FOXBOROUGH — Now that the Revolution seem to have solved their scoring problems, they need to work on defending.
The addition of Kei Kamara has added a dangerous dimension to the Revolution’s offense, which has produced two goals in four successive matches. But the Revolution’s defensive weaknesses were exposed by FC Dallas, which took a 4-2 win before a crowd of 23,472 at Gillette Stadium Saturday night.
The Revolution (2-4-7, 13 points) struggled to adjust to the loss of central defender Jose Goncalves (ribs), who has not played since a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy two weeks ago, plus holding midfielder Gershon Koffie (right knee). The status of Goncalves and Koffie, who departed with the Revolution holding a 2-1 lead in the first half, has not been determined for next week’s game against the Seattle Sounders.
After surrendering a fifth-minute penalty kick to Tesho Akindele, the Revolution gained momentum as Juan Agudelo headed in a Lee Nguyen free kick (23d minute) and Nguyen converted a penalty (26th). But Koffie departed after the second goal, and FC Dallas (8-4-2, 26 points) began gaining control of the midfield, capitalizing on Revolution mistakes, its offense sparked by the passing of Kellyn Acosta and speed and finishing ability of Akindele and Fabian Castillo.
“We gave them too much of the ball, too much possession,’’ Nguyen said. “They’re a team, you give them enough chances, they’re going to punish you. We weren’t able to pull ourselves out of it once they got the third.
“[Kamara] has opened up spaces for everyone. Our attack is flowing, we’ve got to keep it going, but at the same time we’ve still got to stop the bleeding. I feel like we gave them three soft goals there that we probably could have stopped. Sometimes that’s how it rolls. We’ve got to learn from it and go forward. We can’t afford, going forward, any more of those now.’’
FC Dallas’s first goal was set up by a long ball over Andrew Farrell, Michael Barrios then taken down by Bobby Shuttleworth as he entered the penalty area in the second minute. Referee Silviu Petrescu cautioned Shuttleworth, Akindele converted the penalty kick, and Barrios was soon after taken off the field by stretcher, replaced by Acosta.
The Revolution went on the offensive, Nguyen hitting the crossbar in the 15th minute. Kamara had a chance off a Chris Tierney cross in the 21st minute. Koffie helped set up the tying goal, earning a free kick as he was injured in a clash with Akindele. Three minutes later, Koffie kept the play alive for Nguyen, who went down in a clash with Victor Ulloa, converting his third goal and second penalty kick of the season.
Koffie was replaced by Diego Fagundez before the ensuing kickoff. FC Dallas tied the score in the 36th minute, Atiba Harris heading off Shuttleworth’s hands.
FC Dallas broke the deadlock as Castillo broke in alone on Shuttleworth in the 70th minute. Akindele concluded the scoring off an Acosta feed in the 90th minute.
“The second half, I thought their strategy was really good in that they waited, they baited, they found places to attack,’’ Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. “And really went after our center backs and found places to get after our center backs.’’
The Revolution had not surrendered more than three goals at home since a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Impact Sept. 8, 2013.
“Overall, defensively we obviously weren’t good,’’ said Tierney, who returned to the lineup after missing four matches with a hamstring injury. “We conceded four goals at home, and we’re not going to win any games like that.’’
