New England 2-2 FC Dallas: Revs rally, show signs of last year’s weaknesses

The New England Revolution showed a new-found resilience by mounting a comeback, but still showed signs of last year’s shortcomings.

The New England Revolution opened up their Mobile Mini Sun Cup play with a 2-2 draw against FC Dallas. While it’s still the preseason and there’s obvious room for improvement, the Revs are continuing to do the things that hindered them last season.

Quick Recap

The Revs fell behind quickly as Mauro Diaz opened the scoring for Dallas 15 minutes into the game. New England came firing back, with the equalizer finally coming in the 55th minute via Cristian Penilla.

FC Dallas regained the lead with a Maxi Urruti strike. But the resilient Revs again tied the game as birthday boy Diego Fagundez slotted home a loose ball from six yards out.

Much to the surprise of many, the Revs opted to go with third-string goalkeeper Matt Turner for the full 90 minutes. The inexperienced shot-stopper showed signs of development, making some tremendous saves and positioning himself well to cut down shooting angles.

New-found Resiliency

So many times last season, the Revs raced out to an early lead yet still ended up losing late. This time, the Revs saw Dallas take a pair of leads, both erased by a pair of New England equalizers. Comebacks by New England were seldom last year, but this season the Revs seem poised to dig in and persevere.

Ball movement was also an issue last season for New England. The Revolution lacked much creativity at all, with very little off-the-ball movement or quick passing. Already, throughout the preseason, the Revs distribution has improved ten-fold. An increase in team speed is a big factor, one of Coach Brad Friedel’s emphases this year.

Old Problems Remain

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There are still signs that the Revs shortcomings from last year will linger. Discipline was a problem in New England, with six red cards and 54 yellows issued in 2017. The Revs got hit with a red card early in their game against Dallas, with Wilfried Zahibo getting sent off nine minutes in after a hard tackle.

Defensively, the Revs defenders were victimized twice in one-on-one chances. Claude Dielna failed to lock down Michael Barrios on the game’s opening goal, with Diaz knocking in the rebound. On the second goal, Santiago Mosquera darted past Scott Caldwell during a 100-yard run before sliding a pass to Maxi Urruti in front. Man-to-man marking was something that desperately needed improvement last year for the Revs, and it seems to remain that way in 2018.

Finally, the Revs still have problems executing the final touch in front of goal. In the first half, both Teal Bunbury and Penilla each had a pair of golden chances to score. But all four times, the Revs’ forwards couldn’t slot home a finish. Defender Andrew Farrell even got himself into position to shoot but missed poorly both times. Somehow, the Revs need to become more clinical in front of goal.

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Perhaps, this finishing problem might have to do with the absence of Juan Agudelo, Krisztian Nemeth, and Lee Nguyen — the Revs three most prolific finishers. The first two have been dealing with minor injuries, while Nguyen is just now entering Revs camp. With those three in the lineup, New England’s offense will thoroughly improve.