Powerless Metro shut down by Revs, 1:0
April 1, 2016
It would be easy to blame the refereeing. After all, two awful decisions by Mark Geiger pretty much altered the course of this game. But we won't blame the refereeing.
It would be easy to blame the management. After all, it was clear that Metro needed a central defender, and Ali Curtis did nothing. But we won't blame the management... yet.
For all the bad refereeing and management, none of it matters if the team can't score. And Metro couldn't score for the third time in four games, shut out in New England 1:0. In what is becoming a sad theme, the offense looked completely impotent, and Jesse Marsch had no real response to change it up.
Mike Grella returned to starting lineup for injured Gonzalo Veron. The reshuffled defense saw Connor Lade come in on the left, and Kemar Lawrence shift to the middle to partner Karl Ouimette. It wasn't tested much in the first half, as the Revs' best chance came when Juan Agudelo tried to chip Luis Robles from far out. The Metro keeper tracked back to keep the ball out.
The game changed in the 55th minute. With Lawrence lying injured in the middle of the field, Geiger allowed play to go on, the Revs used an open space to withdraw Robles, giving Diego Fagundez an empty net to shoot at. Six minutes later, Geiger gave Felipe a straight red for... something? A tackle? It was hard to tell? There was half an hour left on the clock, but the game was over then.
Metro's only chances came off corners. Bradley Wright-Phillips hit the goalkeeper from close range. Then, in injury time, a Dax McCarty shot was easily cleared off the line. From the run of play? Nothing, zilch, zippo, nil.
Now, let's blame the management!
Lineup: Robles, Lade, Lawrence, Ouimette, Zizzo, McCarty, Martins, Kljestan, Grella, Sam, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Duvall, Davis, Wright-Phillips.
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