uncontested shot on goal.
Lekic would eventually register the Revs first shot on goal, when he got on to the end of a free kick from Tierney in the 53rd minute. Lekic did well to direct the ball on frame, but Ricketts was positioned perfectly to catch the ball.
Despite some strong possession from the Revolution, the Galaxy managed to muster number of attempts to test the Revolution defense. Efforts from Juninho and Donovan in the 54th and 58th minutes were both too high, and another attempt from Juninho was deflected over the line for another Galaxy corner. The Galaxy would finally break through the dead lock in the 69th minute, with a brilliant flick on header from Miguel Lopez, who did well to turn Beckham’s long range service into the box just inside the far post.
The Revolution, having already subbed off Zak Boggs in favor of Sainey Nyassi in the 67th minute, looked to add a spark to the offense by taking off defensive midifelder Stephen McCarthy and bring on forward Zack Schilawski in the 74th minute with their final substitution. It wasn’t until stoppage time however when the Revs that the Revs attack finally woke up.
The Revolution had to finish the game with 10 men as Benny Feilhaber left the game in the 89th minute with a severe ankle injury. But that didn’t stop the Revs from trying to equalize. In the final five minutes of extra time, the most exciting part of the match, the Revolution had a flurry of attempts that just could not find their way over the net.
In the 92nd minute Kevin Alston lobbed a ball into the box toward Lekic, bringing Ricketts off his line. Ricketts managed to stop Lekic from getting to the ball, but palmed it right to Schilaswki, whose shot was saved off the line by DeLaGarza. The ball was gathered by Nyassi on the right flank who delivered a decent cross into the box to find Schilawki again. Schilawski did well to meet the ball and deliver it on the underside of the cross bar, but not over the line. Shalrie Joseph was right there to head the ball in, but the ball appeared to be blocked and eventually cleared away by Landon Donovan. This time it was the Revs whose appeals for a goal were denied by Jeff Hosking, the Assistant Referee, as they were sure Shalrie’s header was over the line. But the replay shows that the Linesman had made the correct call.
One final attempt was all the Revs could muster, but it would not be their night as the final whistle blew, giving the visitors their third consecutive win.
“It was definitely frustrating to come away losing one-nil,” said Revolution Coach Steve Nicol. “One slip and we lose the game. Frustrating is definitely the word.”
“We have a real solid team,” Nicol said. “I don’t think there’s too much between the teams, to be honest, but they won. We’re just a little bit away. But it’s no good being a little bit away and losing games. We need to pick up points… We always think we’ll give anyone a game – home or away. We’re never going to roll over for anybody. But we just need to get that wee bit extra that’s missing and put it right.”
The Revolution will next face FC Dallas, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas on Saturday June 4th and then face the NY Red Bulls on Friday June 10th. The next home game for the Revs will be on Wednesday June 15th, when they host Toronto FC.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Miguel Lopez (David Beckham) 69
New England Revolution: Matt Reis, Darrius Barnes, A.J. Soares, Ryan Cochrane (Franco Coria 46), Kevin Alston, Chris Tierney, Benny Feilhaber, Shalrie Joseph ©, Stephen McCarthy (Zack Schilawski 74), Zak Boggs (Sainey Nyassi 67), Rajko Lekic
Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Didier Domi, Alan Koger, Pat Phelan
STATS*: Shots: 11; Shots on Goal: 4; Saves: 5; Corner Kicks: 0; Offside: 2; Fouls Committed: 16
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Sean Franklin, Mike Magee (Chris Birchall 72), David Beckham (Michael Stephens 79), Juninho, Landon Donovan ©, Chad Barrett (Paolo Cardozo 62), Miguel Lopez
Substitutes Not Used: Josh Saunders, Gregg Berhalter, Frankie Hejduk, Bryan Jordan
STATS*: Shots: 15; Shots on Goal: 6; Saves: 3; Corner Kicks: 10; Offside: 1; Fouls Committed: 11
* Note that all statistics are unofficial
Misconduct Summary:
LA – David Beckham (caution) 67
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Assistant Referees: James Conlee, Jeff Hosking
Fourth Official: John McCloskey
Weather: Clear, 75 degrees
Attendance: 21,793
Records:
New England: 3-5-4, 13 pts.
LA Galaxy: 8-2-5, 29 pts.
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