New
England snapped a three-match losing streak with a 2-0 victory over
Western Conference leaders Los Angeles at Gillette Stadium.
Marko Perovic handed the Revolution a deserved lead after 67 minutes by
smashing his twice-taken free kick inside the far post to snap his
side's 347-minute scoreless streak. Sainey Nyassi capped a fine night by
grabbing the second from close range seven minutes later to send the
out-of-sorts Galaxy crashing to their second defeat of the season.
Los Angeles omitted Landon Donovan from their traveling party to allow
the U.S. international time to rest after his World Cup exertions. Omar
Gonzalez also dropped out of the side that beat Seattle 3-1 on July 4
after incurring a one-match ban for yellow card accumulation. Leonardo
and Alex Cazumba replaced the missing duo.
New England made just one injury-enforced change to a side that lost 5-0
at Real Salt Lake on July 2. Cory Gibbs suffered a left quadriceps
strain earlier this week and failed to recover in time to feature.
Darrius Barnes returned to the starting XI in Gibbs' place after
recovering from a right foot sprain suffered in a 3-2 loss at Columbus
on May 8.
The home side pressed the initiative from the opening whistle as it
sought to atone for its dismal performance in Utah last weekend, but it
couldn't quite find a way through the Galaxy back line in the opening
stanza.
Most of the Revolution's dangerous attacking moves in the first half
came through the lively Nyassi down the right flank. Nyassi created the
best New England chance after 13 minutes by latching onto Joseph's
through-ball and running behind the Los Angeles defense. Nyassi turned
the corner, but he dished off to Perovic when Todd Dunivant recovered to
close down his shooting angle. Perovic passed the ball to Chris Tierney
at the back post, but the Galaxy defense recovered to charge down his
shot.
After Nyassi's early thrust, neither side could quite find a way to
engineer the breakthrough. Edson Buddle forced a save out of Matt Reis
two minutes before the break, while Shalrie Joseph called Donovan
Ricketts into action a minute later as the two sides entered the
interval on level terms.
New England improved as the second half started and nearly took the lead
after 51 minutes. Juninho turned the ball over carelessly in his own
half to give the Revolution possession in the attacking third. Joseph
lofted a ball to the back post, but Perovic couldn't direct his
subsequent effort on frame from a tight angle.
Perovic did considerably better after 67 minutes as he snapped New
England's scoreless drought at 347 minutes. Leonardo set the stage for
the cathartic strike after he handled Perovic's initial free kick into
the wall. The Serbian midfielder did considerably better with his second
attempt by firing a low drive inside the far post to give the Revs a
shock lead.
Nyassi collected the goal his performance deserved to seal the points
seven minutes later. Los Angeles fell asleep on a Revolution throw-in
deep in the attacking third. Kheli Dube corralled Seth Sinovic's toss
and played a diagonal ball back to Joseph at the top of the penalty
area. Joseph's ensuing shot deflected off Nyassi en route to goal and
forced Ricketts to push it away. The rebound fell kindly to Nyassi and
the Gambian smashed home from inside two yards for his second goal of
the campaign.
Los Angeles sent numbers forward to chase the game in its dying stages,
but the efforts failed as the Galaxy suffered just its second defeat of
the season in comprehensive fashion.
LA Galaxy 0, at New England Revolution 2
Gillette Stadium
Attendance: 20,155
Los Angeles Galaxy (11-2-3)
New England Revolution (4-9-2)
Scoring Summary:
NE -- Marko Perovic 3 (unassisted) 67
NE -- Sainey Nyassi (unassisted) 74
Misconduct Summary:
LA -- Tristan Bowen (caution; Reckless Foul) 43
LA -- Juninho (caution; Reckless Tackle) 64
NE -- Sainey Nyassi (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 88
Los Angeles Galaxy -- Donovan Ricketts, Sean Franklin, Leonardo, Gregg
Berhalter, Todd Dunivant, Alex Cazumba (Chris Klein 77), Chris Birchall
(Eddie Lewis 71), Juninho, Michael Stephens, Tristan Bowen (Alan Gordon
63), Edson Buddle.
Substitutes Not Used: Jovan Kirovski, Dema Kovalenko, A.J. DeLaGarza,
Josh Saunders.
New England Revolution -- Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Emmanuel Osei (Pat
Phelan 89), Darrius Barnes, Sainey Nyassi, Shalrie Joseph, Jason
Griffiths (Joseph Niouky 28), Chris Tierney, Seth Sinovic, Zack
Schilawski (Kheli Dube 70), Marko Perovic.
Substitutes Not Used: Kenny Mansally, Michael Videira, Bobby
Shuttleworth, Tim Murray.
Referee: Paul Ward
Referee's Assistants: -C.J. Morgante; Jeff Muschik
4th Official: Jasen Anno
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Cloudy-and-75-degrees
