FOXBOROUGH — The Revolution turned the Gillette Stadium goals into shooting galleries, but misfired at a staggering rate in settling for a 1-1 tie with the Columbus Crew on Saturday night.
The Revolution (17-4-5, 56 points) were frustrated by Crew goalkeeper Eloy Room, as well as their own inaccuracy, as they improved their home unbeaten streak to seven before a crowd of 19,004. Gyasi Zardes gave the Crew (8-11-7, 31 points) the lead in the 58th minute, Adam Buksa equalized (62d), and the Revolution spent most of the rest of the night sending attempts off target or within Room’s reach. The Revolution, who visit the Chicago Fire on Wednesday, tied a team record with 33 shot attempts.
The frustration started in the first half for the Revolution as Gustavo Bou, Tajon Buchanan, and Carles Gil failed in one-on-one setups against Room. Gil, making his first start since July 31, fired directly at Room (eighth minute), Bou attempted to slip a shot under Room off a high press-induced turnover (25th), and Buchanan fired wide (34th).
The Crew produced two near-misses — a Zardes back-post header off a Derrick Etienne Jr. cross (22d) and Miguel Berry point-blank attempt, saved by Matt Turner (48th) – before Zardes headed in off Turner’s left hand following a cross from substitute Harrison Afful.
Buksa equalized with his 11th goal of the season and first since returning from a four-goals-in-three-games performance for Poland in World Cup qualifying. Bou’s pressure led to a Jonathan Mensah turnover, Buksa taking possession unmarked at the top of the penalty area and finishing with a low shot into the left side of the net.
The Revolution’s failures extended to the final minutes, including a 90th-minute sequence that included two saves on Buksa shots and a Teal Bunbury close-range miss, then a Buchanan miss high, and Brandon Bye header grabbed by Room just before referee Allen Chapman’s final whistle after six minutes of stoppage time.
“That’s a game we should win, no question about it,” Revolution sporting director/head coach Bruce Arena said. “That should’ve been a 3-0 game.
“We just wasted our chances. We did a sloppy job on their goal, give Zardes credit for finishing it. There are some mistakes there our players made we talk about all year. This is a good ... I wouldn’t call it a wakeup call – it’s a good lesson for them because all these little things we have to get right if we want to be a team in postseason that can win games. Our players know and they’ll be reminded again tomorrow, some of the things they need to do better. And if we did those little things better today we would’ve won the game.”
Observations from Saturday’s game:
▪ With eight games remaining in the regular season, the Revolution have equaled the team record for victories, and have a 10-1-2 home mark. The Revolution (2.16 points per game) lead the Seattle Sounders ( 1.96 per game) in the overall standings.
“We played well until the final pass or final moment,” Revolution midfielder Tommy McNamara said. “These things happen. Better to happen now than if we make the playoffs than in the playoffs, but it was frustrating. Chalk it up to a bad night. It’s just about being focused and being in the moment. Sometimes these things happen. We just need to make sure we’re prepared, prepared to be ruthless.
“In this final end of the season, where teams are desperate for points and into the playoffs, you need to be ruthless. When you get chances you need to take them and you need to put the game away when you have them. And on the flip side, you can’t give [anything] away. It’s a lesson for us to be ruthless.”
▪ Columbus, playing without injured midfielders Artur, Pedro Santos, and Lucas Zelarayan, snapped a five-game road losing streak.
▪ The Revolution went 5-1-1 without Gil, who was out with a sports hernia injury, in the starting lineup in August. Gil performed as a substitute in and Bou was out (calf strain) for the last two games, both victories.
“We kind of eased him in in some ways – [27] minutes, 45 minutes, 90 minutes,” Arena said of Gil. “He didn’t seem like he was really tired. He played a pretty good game. I’m sure he’s going to feel it over the next couple days but he’s got to get on the field and play. In our sport, basically, the best way to get fit is to play 90 minutes, so that mission is accomplished.
“Gustavo did fine. Need to get him back on the field playing regular minutes and continue to fit into the rest of the group.”
▪ The Revolution took 33 shots in a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps on July 17, 2019, as Bou made his MLS debut, scoring a 45th-minute goal off a Gil corner kick.
▪ Buchanan’s four-game scoring streak was snapped. Bou, the Revolution’s leading scorer with 12 goals, has not scored since converting a penalty kick in a 2-1 win at Toronto Aug. 14.
▪ Room went down after taking goal kick in the 85th minute, receiving about four minutes of medical attention. Crew defenders took goal kicks after that, Room remaining in goal.
“I think it’s just, you know, bombard them as much as possible and hope to crack through,” Bye said. “It’s tough to break them down, tough to break their back line down. Their goal was good. Again, we created a lot of chances tonight, and I think that’s the positive.”
REVOLUTION-COLUMBUS CREW 1-1
REVOLUTION: Matt Turner; Brandon Bye, Andrew Farrell, Henry Kessler, DeJuan Jones; Tajon Buchanan, Tommy McNamara (Arnor Traustason 82d), Matt Polster, Carles Gil; Gustavo Bou (Teal Bunbury 82d), Adam Buksa.
COLUMBUS: Eloy Room; Saad Abdul-Salaam, Jonathan Mensah, Josh Williams, Milton Valenzuela (Harrison Afful 46th); Derrick Etienne Jr., Marlon Hairston (Liam Fraser 75th), Darlington Nagbe, Alexandru Matan (Erik Hurtsdo 61st); Gyasi Zardes, Miguel Berry (Isaiah Berry 70th).
Referee: Allen Chapman. Goals: Zardes 58th, Buksa 62d. Attendance: 19,004.