FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It’s typically the media asking the questions in press conferences, but on Saturday night New England Revolution head coach Brad Friedel flipped the script, opening his postgame remarks with a query of his own.
“I was just going to ask if you guys are still awake,” Friedel quipped.
It was a comment that captured the general sentiment of the Revs’ 0-0 draw with Seattle Sounders FC, a cagey encounter that featured just two shots on target and nothing that could’ve been genuinely considered a quality scoring opportunity.
While that’s been something of the norm for Seattle this season – they’ve scored a league-low 15 goals but also conceded just 22, fifth-fewest in MLS – it was out of the ordinary for the Revs, who’ve played several wide-open matches through the first half of 2018.
“We don’t have many games like this that aren’t exciting, so to speak,” said Friedel. “I thought in the second half, we were better by a long way. The first half, I don’t really know what to say. I answered a couple questions at halftime (for TV), and there was nothing to be seen.”
That was just fine with the Sounders, who were playing their third game in eight days after a midweek road win over the Colorado Rapids. Seattle head coach Brian Schmetzer set his side out to sit deep, frustrate the Revs, and try to scrap their way to a scoreless draw.
In that sense, it was very much mission accomplished for the visitors.
“The onus was on us to go out and play,” Friedel said. “They only wanted a draw. Brian Schmetzer even said after the game, ‘Sorry we played like that, but we had to.’
“But any system that gets put in front of you, you have to try to break it down.”
New England couldn’t accomplish that objective on Saturday night, as any attempt to play through a clogged middle of the field was thwarted, and any crosses into the box were dealt with by the Sounders. Friedel suggested that perhaps the Revs should’ve attempted more long-range efforts, as they took just four shots from outside the box, two of which were blocked.
There were positives to take from the match, however, as the Revs kept their first clean sheet in more than two months and were largely untroubled by the visitors, extending their unbeaten run to seven games (2-0-5) as they head into another home match next weekend against the LA Galaxy.
“Everybody put everything they had into the game,” said Jalil Anibaba. “I thought – even from the backline – we were pushing forward and trying to push the initiative to get the three points. Sometimes, you just can’t really break a wall down and you end up walking away with a point.”
