The New England Revolution won its first game of the 2012 season, claiming a 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers in its home opener. Below are player ratings for the thirteen players who made appearances.
Player Ratings
(1=atrocious, 3=poor, 5=average, 7=good, 10=excellent)
(1) Matt Reis: 7
Reis wasn't tested too many times throughout the game, but he sure-handedly met each challenge he faced. His quickness off the goal line in the 46th minute nipped a breakthrough by Portland's Eric Alexander, and his smart parry on Franck Songo'o's 68th stinger was noteworthy not only because he kept the hard shot out of the net but also because he was able to channel the rebound out to the flank. His distribution was pretty good (61% on 36 distribution chances), and Revs defender A.J. Soares has to be thankful for Reis's calm-footed recovery on his potentially disastrous pass in the 46th minute. Reis's 50-yard throw late in the game to spark a counterrattack was a thing of beauty.
(5) A.J. Soares: 7
With the exception of the aforementioned soft pass in the 46th minute (above), Soares didn't make any obvious mistakes. He was once again the Revs' most active player in the air (12 headers), and he combined well with fellow centerback Shalrie Joseph to tame the Timbers' attacking duo of Darlington Nagbe and Kris Boyd. Soares completed a respectable 67% of his 34 passes.
(8) Chris Tierney: 6
Chris Tierney's cross on Saer Sene's 1st minute goal was his most remarkable contribution to the win, but the left fullback's service from the on free kicks threatened Portland throughout the game. You'd like to see more consistent distribution from Tierney (he completed only half of his 48 passes and only 53% of his 15 passes in the offensive half of the field), but his set pieces and the lack of defensive faults made this a pretty good showing by him.
(11) Kelyn Rowe: 5
The rookie Rowe slid more into a central role to compensate for the absence of the injured Benny Feilhaber, but he was largely anonymous throughout the game. His passing was okay (he completed 64% of his 28 passes, including 60% of his 15 passes in the offensive half of the field), but he should've done more with Saer Sene's clever through ball in the 42nd minute. His touch betrayed him on the play, and his frustrated reaction to the play depicted a player who's still trying to capture the his pre-season output.
(13) Ryan Guy: 6
Guy started the game as a wing midfielder, but was shifted to right fullback when Kevin Alston left the game due to an injury in the 70th minute. Like Tierney, Guy seemed to play better than his stats indicate. He was active throughout the game, but he completed only 52% of his 31 passes. Guy's real contribution was his versatility and his exterior defense. Unlike last week's game against Sporting Kansas City when the opposing fullbacks ran riot over the Revs, the Timbers' fullbacks--Rodney Wallace and Lovel Palmer--were largely unthreatening in the attack. Both players' heat maps suggest that wasn't for a lack of trying, so Guy and Lee Nguyen deserve credit for keeping those two in check.
(19) Clyde Simms: 6
Simms wasn't as reliable with the ball at his feet as he had been in the first couple games (his pass completion rate was 68% vs. 93% and 84%, respectively), but he was solid on defense. Portland's central midfielders Diego Chara and Jack Jewsbury were unremarkable, as were their strikers Boyd and Nagbe. Simms's work in the center of the field contributed to this lack of threat posed by those players.
(21) Shalrie Joseph: 7
Filling in at centerback for an injured John Lozano and suspended Stephen McCarthy, Shalrie Joseph was solid throughout the game. With the exception of a play in the 62nd minute when Portland's Boyd shook Joseph's coverage only to squander a great opportunity on a header, Joseph stuck with the strong striker throughout the game. His distribution was good (he completed 71% of his 34 passes).
(23) Blake Brettschneider: 5
Brettschneider wasn't nearly as bad as he was in the season-opener against San Jose, but he wasn't that good, either. He had his moments--such as his involvement in a pretty counterattack in the 52nd minute--but he was largely ineffective throughout the game.
(24) Lee Nguyen: 7
For the third game in a row, it was Nguyen who had more sparkling plays in the attack than anyone else for the Revs. His through ball to Sene in the 10th minute gave Sene a chance to add another early goal to the scoreline, but it was his footskills when he split two Timbers defenders in the 56th minute and on the sideline late in the game that dazzled the crowd.
(30) Kevin Alston: 5
Alston left the game in the 70th minute after being kicked in the face by the Timbers' Song'o, but he had an Alston-like game until then. He lacked game awareness at times (such as the 4th minute, when he kept Boyd onsides then committed a potentially dangerous foul), was mostly reliable on defense, and was actively inconsequential in the attack (his heat map displays presence in the offensive half, but he completed fewer than half of his passes on that part of the field).
(39) Saer Sene: 6
His header in the 1st minute proved to be the difference in the Revs' 1-0 win and also showed he has the physical skills to play as a target forward. Despite his size, though, Sene is actually more suited as the second forward. As his heat map indicates, he spends quite a bit of time dropping into the midfield, which may have hampered Rowe's effectiveness as the attacking midfielder. His pass completion rate (73% of 19 passes) wasn't as high as it was against Sporting Kansas City last week, but he was still engaged in the attack, especially in the first half.
(80) Fernando Cardenas: 5
Cardenas replaced Sene and the 70th minute and was visible for the remaining twenty minutes. He wasn't involved in any consequential plays, but his interactions with Nguyen and Tierney on the left side of the field were promising.
(99) Alec Purdie: 5
After replacing an injured Kevin Alston in the 70th minute, Purdie's play was unremarkable. The game situation called for a defense-first approach for the wing midfielder, so that was Purdie's focus.
- John C.L. Morgan
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