Farrell, Agudelo stock down in Revolution loss to Fire

The Fire completed a three-match sweep of the Revolution on Saturday with a dominant 4-1 win. The loss served as the eighth road defeat of the season for the navy and red, who remain six points out of playoff contention.

Here’s one player who stood out—and three who didn’t:

Stock up

Kei Kamara

Don’t look now, but Kamara has flipped the script on his Revolution tenure over the past three weeks. On Saturday, he scored a bread and butter goal when he latched onto a Lee Nguyen free kick. As the match carried on, Kamara continued to put forth a strong shift. He worked hard in possession and made promising runs down the channel, but had a difficult time finding runners to combine with as he made his way toward goal.

Kamara is still at his best when others find him in front of goal (like Nguyen did in the first half). But as Kamara worked the right flank, he could have used more support from his attacking teammates.

Stock down

Andrew Farrell

The steady defender didn’t offer his best performance on Saturday. After David Accam came in late on Farrell—and got away with it—Farrell never quite seemed the same. Offensively, he struggled to offer his improved service after switching to the left side. And defensively, he got caught ball watching when Michael de Leeuw tore past him and buried an open header.

On a positive note, Farrell did connect on several booming passes out of the back that pushed the attack forward. He’ll look to rebound next week against Vancouver.

Juan Agudelo

A week removed from scoring in his Gold Cup return, Agudelo struggled to ignite the Revolution attack. He didn’t take a shot, didn’t create a goal-scoring chance and at times sat behind the play when Diego Fagundez and Kamara made driving runs at goal. All of this forced Heaps to remove him in the 77th minute with the Revs down two goals. Kamara’s work rate down the stretch only highlighted Aguedelo’s surprising performance.

Jay Heaps

In the midst of a poor outing, Heaps struggled to find answers. His decision to move Farrell to left back emphasized the defender’s inability to create chances with his left foot. And late in the second half, when he swapped Agudelo for Je-Vaughn Watson, his team took on a defensive posture. Heaps has preferred to use Watson late in matches, though the Jamaican midfielder has rarely brought life to the attack.

In the end, the Revolution looked sluggish for most of Saturday’s match—particularly in the waning moments. The gaffer carries some responsibility for his team’s inability to keep fighting.