(WPRI) – For the second time in three weeks the New England Revolution and Toronto FC played to a draw.
While the match on July 30th remained scoreless for the full 90 minutes, Wednesday’s matchup was an action packed 2-2 tie.
Goals from New England’s Tommy McNamara and Justin Rennicks were not enough to ward off Toronto’s newly signed Italian talents Federico Bernardeschi and Domenico Criscito.
The Revs have just three days of turnaround time before their next matchup in Montreal. Here’s the key takeaways from Wednesday’s game.
Team Gains a Point on the Road
The cliche of “any point is a good point” was believed to be true for the Revolution.
“We had a plan to defend as a team and we did that,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “We had a chance maybe to get three points and getting one is a real good achievement for the team.”
Toronto is a team built to win, and their signings this offseason have proved to back that up. Adding a European Championship winner in his prime to the squad, Arena and his staff were going to have to set up a bit more defensively.
Entering undermanned, the Revolution had to adjust and started the game with five defenders on the field. The team looked comfortable and in control the whole game despite being unable to find the winning goal. The result was a good road point for a shorthanded club.
Clean Sheet Streak is Over
Coming into Saturday’s matchup, the Revolution had not conceded a goal in 371 minutes and accumulated five consecutive clean sheets.
The Revs were looking like they were going to break their previous record of 420 minutes from 2013, until new signing Christian Makoun dragged down Ayo Akinola in the box conceding a penalty.
Akinola went on to score the spot kick, ending the Revs streak 19 minutes short of the franchise record.
Although the streak is not a common topic of conversation in the locker room, the group believes the work they are putting in on the training field will help them break this very soon.
“We’ve been working really hard to work together as a group and to be better defensively going down to this last stretch,” center back Omar Gonzalez said.
”We got scored on twice tonight, but let’s see if we can get back on track next.”
This Squad is Deep
It is very apparent this squad is spread thin.
“We missed [Henry] Kessler tonight, [Gustavo] Bou’s out, [Dylan] Borrero’s out, [Giacomo] Vrioni’s out, Maciel is out, [Ismael] Tajouri-Shradi is out,” Arena said.
“We’re missing our attack to be quite honest with you, so I give the guys credit for hanging in there and getting results in these past five games.”
The striker position has especially been difficult to fill with the team’s only real option being Justin Rennicks.
The 23 year old has been with the Revolution since his youth days and has found opportunities within the first team hard to come by.
However with Jozy Altidore going out on loan and Bou and Vrioni out, Rennicks is seeing extended run and beginning to make the most of his opportunity.
His goal in the 48th minute is evidence his potential is being met.
