Take Two: Union at New England Revolution
- Peter Nowak isn't afraid to gamble, and he hit the jackpot Saturday night. All three of the substitutions Nowak made Saturday night brought attacking players in and took defensive players out.
Take Two: Union at New England Revolution
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
- Peter Nowak isn't afraid to gamble, and he hit the jackpot Saturday night. All three of the substitutions Nowak made against New England brought attacking players in and took defensive players out. Nowak is not a coach who does things out of desperation, but the Revolution are a direct, physical team that likes to counterattack. So it was quite something to see the Union's lineup at the end of the game.
The Union started with a midfield of Kyle Nakazawa, Andrew Jacobson, Stefani Miglioranzi and Eduarado Coudet, with Sebastien Le Toux and Danny Mwanga up front. They ended with Jacobson, Le Toux, Roger Torres and Justin Mapp in the midfield, and Mwanga and Jack McInerney up front.
That's pretty much every healthy attacking player Nowak's got right now. I doubt it would have worked for 90 minutes, but it certainly worked for 13.
- Justin Mapp's game-winning goal came from a remarkably difficult shot. With a defender about to run into him, Mapp struck the ball with his first touch at the edge of the 18-yard box. The ball swung perfectly between Chris Tierney and Danny Mwanga, and hit the inside of the net at the far post. Mapp's assist on the game-tying goal also came from a very nice touch, as he chipped the ball right on to the foot of an onrushing Jack McInerney.
Just like you do in the back yard, right?
- McInerney made the most of his opportunity. Many of you have called for the 18-year-old to get more playing time, and he got his chance Saturday. He delivered, scoring the tying goal with a first-touch finish from close range. McInerney's run was also impressive, sneaking almost unnoticed through the middle of the Revolution's back line.
Even though Alejandro Moreno trained during the week, the fact that he didn't make the trip says to me that he's not quite ready to return to the field yet. So we may see more of McInerney in the next few matches.
Let's hope he keeps his shirt on, though. No offense to the ladies, but taking your shirt off after scoring a goal is an automatic yellow card.
- It was good to see Roger Torres get on the field for 45 minutes. He played some nice passes and just as importantly managed to avoid getting whacked around by New England's defensive players. Torres almost had the game-winning goal, but his shot in the 89th minute was blocked by a sliding Chris Tierney.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of Torres on Wednesday against Chivas, as the Mexican club's style should give "Pipito" more space to operate in midfield.
- Chris Seitz had a strong game. With the exception of Marko Perovic's goal, Seitz dealt with just about everything that came his way, from crosses to free kicks. Just about everything was caught, too, and not punched. That's a very good sign.
The goal was certainly not Seitz's fault - Michael Orozco Fiscal and Danny Califf both had chances to clear the ball, and Juan Diego Gonzalez froze in front of Ilija Stolica. Credit to Stolica for swinging his body around Gonzalez to shoot, but someone in gold should have dealt with the situation first.
There were complaints from Union players and fans about a handball on Shalrie Joseph as Joseph and Danny Califf fought for the ball. Yes, the ball hit Joseph's hand, but the contact was clearly inadvertent and Joseph was pulling his arm away from the ball when the contact happened.
There are times when inadvertent contact can be called a handball, but those situations usually involve the arm being clearly extended out. That didn't appear to me to be the case here. I know there are some referees out there reading this blog, so feel free to give your view of the play in the comments.
- I've become numb to inconsistent refereeing. This is not a good thing. Steve Nicol complained about Stefani Miglioranzi's yellow card in the 29th minute, saying that if Cory Gibbs' foul was a red then Miglioranzi's was too.
Nicol has a fair point: Miglioranzi was late with the tackle, missed the ball completely and slid studs-up into Sainey Nyassi's feet. Gibbs wasn't as late, but definitely cleared out Eduardo Coudet. Both plays were red card-worthy, and Miglioranzi is lucky he stayed on the field. You could even argue that Miglioranzi's foul was rougher than Gibbs'.
But if Nicol wants to complain about officiating, he should go watch tape of last week's CONCACAF Champions League group stage matches. Hilario Grajeda's performance on Saturday was sterling compared to the shamefully uneven whistles and cards dished out to Toronto FC, Real Salt Lake, and the Columbus Crew in their Champions League road games.
There's nothing we can really do about bad refereeing. We can complain until we're blue in the face, but the only way to fix the problem is for U.S. Soccer and the other CONCACAF nations to put up the money for better referee development programs. Good referees don't fall out of the sky fully-formed, so we're going to have to live with what we've got for a while. It's too bad, but what else is there to say?
- The Revolution need a stadium of their own. Granted, New England's situation isn't as urgent as D.C. United, which plays in a crumbling facility and pays rent to the District of Columbia government. The Revs and Gillette Stadium are owned by the Kraft family, which also owns the Patriots.
But Gillette Stadium is too big for Major League Soccer. It's also much more spacious and spread-out than Qwest Field, RFK or even the Linc. So it doesn't hold noise in very well. On top of all that, Foxboro is inacccessible by public transportation for Revolution games - the MBTA's commuter rail service only runs for Patriots games. So Boston-based fans who don't drive are mostly shut out.
It would be great if the Revs could get a facility that's closer to Boston, or at least more accessible by public transportation in some form. But land is expensive, and there isn't much of it available. Last month, Revolution chief operating officer Brian Bilello wrote on the team's website that four sites are under consideration "around Boston's metro core."
One of them is in Somerville, a suburb just a few miles north of Cambridge. The MBTA has approved a plan to extend one of the Green Line routes to that area, and the Revolution are looking at building their new stadium there. Here's hoping it happens.
Nowak's substitutions were spot on, he must have heard Martino in the booth saying Mapp could come in and change the game (which he did)— fcphillyboy9- It's hard for me to call it a gamble when you're up a man and down a goal with 15 minutes left in the game. Nowak had nothing to lose. If Nowak started his best players he wouldn't have to make all of those changes.— Sportsphan
- Laugh of the game: after a wide open Jacobson skies an opportunity in the box, Martino says, "you've got to put that on goal. With an inexperienced keeper like that, you kick it right in the middle of the goal." ????— Sportsphan
better "training" for refs just makes them more pompous and arrogant and no less mistake prone, as evidenced by the Phillies recent struggles against officials. Referees are scum, and the only fix is accountability. A referee that is shown by independent review to have blown a call should be disciplined, moved down in seniority and fined. Maybe if they feel the hurt in their paycheck, they'll be humbled enough to get it right. Also, anyone complaining about the red card needs to take a look at how Danny Mwanga was hauled down without penalty, and the two times Le Toux was taken out. Most soccer referees tend to be worse about "cumulative" penalties than any other sport.— Pelti- John I wouldn't criticize the Revolution too much on the lack of public transit because we really don't have it either. Well over a year before construction began on PPL Park I wrote to Union officials urging them to get a light rail line constructed that would go right up to the stadium, using the freight tracks that go by it. That line comes within 100 yards of SEPTA's Eddystone train stop. While the stadium is great and the surroundings are picturesque, if public transit is such a priority than look for land near existing transit facilities. For example when the Philadelphia Charge played at Villanova Stadium they were on a SEPTA bus route (105); 750 feet from a Norristown-69th Street Hi-Speed trolly stop (Stadium); and 2000 feet from a SEPTA commuter train station (Villanova).— lmscdad
- lmscdad, with the wealth of shuttle buses that the Union have running from the Chester Transportation Center, I don't think that it would be necessary to spend the extra money on a light rail line. The real issue is with SEPTA and the fact that they only run trains on a 1 hour schedule on the R2 during the weekends. After the game I feel rushed trying to get to a shuttle bus in time in order to get on the R2.— Fuzzy_Dunlop
- I'm not an urban planner, but I do think it takes longer than a year to build a light rail line. Fuzzy is right- the main issue is lack of a "game train" that is timed with the end of the game.— Briancd
@Pelti..wow, clearly you've never held the whistle. It's quite easy to "get the calls right" when you sit on your couch or in the stands, with no accountability to what you say. Quite another to have the responsibility to get the call right with thousands watching. Trust me, it ain't as easy as it looks. As for the 'no hand ball' call, I reviewed it a few times on DVR and Jonathan is exactly right. We look for 'hand-to-ball' or 'ball-to hand' to try to discern intent. Dime-bag Joseph had no intent and it was clearly a 'ball to hand situation, thus good 'no call'.— soccerdad1150- Yeah, I've never refereed anything bigger than a summer camp. So what? I can't play guitar either, but I can generally tell when someone is bad at it. It's not like they're just calling up the ref from the local rec league, this is supposed to be the big leagues. If it's easy for me to spot on TV, it should be just as easy to correct and teach the ref. But if the scum aren't trying to get better, because they have too much power, to much arrogance, and too little accountability, and no one tries to correct it, the refs end up controlling the game with their mistakes. -- As far as a light rail to the stadium, while I think it would be a good idea for the team and for the businesses along 291, it would cost more than twice what the stadium did, and take years to plan and build. Our political system shies away from reasonable long term investment, so it is unlikely to happen. But the R2 being a mile away and running hourly is still more transit than foxboro has for the Revs.— Pelti
- HappyBob, I am impressed. Thank you.— phillysports33
- (not so) HappyBob has posted a constructive comment on an article on the Union. Thanks Bob. Is he softening? Will we next see him sneaking into PPL park? Bob - seriously, you don't know what you are missing. I'll get you 2-4 free tickets pretty much any game you want...— soccerdad1150
- @pelti...all I'm saying is it isn't as easy as it looks. I've played all my life and reffed a whole bunch of scrimmages for my teams, but recently became a 'real' ref. It is a whole different game when you are in the middle of it, getting paid (however little) and are the one people are shouting out. You really want to get the calls right, but not impose yourself on the game, no let it get out of hand. As for refs (and all officials) being scum? Wow...you seem to have some serious issues in that area. Games can't be played without officials, dude.— soccerdad1150
- I'm a lifelong Flyers fan, I think it's safe to say I don't have a healthy relationship with referees.— Pelti
- Building a new railine probably is not going to happen. Although from St. images it looks like the SEPTA line runs a lot closer to the stadium. The best method is to build a new station closer to the stadium on SEPTA. Even if it is only open on game days. Then you will be within walking distance and solve a lot of problems.— jimlogue
- If anyone with a TV can watch a replay of key plays without interrupting the flow of the game, then they can pay a ref to just sit and watch the cable broadcast to overturn the inevitable bad calls that will be made. As for SEPTA, their gameday transportation is horrible, and is the main reason I won't repurchase my season tickets. Spending 6 hours of my day for a 2 hour game should be embarassing to both the Union management and SEPTA. Wish they would have built the stadium in south Philly.— pencilchair
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
