The New England Revolution fell deeper into the abyss of the MLS Eastern Conference with Saturday night’s dispiriting 1-0 loss to Toronto FC on Saturday night at BMO Field.
Toronto FC striker Prince Owusu scored in the 66th minute on a brilliant header cross from Jahnelle Marshall-Rutty for the game’s lone goal. Revolution goalkeeper Henrich Ravas (seven saves) kept his club in contention with a brilliant stop on attacker Frederico Bernardeschi on a penalty kick in the 74th minute.
The Revolution dropped to 1-6-1 with their third shutout loss while Toronto FC improved to 4-4-1 with its second home victory.
The Revolution return home after two straight road losses to host international soccer superstar Lionel Messi and the cast from Inter Miami CF on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
The game has been sold up and the Revolution are expecting a “World Cup” atmosphere at the Razor. Revolution head coach Caleb Porter expects dynamic forward Dylan Borrero, who missed most of last season and the first eight games this year recovering from a torn ACL, could make his return to the pitch against Inter Miami.
“I don’t like the result today but I can live with the performance,” said Porter. “I thought it was one of our best performances of the year and we were the better team today and we had clear chances to score.”
Porter had to reconfigure the backline of his Starting XI yet again for Toronto FC. The Revolution had struggled to score goals and the transition aspect of their game took a hit when DeJuan Jones, an offensive oriented left back, suffered a grade 3 hamstring strain in the first half at New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on April 13.
Ryan Spaulding started in Jones place with Nick Lima on the opposite flank. Porter started center Andrew Farrell in place of Dave Romney alongside Henry Kessler. Homegrowns Esmir Bajraktarevic and Noel Buck of Arlington were in the starting lineup in place of Tomas Chancalay and Ian Harkes.
“I thought Noel was the right guy to start in this game and the same with Farrell at center back and the same with Esmir,” said Porter. “Guys have to earn making the 11 and I thought the chemistry was very good today.”
TFC wasted little time targeting the Gil brothers. Defender Raoul Petretta picked up a yellow card for clipping Nacho Gil at midfield in the eighth minute. Nacho Gil would pick up a yellow card in the 28th minute.
Ravas badly misjudged a deep run by TFC attacker Prince Owusu but made a leaping stop away from the cage to prevent a soft goal in the 18th minute.
Ravas would escape a similar mishap on a botched clear in the 24th minute. On the other end, TFC veteran keeper Sean Johnson made two fine stops on Lima off a corner kick and moments later denying a bid by Carles Gil in the box.
Ravas made amends with a nice save on midfielder Tyrese Spicer on a close quarter shot in the penalty area. Buck left the game in the 44th minute with a non-contact injury. The game was scoreless at the end of one.
“There are things to clean up and Ravas has a couple of moments there,” said Porter. “The goal they scored was not one that they earned, it was one we gave them and it was a poor clearance there. Ravas had a couple of moments there but I thought he had a good game.”
The Revolution squandered their best scoring chance when striker Giacomo Vrioni was denied by Johnson on a lone break in at the 51st minute. Porter inserted Bobby Wood and Chancalay into the fray in the 71st minute to secure the equalizer that never came.
Porter said, “This is something we can build on and I feel for the guys and I wanted them to get a result after playing so hard.”
