The New England Revolution fortified their indisputable standing as the bottom feeders of MLS.
The 15th-place Revolution failed to flip the basement in the MLS Eastern Conference with a 2-0 loss to an equally inept New York City FC on Saturday night on the irregular pitch at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The Revolution had their two-game unbeaten streaked snapped and will continue their road swing next Saturday at Toronto FC. NYCFC picked up its second win and improved to 2-4-2.
“The reality is we are happy with where we are and happy with the group, we have but something that is wrong,” said head coach Caleb Porter. “At the end of the day, we have a seven-game snapshot and we don’t like what we see overall and we don’t like what we see where we are at and I am a part of that as well.
“We have to figure it out as we evolve, and we will evolve and we have to figure out how to get points. I am not going to just toss this year off, we are going to keep fighting and keep working.”
Porter had his preferred MLS Starting XI on the pitch against NYCFC that bore no resemblance to the crew from Tuesday night’s 5-2 Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal loss to Club America at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
NYCFC dominated the opening four minutes with extended zone presence, dangerous crossing feeds in the penalty area and two corner kicks that required goalkeeper Henrich Ravas’ full attention.
The chippy play began as a slow boil and erupted when NYCFC defender James Sands delivered a cleats high run at striker Giacomo Vrioni that required a medical intervention but failed to draw a yellow card from referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere.
The Revolution took a huge hit when dynamic left back DeJuan Jones left the game with a leg injury and was replaced by Ryan Spaulding in the 25th minute.
“DeJuan, I don’t know the severity of it yet but he kind of had a hamstring issue,” said Porter. “I don’t know if what grade it is, but he had to come out because of a muscle strain.”
The Revolution attack gained a measure of footing and in the attacking third Gotham goalkeeper Matt Freeze made a big save on Vrioni in the 35th minute.
The Revolution dodged a bullet when midfielder Ian Harkes was issueda red card for a hard takedown of Mitja Ilenic, but it was reduced to a yellow card after a review. The game remained scoreless after eight minutes of stoppage time.
“We were starting to build some confidence and continuity and at that midblock we were pressing in triggers in transition and that is what we wanted to do in the game and I think that is the strength of this group,” said Porter.
NYCFC went up 1-0 in the 58th minute on a goal when striker Agustin Ojeda got to a blocked shot and fired a bullet by Ravas inside the far post in the 47th minute. Ravas made two huge saves in the subsequent minute to keep it a one-goal game.
Freeze salvaged his clean sheet with a huge save on a header by Tomas Chancalay in the 90th minute. Attacker Justin Fernandez scored in stoppage time to ice the game.
“That (first) goal kind of burst our bubble a little bit,” said Porter.
