FOXBORO – Bruce Arena’s return to Gillette Stadium was rather lackluster.
His league leading San Jose attack couldn’t beat the New England Revolution’s stingy defense, and on the other end, the Earthquakes did just enough to maintain their end of the shutout.
Although it’s not the result they wanted, Caleb Porter’s squad extends their unbeaten streak to seven games, six in MLS play.
“This is still a good result,” Porter said. “It’s not the result we wanted or it’s not the result we felt we deserved today, but it’s still a good result. Obviously if you can’t win then don’t lose and we’ll take it and get back to work.”
Even with a barren scoreline, there is still plenty to takeaway from Saturday night’s matchup.
Revolution attack foiled by lack of review
It had been over a month since the Revolution had last been shutout. Facing off with a high-powered San Jose club that has been rather leaky throughout the year, the match nearly promised goals.
Still, Bruce Arena’s defense and a failure to go to VAR, thwarted New England attack.
In the 68th minute, it appeared as though New England striker Ignatius Ganago had broken the draw with a nifty solo attack.
However, the side judge waived Ganago offside. Subsequent replays showed Ganago either onside or close enough to warrant VAR use. The officials however did not opt to look at the play.
“I have no idea how they don’t VAR,” Porter said. “the camera angles we have, it’s not me saying, ”maybe,” it’s definitely on, it’s 100 percent on with the camera angles we have.
“They did say they don’t have the same angles we have maybe, but that’s ridiculous. So I think that’s a disappointment. I don’t want to make the game about that. I thought it was a hard fought match, two good teams going toe to toe.”
Although he’s adamant that Ganago was on, Porter also made it clear that he was not going to just make excuses for his squad.
“In the end, we’re not going to be a victim, we’re not going to make excuses, it’s a draw, we didn’t lose,” Porter said. “We defended well and it’s too bad they didn’t look at the Var because it’s a goal.”
Campana exits early again
After one healthy month, Leo Campana was forced back to the Revolution sidelines. The club’s striker lasted a third of the match for New England against San Jose, leaving in the 30th minute with another apparent hamstring injury.
Campana missed a month earlier in the season with a hamstring strain.
“It’s a weird one, you don’t normally see guys come off early twice, usually it’s late or a compacted window,” Porter said of the injury. “We’ll have to evaluate it with the medical staff and figure out what we can do better to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”
After getting hurt in a match Philadelphia on March 8, Campana returned to the team as a substitute against Atlanta on April 12.
Following that match in Atlanta, Campana and the Revolution attack as a whole began to find their form.
Campana scored twice in the club’s next four MLS matches. With Campana returned and a slight tweak to the team’s formation, the Revolution scored nine times in four regular season matches, going unbeaten in that stretch.
Now with Campana hurt again, New England may have to dip back into its bench for answers up top. Unfortunately for Porter and the club, New England’s forward group is already rather thin.
“We knew we couldn’t sub on Maxi Urruti] or Tomás (Chancalay) early,” Porter said. “Both of them were questionable going into the game and we didn’t even know on Maxi today, whether or not he was going to be available.
“We had to obviously put a winger (Luis Diaz) up top until we could get those two guys on. So losing Leo for sure hurt us because he’s our key goalscorer.”
San Jose just off
The Earthquakes had no shortage of chances on goal in the match. The league’s most prolific shot taking team launched 14 attempts at New England on Saturday.
Each time though, the Earthquakes just lacked in touch. Either a cross was too far ahead or a header was attempted a hair too early.
Even when a San Jose player took a straight angle on the net, they would tap it just wide or hammer the crossbar.
Still, the Revolution defense continued to show its worth despite all the attempts.
“I would say we did pretty well, against the best offense today,” Porter said. “Just one shot on goal I think, over the course of the match. They had some looks for sure that weren’t on goal that were probably good looks.
“I thought we were excellent in terms of our mentality, in terms of our organization, in terms of our fight.”
The club continues to be the best defending team in the MLS with Saturday night’s shutout.
The Revolution have allowed just 10 goals in 12 MLS matches, and have recorded clean sheets in half their regular season games.
“I love this group, it’s a very good group, a very good mentality, this was another game where I think we showed that,” Porter said. “San Jose’s gone on the road in different places and gotten wins and scored goals.”
Fans back in the stands
31,078 fans made the trip to Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.
While they haven’t seen much of their club in recent weeks, they made sure to show out for their first home match since April 19.
The previous high for attendance in Foxboro this season was 22,274 for the club’s home opener against Columbus on March 1.
Fans will have to wait a while more before New England’s next match at Gillette. The Revolution have another month before they return to Foxboro on June 14 to host Cincinnati.
