2:1 New England MetroStars Brillant Dempsey Guevara 06.26.04 · League

The suddenly high-flying MetroStars took on the bottom-of-the-league Revolution in Foxboro Saturday night in a contest clearly designed to demonstrate the Metros' growing superiority over the rest of the Eastern Conference, starting with the injury-riddled New England squad. Continue reading if you've got a developed sense of irony or a taste for the grotesque.

Despite the strain of playing three games in seven days, Bob Bradley made just one change in the lineup that overwhelmed the Galaxy at midweek, pulling out Chris Leitch and inserting Craig Ziadie in his place. Meanwhile, the last-place Revolution didn't resemble a soccer team so much as a triage unit, with 74 of their players out through injury, exhaustion, disease, or something like that.

After a ragged start with the bulk of the play being contested at midfield, the first chance of the game fell to Eddie Gaven, who chased a long ball down to break in alone on Adin Brown in the 8th minute, but his sharp-angle shot flew wide of the mark. The old Eddie Gaven would have buried it.

The Revolution attempted to strike back two minutes later when the questionably-named Felix Brillant was put through on Jonny Walker, only for the Metro goalkeeper to parry his shot away for a corner. The second best Furman University product in the match, New England's Clint Dempsey, could not beat Walker on the subsequent corner.

From then on, Metro supremacy was nearly as tangible as Fox Sports World commentator Chris Sullivan's blatant inability to pronounce "Wolyniec" (hint: it's not "Wol-knee-ack"). That's not to say there was much you' call aesthetically pleasing about the match in the first half; the Metros obviously tired legs keeping them from breaking through against a thoroughly unimpressive New England side.

Still, the Metros created their share of chances in the first half, starting with Jeff Parke's deft header off a corner, ably saved by Adin Brown. Parke would then ride Pat Noonan off the ball on a one-on-one, something a certain former Metro central defender could not quite manage to do last year. But the Metros would be forced to go to the bench early on, when Gilberto Flores was forced to leave the game in the 24th minute after being hacked down by Dempsey.

The game remained scoreless at the half; to make matters worse for the Revs, Adin Brown was forced to leave the game, with Matt Reis filling in. So all things looked good for a second half worth savoring for Metro fans, right? Sadly, it's never that easy. Perhaps an omen of what was to come appeared when Wednesday's hero Gaven contrived to completely miss a sitter from 10 yards in the 51st minute.

And from that point, the Metros seized the majority of possession, made the Revolution penalty area their second home, produced a series of gilt-edged chances, and completely blew the game, letting a bunch of New England no-names and reserves cut through the defense as if it wasn't there for two jammy goals. It's not often that Eddie Pope and Johnny Walker deserve much if any of the blame, but what the hell were they doing? What was Fabian Taylor doing, spinning in the area like a top with no apparent purpose? What was?... (Fill in your own scapegoat here.)

Who scored for either team? Who gives a damn. This reporter doesn't, and by the looks of it the team didn't appear to either, turning into a shapeless, guileless mush by about the 80th minute. There was never going to be a comeback from two down here. A late penalty for the Metros made the score look closer than it actually was, if that makes any sense in a game the Metros dominated almost completely and completely frittered away. It's all so, so disappointing for Metro fans, sickening, actually, and so typical of what we've come to expect from the Metros over the past nine years. Plus change?

Lineup: Walker, Regan, Pope, Parke, Ziadie, Clark, Gaven, Flores, Guevara, Magee, Wolyniec. Subs: Brenes, Galvan Rey, Taylor.