Last-minute PK dooms Metro in New England, 2:1
March 29, 2025
As bad as Metro played for large chunks of the game, a point was in their grasp. Alas, deep into injury time, Sean Nealis stuck his foot out in the box, and the theatrical fall that followed was deemed a penalty by VAR. The Revs converted to run off 2:1 winners.
Sandro Schwarz kept the lineup the same, other than the obvious re-insertion of Carlos Coronel is net. But unlike last week's excellent defensive performance, today's game saw a huge drop-off. In the 28th minute, a foul by Raheem Edwards led to a direct free kick a few yards from the upper right corner of the box. Coronel had no chance on a perfectly-placed shot by Carles Gil. A few minutes later, Metro was lucky not to go down two as a Coronel save bounced off the post and out.
Metro evened the scoring in first half injury time, after a terrific play by (who else!) Emil Forsberg. The Swedish maestro ran onto the ball in the center of the field and carried it to the penalty area. There, he laid it off to Peter Stroud, who immediately sent it forward into the box to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. The Cameroonian slammed home, for his first from the run of play.
Metro improved in the second half, when an ineffectual Alexander Hack was taken off in favor of an extra attacker, Serge Ngoma. Mohammed Sofo made his first appearance since the home opener and twice was set up by Forsberg runs, only to miss on both occasions.
Midway through the half, VAR did Metro a favor by negating a penalty call on an obvious dive. Sadly, there was no such luck in injury time as the reverse happened. Coronel guessed the wrong way, Gil got his second, and Metro lost a point at their usual house of horrors.
"We deserved today to lose this game," said Schwarz after the match. Alas, the coach was right.
Lineup: Coronel, Edwards, Hack, Nealis, Eile, Nealis, Edelman, Stroud, Carmona, Forsberg, Choupo-Moting. Subs: Ngoma, Donkor, Sofo, Bogacz.
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