The game in 100 words (or less): Week 8 of the 2015 season will go down as the week that the beasts of the East — Columbus Crew SC and the New England Revolution — rose to prominence and dominance. The New England Revolution were already the cream of the crop last year, then they added Juan Agudelo in the winter and we all thought, “the sky’s the limit for these guys.” On Saturday night, Jay Heaps’ Revs reminded us just how dominant they were down the stretch in 2014, and how quickly they’ve matched and improved upon that nearly a quarter of the way through the 2015 season. Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake are just not scary, and I stand by my bold prediction that they’ll miss the playoffs this year.
[ RECAPS: Two games on Friday night ]
Three moments that mattered
39′ — Tierney curls one in…with his right foot — We know Chris Tierney has one the best left foots in all of MLS — he showed that much time after time during the Revs’ run to MLS Cup 2014. What we didn’t know, though, was that he could curl and place a ball in the back of the net just as efficiently — and stunningly — with his right foot.
43′ — Agudelo cleans up the rebound, makes it 2-0 — Charlie Davies’ initial shot was saved by Jeff Attinella, but Juan Agudelo made the simple late run into the back, covered the back post and was rewarded with a simple tap-in into an open net.
50′ — Davies gets in on the scoring fun — Davies was pretty obviously offside, but what’ she supposed to do? Not score when the opportunity presents itself? Scott Caldwell delivered the pinpoint ball into the box and Davies redirected masterfully past Attinella.
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Man of the match: Scott Caldwell — The man just keeps the Revs ticking and ticking and ticking got the first goal of his career, in the 84th minute, but it’s everything else the 24-year-old does — sweeping up in front of the defense, launching quick counter attacks and recycling possession as well as anyone in MLS — that make his contributions so vital as the Revs gear up for another MLS Cup run.
LINEUPS
New England Revolution: Shuttleworth, Woodberry, Farrell, Jones, Tierney, Dorman, Caldwell, Bunbury (Rowe 68′), Nguyen (Neumann 80′), Agudelo, Davies (Fagundez 62′)
Goals: Tierney (39′), Agudelo (43′), Davies (50′), Caldwell (84′)
Real Salt Lake: Attinella, Beltran, Maund, Vasquez, Phillips, Beckerman, Stertzer (Pecka 56′), Mulholland (Mansally 81′), Gil, Saborio (Sandoval 58′), Garcia
