There are a total of 3.5 highlights in this video. Which is about how many I would there should be in the actual game tonight. More on that in a second.
SIMULATED LINEUPS
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-2-3-1): Shuttleworth; Farrell, Soares, Goncalves, Tierney; Dorman; Sene, Kobayashi, Nguyen, Fagundez; Bunbury
D.C. UNITED (4-1-3-2): Hamid; Franklin, Boswell, Parke, Fernandez; Kitchen; DeLeon, Arnaud, Neal; E. Johnson, Espindola
WHY THIS SIMULATION IS RIGHT
Because what we've learned over the past several weeks with the Revs is that their defense has been sensational. Jose Goncalves looks like the reigning league Defender of the Year and the team has played better overall.The drought the Revs are in offensively surely can't last but with Kelyn Rowe out injured, Diego Fagundez needs to pick up the creative slack in the Revs midfield.
The other reason is DC is still not that great, their defense is in transition from a lot of offseason moves and the Revs don't generate that much offense this year anyway. But when the Revs do create chances, they need to score just like in the simulation. That was the only shot on goal for the Revs (because the virtual guys never shoot) but it went in and that's all that matters.
WHY THIS SIMULATION IS WRONG
The Revs attack still leaves a lot to be desired though.Lee Nguyen's Gonnie Magic special last week was the first goal scored by a player actually wearing a Revs shirt (Victor Bernardez doesn't count) and it took the Revs nearly four whole games to score. They struggle to generate great chances like the one Bunbury put away in the video, and similar to the Diego Fagundez chance against Philadelphia. And just like in real life, the Revs lack a great ball winner in the midfield so that allows Perry Kitchen to pretty much run everything offensively.
Eddie Johnson did basically nothing in this game and that doesn't compute at all. Bobby Shuttleworth's command and poise coming off his line doesn't equal what he does in real life which is exactly opposite, even if I'm boldly predicting that he'll be great today. The other thing is that I think this game will be equally as boring as my simulation without all the goals. I expect to see a game where the ball spends about 75% of the time in the midfield and getting sent over the top long-ball style.