Saer Sene plays a ball against the Montreal defense
Photo: David Silverman
The New England Revolution’s loss Sunday night against the Montreal Impact marks the club’s sixth consecutive game without a win. Goal chances were plentiful, but finishing those chances was yet again a struggle all night. It would only take 15 minutes for Montreal’s second-half substitute Sanna Nyassi to find the back of the Revolution net, a player who has now been individually responsible for beating New England twice this season.
The return of Jerry Bengtson was something all Revs fans were looking forward to, as his scoring run with Honduras in the London 2012 Olympics went surprisingly well. Bengtson’s start however would not give him as many scoring opportunities as his teammates Chris Tierney and Saer Sene, whom both failed to execute their close shots by hitting the post. Week after week, the team must wonder why their shots refuse to convert to goals. Nguyen always has a few blasts that trickle just over the goal, and Sene continues to show his weakness in his left foot, as he nailed the crossbar with a fairly open net in the first half.
The Montreal Impact are now one win behind D.C. United for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, a great confidence booster Major League Soccer’s new expansion team. Sanna Nyassi has proved to be brilliant off the bench all season, and newly acquired keeper Troy Perkins from Portland hopes to bring stability to the backfield. It is great to see the Impact establish themselves in their first year in order to bring a higher level of competition to the MLS. Unfortunately, some of their success of late has come from the poor-performing New England squad.
Could this loss be the end of all playoff hopes for the Revolution? Eleven games separate the Revs from the post season, but it hard to find anyone who expects the team to win even half of those. The defense remains solid against most MLS teams, but the Revolution have only scored 2 goals in their last six matches, none of which have resulted in a win. New England will look to go out on a high note these next two months, starting with their visit to Chicago this Saturday, August 18th. The Fire are currently 4th in the Eastern Conference, showing well-rounded strength with wins over Philadelphia and Toronto, and a hard-fought draw against San Jose.
-Matt Bloom
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