Revs goalie Matt Reis made four saves to preserve a point.
By MIKE SCANDURA
FOXBOROUGH – Did the New England Revolution make the type of favorable impression in Saturday’s home opener against Sporting Kansas City that coach Jay Heaps desired?
At best it was 50-50.
“Obviously you want to leave with three points,” Heaps said after the Revolution played to a scoreless draw. “But I hope they saw something a little bit different from us in terms of how we go out there and fight. I think last year maybe this game slips away from us and maybe we lose it.
“But in terms of what we want to do from an offensive standpoint, it wasn’t good enough in our end. Whether it was cold or snow, we needed to get a goal.”
The Revs (1-1-1) put zero shots on Sporting Kansas City keeper Jimmy Nielsen even though they were awarded six corner kicks, and were unable to capitalize on even one free kick with the visitors being whistled for 20 fouls.
“It was a tough game all the way around,” Heaps said. “It certainly wasn’t going to go down as the prettiest soccer game ever played. There was a good fight from our guys. I was excited about how we approached the match.
“But in the end we didn’t get enough chances. We weren’t good enough on our set pieces, when we had our corner kicks and when we had our chances. But in terms of defending and fighting and making it a battle, we did that.”
The Revs’ best chances came in the second half, each on a set piece.
Lee Nguyen lined a free kick from the left side of the box to the far post, and a sliding Kevin Alston just missed getting a foot on the ball.
In the 76th minute, Juan Toja lined a free kick from just outside the top of the box barely over the crossbar.
Four minutes before Toja’s kick, Revolution keeper Matt Reis (four saves) kept Sporting Kansas City (1-1-2) off the board by making his best save.
Claudio Bieler broke in from the left wing and cut toward the middle, but Reis came off his mark and blocked the shot.
A gusting wind made playing conditions difficult. But the inability to score against Sporting Kansas City isn’t news for the Revolution.
After Saturday’s tie, the Revs have failed to score a goal against SKC for 410 minutes dating back to July 30, 2011, and are 0-2-3 in that stretch.
“As a team, Kansas City presses hard in the midfield,” midfielder Scott Caldwell said. “They press hard and try to pinch the ball and attack from there.
“The way they play they do a good job of disrupting their opponents. It’s tough to play against them, but I thought we did a good enough job. We only got one point and we’ll have to deal with it and push for three points next week.”
