Revolution Lose 1st Home Game of Season, Fall 2-1 to Chicago

Sunday, June 18, 2017

GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

Antonio Minar Delamea

The New England Revolution lost their first home game of the season on Saturday night, falling 2-1 to the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium.

“Effort and energy was all there. I thought until the last whistle, we laid it all out on the line. I think our sharpness wasn’t where it needs to be to break a team like Chicago down in terms of how they’re set up. I thought if we’d had been a little sharper earlier in the game, it wouldn’t have turned the way it did. I thought the goal came from a giveaway. Pretty much an easy goal to give them one and then they're very good defensively to get behind the ball. So, you’re obviously burning a lot of energy and effort. I wish we were a little bit sharper, but at the end there, I thought there were two or three clear chances to score. Credit Chicago, I thought they came in and did a good job,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps after the game.

The loss drops the Revolution to 5-5-6 on the season while the Fire improves to 9-3-4 and are unbeaten in eight straight games.

Chicago Takes Control

Chicago’s Nemanea Nikolic gave the Fire a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute after firing a shot on Revolution goalie Cody Cropper, who stopped the first shot, but gave up a rebound right back to Nikolic who found the back of the net.

Chicago would take that 1-0 lead into the second half.

In the second, Luis Solignac gave the Fire a 2-0 lead in the 61st minute with a goal from right in front of the net. The goal was his fourth of the season.

Revs 2nd Half Push

The Revolution went on the attack the rest of the way.

In the 70th minute, New England’s Antonio Minar Delamea headed a Juan Agudelo pass into the back of the net to cut the deficit to 2-1. The goal was the first of his MLS career.

The Revolution had a flurry of chances in the final minutes, but were unable to tie the game up.

“I think that guys are gutted in there because, like I said, the energy and the effort. There’s not a guy that can walk in there right now, because they were trying to get the goal and that’s what you love. It was an exciting last 20 minutes and we really went for it. Unfortunately, I’ve got to go back and look, but there was two or three half-penalty calls that I want to look at. A couple of chances, obviously, that we were in on with Gershon [Koffie] and Lee [Nguyen], where we felt like those were moments that we can take,” said Heaps.

The Revolution outshot Chicago 24-8 in the match.

Next up

New England returns to action on June 23, when it travels to Canada for the first time this season to face Toronto FC at BMO Field.

Game time is set for 8 p.m.