FOXBORO – The New England Revolution’s bid to advance to the Round of 16 in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament amounted to nil.
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC of the United Soccer League scored late in the first half and held on to beat the Revolution 1-0 on Tuesday night at Gillette Stadium.
The Revolution won their opening round match 2-1 over Hartford Athletic at Gillette on April 25. The Revolution were handed their first home loss of the season in all competitions. They are now 7-4-1 in U.S. Cup matches played at home and 10-4-3 against USL opponents.
The Revolution resume MLS play riding an eight-game league unbeaten streak against Inter Miami at DRV PNK Stadium on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
“I think you have to give Pittsburgh a lot of credit, they played real hard,” said Revolution head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena. “But it was a poor performance on our part and there are no excuses.”
Arena primarily employed veteran back-ups in his Starting XI against Pittsburgh, a glaring contrast to the teenaged rookies and homegrowns that took the pitch against Hartford.
Keeper Earl Edwards got his second Open Cup match of the season and the 10th in his career. Jozy Altidore and Giacomo Vrioni started up top for New England while former Revolution first round pick (2021) Edward Kizza was on the attack for Pittsburgh.
“I don’t think our forwards played very well tonight,” said Arena. “He (Altidore) has a way to go with his fitness and he was obviously exhausted in the end.
“We used all our available substitutions so he had to suck it up.”
Revolution midfielder Latif Blessing picked up a yellow card in the 19th minute and narrowly escaped drawing a red card when he scored a hard takedown on Pittsburgh defender Joseph Farrell in the 25th minute. Pittsburgh was awarded a free kick in a favorable position but failed to make a play on the goal.
Pittsburgh was the more effective team in terms of possession (62%) and passes (332-214) in the first half with both teams creating quality scoring chances.
Pittsburgh scored the lone goal in the 44th minute when midfielder Marc Ybarra connected with Danny Griffin in the penalty area. Griffin split the Revolution center backs Omar Gonzalez and Ben Sweat and beat Edwards to the near post.
“I think Omar was in position to make a play,” said Arena. “Edwards just had to hold his position in the goal but I will have to look at it on tape.”
Pittsburgh was protecting its tenuous 1-0 advantage when Arena made a major substitution in the 64th minute that involved four key players. Arena sent in captain Carles Gil, midfielder Emmanuel Boateng and defenders Dave Romney and Brandon Bye. Arena employed a similar second half substitution ploy against Hartford.
“I think the guys that came in in the second half did good a good job,” said Arena. “But they did a good job protecting the lead in the second half.”