After an equalizing goal from Danny Cruz in the second half made the score 1-1, the Union seemed to take a 2-1 lead on a goal from Conor Casey just minutes later, but a questionable call from the referee appeared to judge New England goalkeeper Matt Reis to have possession before Casey got a foot to it. The Revolution then rallied for four second-half goals to give the Eastern Conference side three points on the night.
“I think there are some plays made early in that second half and we felt like we did all the right things coming out of the locker room at halftime and had the moment and get the equalizer and then we felt like we got the go-ahead goal,” Team Manager John Hackworth said after the match. “And for whatever reason, the officials felt otherwise. It’s incredibly hard to take that part of it, because it changes so much.”
The Revolution opened up the scoring for the game in the 26th minute, as midfielder Kelyn Rowe found space outside the 18 and fired a low, hard shot from distance. The shot flew into the upper corner of MacMath’s net to give New England the lead.
After the break, the Union came out firing and eventually were rewarded in the 50th minute, as Casey slid a ball in behind the defense to Cruz, who took one touch and eluded Reis towards the corner. Once clear of the New England keeper, Cruz fired a shot into an empty net from a tight angle, giving the Union the tying goal.
The Union continued to attack for another, but the apparent go-ahead goal from Casey was called back just minutes after the equalizer. The striker pounced on a loose ball inside the box to poke it into the net, but a whistled from the referee seemed to rule that Reis had possession, as the goalkeeper was on the ground near the ball.
From there, the Revolution found a rhythm and scored four unanswered goals, as a Union own goal and others from Rowe, Fagundez and Agudelo gave the Revolution a lopsided victory on the night. It was the Revolution’s second win at home this year in which they score five goals, previously defeating defending MLS champions LA Galaxy by a 5-0 score line.
“A loss is a loss. At the end of the day, that’s not what we came up here to do,” Hackworth said. “We have to keep it in perspective and do what we do every game. Win, lose or draw, we’ll go back and look at the video and try to make a lot of corrections and get ready for next week.”
As the Union look ahead, another important Eastern Conference match is set for next week against Montreal Impact (7:30 p.m. ET, CSN), who currently are first in Eastern Conference standings. Despite the loss, Philadelphia remains in playoff contention as they sit in fourth place in the East.
“Sometimes results like this are a big wake-up call and you can react one of two ways. You can let it get you down or you can stay strong, stay together, fight harder and do well for the rest of the team,” team captain Brian Carroll said. “We have to find the way to do the latter part.”
New England Revolution 5, Philadelphia Union 1
Saturday, Aug. 25; 7:30 p.m. ET
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
SCORING SUMMARY
NE: Rowe (Barrett) 26’
PHI: Cruz (Casey) 50’
NE: Okugo (own goal) 58’
NE: Rowe (Imbongo) 65’
NE: Fagundez (Caldwell) 71’
NE: Agudelo (Imbongo) 73’
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
PHI: Lahoud (caution) 37’
PHI: Okugo (caution) 75’
PHI: Williams (caution) 78’
PHI: Casey (caution) 81’
PHI: Okugo (second yellow) 91’
UNION STARTING 11
MacMath, Fabinho, Parke, Okugo, Williams, Carroll, Farfan (Hoppenot 80’), Daniel (Lahoud 27’), Cruz (McInerney 76’), Le Toux, Casey.
Substitutes not used: Nikolov, Kassel, Kleberson, Wheeler.
NEW ENGLAND STARTING 11
Reis, Farrell, Soares, Goncalves, Tierney, Rowe, Fagundez, Caldwell, Nguyen (Dorman 73’), Barrett (Imbongo 56’), Agudelo (Davies 81’).
Substitutions: Shuttleworth, McCarthy, Alston, Guy.
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