Revs fall to Dallas in preseason opener‏

LATEST NEWS

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 16:05

By Lamin Cham
Ken Mansally and Sainey Nyassi formed the Rev team that played Dallas to test their mettle ahead of the bigger task , the championship, but as you will find in this report, Rev realised they need to do more.
It was only a preseason exhibition game, but after the Tuesday morning match up against FC Dallas in Orlando, the New England Revolution appear to be ken_and_sainey

pretty much at the same point where they were at the end of last season: struggling to find goals.
This was just the first preseason game for the Revs this season, and to Steve Nicol’s credit, he made the most of it by using 17 of his available players with six substitutions in the second half. Of the players who made the trip, only Cory Gibbs and Edgaras Jankauskas were not available due to injury. The only available players who did not see any action were back up keepers Bobby Shuttleworth and Rylan Hawkins. Khano Smith, currently training with the Revs as a guest player while he looks for a new team, also did not take the field.
Early reports via Twitter suggested the Revolution were in control for the early part of the match, but a defensive miscue resulted in a Dallas goal from Atiba Harris. Rookie signing Zack Schilawski won a free kick at the top of the box, but Revolution free kick specialist Chris Tierney failed to capitalize.
Nicol made two changes at the half: Mike Videira for Pat Phelan and rookie Seth Sinovic for Kevin Alston (Sinovic played left back- Tierney switched to the right side). Later Nicol brought on Mauricio Castro and young striker hopeful Zak Boggs in a move designed to shake up the ineffective play from Gambian wingers Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi. Gabriel Badilla came in late in the match for Darrius Barnes and Nico Colaluca replaced Kheli Dube, but by then the Revolution already trailed 2-0.
Despite the changes in the line-up, the Revolution could not capitalize on their few chances. Late in the game, Joseph had a chance in the box deflected wide of the goal, and Boggs blasted a shot off the outside of the post.
Revolution faithful who made the trip to Orlando said the defense looked strong, but that the offense continues to struggle. Fans hoping to see more of Jankauskas after an off season of conditioning and training with the team will have to wait until the Lithuanian recovers from a quad injury. And with Taylor Twellman still recovering from his nightmare head and neck injury, the only true forwards currently signed and on the squad are the streaky and inconsistent Dube and the untested rookie Schilawski. This will leave Steve Nicol (and the rest of us) scratching his head as to where the goals will come from.