MLS New England Revolution

Revolution and D.C. United draw, 2-2

Published on May 29, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution, trailing by two goals early in the second half, battled back to a earn a 2-2 draw with bitter Eastern Conference rival D.C. United at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night. Goals from Adam Cristman in the 59th minute and Kheli Dube in the 72nd minute, paired with a season-high eight-save effort by goalkeeper Matt Reis, helped the Revs earn a point.

With the draw, the Revolution (6-3-2, 20 pts.) moved into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference with a league-best 20 points, though New England and D.C. have each played 11 games, while most other teams in the league have played just nine. United (3-7-1, 10 pts.) earned its first point of the season on the road, having gone 0-5-0 in five previous trips away from home.

D.C. midfielder Clyde Simms almost opened the scoring with a 25-yard drive in the 10th minute, but Reis was at full stretch to push the ball over the bar.

The visitors did take the lead in the 15th minute, with Simms again in the middle of the action. A long Marcelo Gallardo free kick was headed high into the air by Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph and ultimately ended up falling near the penalty spot, where Simms hit a knuckling full volley towards goal. Reis made the initial save, but Luciano Emilio was first to the rebound and headed in from six yards.

D.C. continued to create chances and forced Reis into two more saves in the 23rd and 33rd minutes. Reis first used his feet to deny Jaime Moreno after Fred had set him up in the right side of the box, then charged out to stop Fred's close-range shot after Simms had sent him through down the left side.

Despite being out-shot, 9-5, in the first half, the Revs almost went into the halftime break level at 1-1 after they narrowly missed scoring in stoppage time. Sainey Nyassi - who began the game as a withdrawn striker but returned to his usual right midfield role when Cristman entered the match in the 39th minute - sent a long cross-field pass to Dube, and the Zimbabwe native settled the ball and fired a shot towards goal. The effort beat Wells, but deflected off of D.C. defender Bryan Namoff's back and over the crossbar.

United continued to put pressure on the Revolution to start the second half and extended its lead to 2-0 after firing a barrage of shots on goal in the 53rd minute. Reis made two stops - on a close-range shot from Emilio and a long-range blast by Moreno - but after the Revs failed to clear, the third effort from Fred slipped inside the near post.

The hosts responded almost immediately, cutting the deficit to 2-1 when Cristman scored in the 59th minute. Dube worked hard to steal the ball off a D.C. defender in the box and turned to fire a shot, but saw his effort partially blocked. The ball trickled through to Cristman, who stroked a left-footed shot past Wells and inside the left post.

New England pulled even in the 72nd minute when Dube scored for the third consecutive game in the third start of his career. Steve Ralston sent an out-swinging free kick from the right side towards the far post, where Jeff Larentowicz rose to head the ball back across the face of goal. The pass found Dube unmarked three yards from goal, and he buried his header into the back of the net.

The Revs will continue their brief two-game home-stand - one of only two on the year - on Friday, June 6, when they will host Western Conference side FC Dallas at 6:30 p.m. ET as the first half of a special soccer doubleheader, with the national teams of Brazil - currently the world's second-ranked team - and Venezuela set for 8:30 p.m. ET. The Revolution match will be televised locally on Comcast Sports Net and will be available on the WEEI Radio Network.

New England Revolution vs. D.C. United May 29, 2008 - Foxborough, Mass. (Gillette Stadium)

Scoring Summary: DC - Luciano Emilio (unassisted) 15 DC - Fred (unassisted) 53 NE - Adam Cristman (Kheli Dube) 59 NE - Kheli Dube (Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston) 72

New England Revolution: Matt Reis (GK), Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Chris Albright, Mauricio Castro (Khano Smith 64), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Wells Thompson (Adam Cristman 39), Steve Ralston ©, Kheli Dube, Sainey Nyassi (Amachi Igwe 88)

Substitutes Not Used: Doug Warren (GK), Argenis Fernandez, Gary Flood, Chase Hilgenbrinck

STATS: Shots 13; Shots on Goal 6; Saves 8; Corner Kicks 3; Offsides 0; Fouls Committed 15

D.C. United: Zach Wells (GK), Domenic Mediate, Gonzalo Martinez, Devon McTavish, Bryan Namoff, Fred (Marc Burch 88), Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Marcelo Gallardo, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno © (Rod Dyachenko 78)

Substitutes Not Used: Jose Carvallo (GK), Ryan Cordeiro, Quavas Kirk, Franco Niell, Dan Stratford

STATS: Shots 16; Shots on Goal 11; Saves 4; Corner Kicks 6; Offsides 1; Fouls Committed 22

Misconduct Summary: NE - Wells Thompson (caution) 25 DC - Santino Quaranta (caution) 34 DC - Gonzalo Martinez (caution) 75 NE - Sainey Nyassi (caution) 78

Referee: Abi Okulaja Referee's Assistants: Gregory Barkey (SAR), Steven Taylor (JAR) Fourth Official: Alex Prus Time of Game: 1:55 Weather: Clear and 74 degrees Attendance: 8,159

NOTES

The Revs had a three-game winning streak snapped but extended their unbeaten run to four matches ... New England's previous three results were: 2-1 win at Chivas USA (May 11), 2-0 win vs. San Jose (May 17), 1-0 win at Columbus (May 24). New England goalkeeper Matt Reis made a season-high eight saves, including five in the first half to keep the Revolution in the game. Kheli Dube has now scored in each of the Revolution's last three matches, which also served as the first three starts of his career ... Dube's first two goals were game-winners (vs. San Jose on May 17; at Columbus May 24), while his goal in tonight's game was the tying strike. Adam Cristman scored his second goal of the season and his first since the season opener on March 29 against Houston. The last time New England erased a two-goal deficit to earn a point was at Toyota Park on June 11, 2006 against the Chicago Fire ... the Revs entered stoppage time of that match trailing, 3-1, but goals from Steve Ralston in the 93rd minute and Andy Dorman in the 94th minute earned the club a 3-3 draw. Forward Kenny Mansally missed his first match of the season, as the 19-year-old is currently in Africa representing The Gambia in World Cup qualifiers against Liberia (June 1), Senegal (June 8) and Algeria (June 14) ... these will mark Mansally's first appearances with The Gambia's senior national team ... prior to tonight's game, Mansally had started all 10 of the Revolution's matches, recording two goals and one assist. The match was the 48th all-time, regular-season meeting between New England and D.C., tying the highest number of meetings between any two MLS teams ... Colorado and L.A. have also met 48 times. When D.C. forward Luciano Emilio scored in the 15th minute, it ended New England's shutout streak of 194 minutes, dating back to the beginning of the match against San Jose (May 17) ... the shutout streak was the Revolution's longest of the season. New England entered the match with just six assists on 13 goals scored, but recorded three assists on two goals to push its season-total from six to nine.

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