One game in 100 words (or less): Three games into the season and the New England Revolution are off to their usual slow start. Montrealโs sense of urgency increased after Hassoun Camara was ejected with a red card, and the Impact stood firm defensively in the final twenty minutes. The Revolution still are not at full health with Jermaine Jones recovering from hernia surgery, so itโs not necessarily surprising that Jay Heapsโ squad has struggled to generate the type of offensive production we saw last year. The good news for New England was the performance of Juan Agudelo, whose resolute holdup play handed the Revs some spark on the attacking end.
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Three moments that mattered
44โ โ Oduro goes wide on key chance โ The first half was certainly not controlled by either side, but when the one excellent scoring opportunity was present for Montreal, Dominic Oduro was not able to put the endeavor on frame. Jack McInerney positioned himself in the center of the box well to flick a headed pass behind his body and lead Oduro into open territory mere feet away from goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. His shot, though, rolled inches wide of the far post.
61โ โ Camara sent off with second yellow โ It was supposed to act as the decisive moment of the contest when Camara grabbed Agudeloโsย jersey near midfield and pulled him down. Camara was penalized with a second yellow card and then the red card, signaling the end of his day on the pitch and providing New England with the man advantage. The Frenchman was already given a yellow card in the 29th minute for an overly aggressive tackle on Kelyn Rowe.
72โ โ Nguyenโs header fizzes over the bar โ Gathering the ball on the wing, Chris Tierney displayed why heโs one of the most dangerous left-footed playmakers in MLS and whipped in an magnificent cross for Nguyen on the edge of the five-yard box. Despite having space right in front of Montreal goalkeeper Evan Busch, the 2014 MLS MVP candidate couldnโt smack his header on net as it sprayed above the crossbar.
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Lineups
New England: Bobby Shuttleworth; Jeremy Hall, Andrew Farrell, Darrius Barnes, Chris Tierney; Scott Caldwell, Daigo Kobayashi, Kelyn Rowe (Charlie Davies 62โฒ) , Lee Nguyen, Diego Fagundez; Juan Agudelo (Steve Neumann 84โฒ)
Montreal:ย Evan Bush; Hassoun Camara, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia; Nigel Reo-Coker, Calum Mallace, Dominic Oduro (Andres Romero 56โฒ), Eric Alexander (Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare 84โฒ), Maxim Tissot; Cameron Porter (Jack McInerney 20โฒ)
