Boro slump continues as Metro blanked by Revs
September 9, 2006
For four years, Foxborough has been the doom of Metro, and that didn't change tonight, as New England rode an early goal to blank Metro 1:0 and make New York's climb to the postseason much more difficult. Metro ended the game with 10 men after Amado Guevara was ejected for touching referee Brian Hall's shirt.
The big change was in net, as Tony Meola was benched after two below-average outings for Jon Conway. In front of the net, Metro reverted to a 4-4-2 with Buddle regaining a spot up front; Chris Henderson sat, with Dema Kovalenko taking over on the left and Danny O'Rourke returning from suspension to his defensive midfield role. Seth Stammler shifted to left back after Todd Dunivant got injured in warm-ups.
Long-time Metro killer Pat Noonan opened the scoring in the 8th minute, beating Carlos Mendes to a ball on the right side and bending it to the far side around Conway. But after Noonan was taken out due to an injury, Metro held most of the play for the rest of the half; unfortunately, their best chance was blasted high by Buddle.
Metro's best chance of the second half came when a Guevara chip found Buddle's head, but Revs keeper Matt Reis dove to take the ball out of the upper right corner. The rest of the game was Conway show, as the Metro keeper forced Rev attackers into bad decisions on breakaways, and when they didn't miss the net, made huge save after save to keep the deficit at one. Unfortunately, the same prowess was not shown by his teammates on the other end of the field.
And in the 80th minute, Guevara was given a yellow on a borderline foul call, a yellow that would cause him to sit out the next game. Arguing with Hall, the Metro captain attempted to get his attention by tucking on his shirt... and was immediately sent off, Amado's reputation probably cementing the decision.
And the hill to the playoffs is getting steeper and steeper...
Lineup: Conway, Stammler, Mendes, Parke, Wynne, O'Rourke, Kovalenko, Vide, Guevara, Wolyniec, Buddle. Subs: Henderson, Altidore, Graham.
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