Thrilling Finish Powers Revolution Past Sporting KC

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Matt LaPan, GoLocal Worcester Sports Reporter

Through 92 minutes of game time between the New England Revolution and Sporting Kansas City there was limited action. Then, in the 92nd minute, the Revolution broke the game open to take a 2-0 home win over defending MLS Cup Champions Sporting Kansas City.

"Good hard fought match," Revolution coach Jay Heaps said following the match. "I think both teams really wanted the game and showed. It was pretty wide open early on. We were pretty good at the end of the first half, creating chances, we had at least a chance to get a goal.

"Overall I liked our mentality and I liked how we finished the game."

The first good scoring opportunity came in the 15th minute for the Revolution. Revs forward Jerry Bengtson broke free behind the Sporting Kansas City defense and had an open net but could not finish. The play appeared to be offsides on Bengtson, but the flag was not raised and the Revolution missed a golden opportunity.

The Revs were on the attack again in the 21st minute off the foot of Teal Bunbury. Bunbury, the former Sporting Kansas City forward, received a cross from Chris Teierney and put a shot on net but Kansas City defender Matt Besler stepped in front of the shot and knocked it clear of the goal line.

The half ended without much more action. New England registered the only shot on target in the half and Sporting Kansas City controlled the possession game 54% to 46%.

Sporting Kansas City got the first scoring chance of the second half off of a Revolution turnover. Kansas City's Alex Martinez put a strong shot on target low but Bobby Shuttleworth pushed the shot wide of the net.

Sporting Kansas City was then put at a disadvantage in the 74th minute when Aurelien Collin was issued a red card on a challenge of Diego Fagundez. Although it was a hard challenge, many questioned if the foul deserved a straight red. This did not slow down Kansas City immediately as they quickly came down on the counter attack off the free kick and had Benny Feilhaber set up for a clear scoring opportunity. Feilhaber was unable to connect, slicing his shot wide of the net and keeping the score locked at 0-0.

The first goal of the game came in the 93rd minute as Teal Bunbury netted his first goal of his Revolution career against his former team. Bunbury took a cross from Diego Fagundez. Bunbury took the cross off his midsection and put it in the back of the net.

The Revolution were not done however. Just minutes later the Revolution were awarded a penalty kick following a great run by Diego Fagundez. Fagundez put a shot on target that was tipped up and eventually a hand ball was called on Oriol Rosell. Lee Nguyen took the penalty kick for the Revs and converted, giving the Revs the 2-0 win.

"It feels good to beat the former champs," Bunbury said following the game. "It feels good to get my first goal and that's really what I'm happy about.

"To be honest with you, the performance of the whole squad was unbelievable."

With the win the Revolution move to 11 points on the year with a 3-3-2 record. At Gillette Stadium the Revolution are 2-0-1 and have not conceded a goal. The win for the Revolution comes despite losing the possession battle 52.6% to 47.4% and being out shot 14 to 11. The Revs were able to put four shots on target compared to just one for Sporting Kansas City. The Revs are 2-0-1 in their previous three games and will travel to Toronto to take on Toronto FC on May 3.