Halftime Talk Pushes Revolution To Three Points

When the New England Revolution entered halftime of Saturday's 2-0 win over the Chicago Fire, the overall picture was more cloudy than Jay Heaps would have liked.

After putting the Fire under pressure in the first 15 minutes of the contest, the action swayed in the direction of Frank Yallop's squad. Bobby Shuttleworth was called into action on too many occasions for comfort and the accustomed Revolution halftime lead was nowhere to be found.

Yet, by the 50th minute, Diego Fagundez and Charlie Davies both had scored fantastic goals and the Revs were the benefactors of a commanding 2-0 lead. So what exactly happened at halftime to propel that sort of lead?

"We all made the statement that we didn't want to come back through that door without three points and we were pretty riled up as a group," Heaps said. "It wasn't me, it was the group and everyone felt that we could be more [and] there could be more urgency."

With the message heard loud and clear, the Revs players set their minds on executing their game plan and applying the full brunt of their attacking might on Chicago's veteran defense.

For Fagundez, the key to grabbing ahold of the match was sheer desire - something that's intangible in nature yet often can be the difference between one point and three points.

"...We said we're not walking through that door without three points and that was the most important thing," Fagundez said. "I think everyone took that and as soon as we went out there you could see it. We wanted it more and we got two goals off it and we come with the three points inside this locker room."

Another major factor in turning the halftime talk into reality was the team's inclination to approach the onset of the first and second half with urgency.

A key to the Revs' success in the Heaps era is securing a place in the attacking half, which in the process leaves the opponent to be reliant on counter-attacks to threaten Bobby Shuttleworth's goal. Simply, possession is held in a more advanced position and promising chances can be built through fluid and dynamic movement.

"You want to set the tone," Heaps said. "For us, point number one on our chalkboard was set the tempo and create the chances, put them under pressure."

Doing exactly that was a difficult task on Saturday, but when coupled with the team's halftime message, three points were always in reach.

"We had our work cut out for us," Davies said. "We had to go out there, capitalize on our chances we were going to have, and we did that."