Revolution v. Sounders: Three Thoughts

The New England Revolution battled the Seattle Sounders to a wild 3-3 draw on Saturday night. Here are three thoughts from the game:

1. Edgar Castillo wasn’t good. Operating as a wing back rather than a left back due to the Revs playing a five-man back line, Castillo was often seen playing high. In fact, the veteran was apathetic when tracking back, which led to Seattle’s first and second goal. This wasn’t Castillo’s only issue on the night as he was frequently failing to connect with his teammates. Although it was a pretty insignificant moment in the game, Castillo’s inability to grasp hold of a simple square ball from Carles Gil in the 50th minute serves as a good summary of the night. Castillo didn’t show much emotion as the uncontested pass went out for a throw-in. Besides his superb give-and-go with Gustavo Bou, Castillo didn’t provide much against the Sounders.
2. The Revs couldn’t deal with the long balls. At times the Revs tried to force turnovers by pressing the Sounders. The home side countered by utilizing the long ball. When the Revs failed to win the initial header—which happened too often—the center backs usually struggled to get organized. The Sounders’ third goal is a perfect example of this as Jordan Morris won the long ball before playing an easy pass to a trailing Nico Lodeiro. The unmarked Laodeiro took a long-range shot that deflected off Andrew Farrell before settling into the back of the net. Of course, Lodeiro got the benefit of the deflection, but the entire sequence could’ve been avoided if the Revs’ center backs and defensive midfielders were organized.
3. There shouldn’t be any arguing about who takes the penalty kicks. One of my big gripes with Brad Friedel was that he didn’t have a designated person to take PKs. This led to a few instances where multiple players were fighting over the ball. We saw something similar on Saturday when Cristian Penilla protested that he should take the penalty. The captain ultimately won out and converted the kick. As far as I’m concern, Gil should be taking penalties when he’s on the field. There should be no questions about that. None whatsoever.