The New England Revolution fell to FC Dallas this past weekend for their first home loss of 2018. But for the Revs it is important to not only learn from their mistakes but simply move onto the next one.
For Head Coach Brad Friedel the sentiments are the same, but the VAR decision in the 92nd minute of the Dallas game keeps on sticking in his head: “After watching the game, especially in the second half against Dallas, we played pretty well. We outshot them 15-5 in the second half, overall in the game had 63 percent of the ball, we had numerous chances, and some of the chances, after I watched them again, were even better than I thought they were when we were watching the game. FC Dallas was resolute. They are a good team. They haven’t been beaten yet, but I did think that we were worthy of winning the game. On the penalty decision [in the 92nd minute], it was a penalty, and we’re going to get some of those, and we’re not [going to get others]. Everybody makes mistakes in that manner, and I know [PRO General Manager] Howard Webb very, very well, and he’s a very, very good referee and very good at his job. I know he’ll get to grips with all the VAR as we go forward. But a lot more pleased with what I saw after I watched the game many times and taking the emotion out of it. We’re going to have another exciting one against Columbus.”.
With Columbus Crew SC as their next opponent, there is a personal connection there for Friedel who will be facing his former club for the first time as the New England Revolution Head Coach: “My mom still lives in Ohio, so I’ve been down to Columbus many times. My mom was born and raised there, so we have some family roots.”.
As for the game itself and Columbus HC Gregg Berhalter, Friedel thinks he has done a terrific job and there should be a fun match on hand this Saturday.
“Gregg’s [Berhalter] done a really good job with Columbus since he took over. They have a distinct style of play and the word entertaining is going to come to mind [when we play on Saturday]. We like to get the ball down and play, they like to get the ball down and play. We both like the physical side of the game and we also like the technical quality. We’re going to their stadium, my old club, as well. It’ll be nice to go there and coach against them, and I think it’ll be a fun evening for everyone to watch.”
For the Revs one of the reasons they lost against Dallas was their inability to put a finishing touch on the ball with the club missing the majority of their shots. For Diego Fagundez this week is their opportunity to work on getting better at capitalizing on their scoring chances in the hopes they can bury them against Columbus.
“The only chances that we had, I think we need to finish those. When we don’t have a lot of chances we need to somehow create them — if it’s either going wide, getting crosses in, trying to put things in the box. I think in the second half for 10 minutes we had them pinned in where we thought we were going to get one and we were just unlucky and we couldn’t get it. I think this week we’re going to work on trying to get those opportunities and when we have our chances to try to bury them.”
The Revs will take on Columbus Crew SC this Saturday at 7:30 pm eyeing their second road win on the MLS season. Having their first road win of the year under their belt should certainly provide them a confidence boost as suggested by forward Teal Bunbury.
“A frustrating loss [against Dallas], but we were able to go to Houston and get three points, so we know we can win on the road. It’s going to come down to little details. Making sure that we’re fully locked in for the full 90 minutes, and we’ll be able to get three points.”