Juan Agudelo and Lee Nguyen look on after the Revolution’s tie with Atlanta. Photo/Kari Heistad
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution risked $25,000 – according to Major League Soccer rules – in order to appeal a red card falsely shown to midfielder Xavier Kouassi in last Wednesday’s 6-1 loss at Orlando City SC.
But Kouassi might as well have remained suspended, as he sat on the bench for the entirety of the Revolution’s 0-0 draw with Atlanta United at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.
The Revolution would have likely benefited from Kouassi’s box-to-box ability and positioning in midfield after they switched to a 3-5-2 formation from a hybrid 4-4-2. Interim coach Tom Soehn, in his second game in charge since the sacking of former head coach Jay Heaps, also only chose to use two of his allotted three substitutions.
“Obviously, we went very attacking minded, so I kept a couple of defenders right by me in case we did get the goal and then we’d go back to four in the back,” said Soehn, who added Teal Bunbury for Diego Fagundez and withdrew Chris Tierney, a left back, for Krisztian Nemeth, an attacking midfielder.
“We were going to do everything we could to win the game, so we took a defender out and put the extra attacker in,” Soehn added.
With the Revolution facing a must-win situation and already slim chances of reaching the playoffs, it wasn’t surprising to see them add more attackers.
But keeping Kouassi off the field was a puzzling move given the player’s pedigree. He’s a designated player; he’s the most talented and experienced defensive midfielder on the roster; both of the Revolution’s other central midfielders, Gershon Koffie and Scott Caldwell, played the entirety of the game and either could have been swapped off in favor of Kouassi’s fresher legs.
For the record, Kouassi was also not listed on MLS’ weekend injury report.
Tactically, Soehn appeared to have the team on the right track: the Revolution controlled nearly 61 percent of possession and out-shot Atlanta 14-12, including 5-2 in shots on target.
New England forced Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan into making five saves. Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen even had a second half shot off a freekick ricochet off Guzan’s hands and then hit the post.
“I thought our game plan was perfect,” said Nguyen. “We went out there, we had – the better part of the first half, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. Same thing with the second half. We created a lot of good chances towards the end there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any to fall in.”
“They’re solid,” added Nguyen. “[They] made it tough to try to penetrate through the middle, but like I said, we had chances and we just couldn’t find it.”
With Kouassi on the bench, it’s worth wondering what could have been – particularly with his skills, physicality, and natural leadership in the middle of the field.
Kouassi didn’t speak to reporters after the game and no reporter asked about Kouassi’s lack of game time. But, that seemed like the third sub to make.
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