FOXBORO — The New England Revolution took a 2-1 win over Toronto FC last Saturday nigh, remaining unbeaten at home this season and improving to 10-6-3 overall.
The unbeaten home streak reached 10 games, a new team record, but despite the win head coach Bruce Arena feels the Revs were lucky to come out of Gillette Stadium with three points.
“We looked defective tonight. We didn’t play well and played a poor game,” Arena said. “We’re fortunate to get three points. I give Toronto a lot of credit. They played hard and made us earn the three points, whether we earned them or not is subject to an argument. We did not have a good night.”
A defensive breakdown allowed Toronto a chance to score early, doing so in the 11th minute off the head of Deandre Kerr (assisted by Christian Gutierrez) to put the Revs down a goal.
After a three-on-two attacking chance in the opening 10 minutes and a Dave Romney tackle in the box to dispossess Toronto’s Federico Bernardeschi, Toronto again had a chance to score on a strike from inside the box — but was turned away on a diving Djorde Petrovic stop in the 20th minute.
A header from Brandon Bye off a corner nearly brought the game even in the 21st minute, but it skimmed over the bar. It wasn’t until the 33rd minute when the Revs finally broke through after a number of chances, bringing the game even on a strike from Bobby Wood from just inside the box off a deflected crosser from Ema Boageng, putting it past the left side of a diving Greg Ranjistingh.
New England nearly took the lead with a back-heel tap-in on the run by Gustavo Bou, but he was offsides and the goal was waved off. The Revs kept the energy up in the final 15 minutes, keeping pressure on the goal despite only one shot on goal, taking the game to halftime at 1-1.
“We didn’t start off too great, but got back into the game. To get the goal before the half, you give a team a little bit of life, they’ll punish you,” New England’s Andrew Farrell said. “That goal was huge ... we were under siege for the last 15-20 (minutes) ... We want to finish the game stronger.
“We’re pretty banged-up right now, so it’s just getting through the games,” Farrell added.
Giacomo Vrioni came on for Bou to start the final 45 minutes, and made an immediate impact with a goal in the 52nd minute, assisted by Bobby Wood and Carles Gill, to make it 2-1. After applying pressure for the final 15 minutes, Toronto put one home with seconds to go before entering the 90th minute off the boot of Lorenzo Insigne, burying past the right side of Petrovic from close range, but the offsides flag waved off the goal nearly immediately to preserve the Revolution lead.
Vrioni, coming in and making an instant impact, has been a continuous work-in-progress adjusting to American soccer with the Revolution, said Arena.
“He’s still learning in this league and with our team,” Arena said. “He’s got a way to go, but he works hard and is making progress.”
The Revs now embark on a two-week stretch on the road. Next time out for the Revs is on Saturday at FC Cincinnati — the MLS Eastern Conference leaders.
seven points ahead of the Revolution.
“Three points in this league is always tough and it’s important to do it at home. Three games at home, three wins at home, and now we’re on to Cincinnati,” Farrell said.