New England Revolution: 3 Key Takeaways from the Portland match
By Daniel Garza
A late equaliser from Lee Nguyen allowed the New England Revolution to leave Portland with an all important away result.
The Revolution left it late, but were able to come away with a positive result for the second consecutive match. Both sides featured potent offensive attacks and were only able to produce two goals as it finished 1-1.
It was the Portland Timbers that opened the scoring. Diego Valeri sent a fantastic volley into the back of the net after the Revolution failed to clear the ball out of the box.
https://twitter.com/MLS/status/848709441436360704
A few more quality chances fell to the Timbers throughout the match, but they were unable to grab a second goal.
Nguyen would silence the stadium in the 84th minute as he tucked home a rebound from close range to equalize for the away side.
The right man, in the right place. @LeeNguyen24 slams home the rebound to level the game 1-1. #PORvNE https://t.co/VxXTCzvFIC
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 3, 2017
Here are three takeaways from Sunday night’s match:
#1 Nguyen to the rescue
The Revs’ captain is in fine form at the moment, and he has stepped up in the club’s opening slate of matches. Three goals in four matches have seen the midfielder produce numbers close to what was seen in the 2014 season when he scored a career-high 18 goals in 32 matches.
One thing is for sure, if he continues to produce goals and assists, then he will be in for one of his most successful seasons statically speaking. This club will need him dearly down the stretch to come up with big goals such as last night’s equalizer.
#2 Defense still shaky
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All-in-all, the Timbers were unlucky not to win the match. They had the better of the chances and failed to find the finishing touch they’ve shown thus far, Fanendo Adi was able to make himself available on a few occasions but couldn’t finish.
It wasn’t all bad, the Revs were still able to hold the top goal scoring club in the league to one goal and survived late to do their part in the one-point result. Time appears to be what the backline needs as they continue to gel as a unit.
Joshua Smith was a bright spot in defense last night. The fourth-round pick did well against Adi and had a promising performance overall. Perhaps he will be a key player down the road for the club on the backline.
#3 Away result
The Revs were dismal on the road last season and already this season they had dropped their first two away fixtures. Results like Sunday’s will be a key determinant of whether or not the club will reach the postseason. Portland is one of the toughest places to play at and the Revs survived the test.
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The Revs will come back home to take on the red hot Houston Dynamo next Saturday at 2pm EST (11am PST)