Pros

Dorman's late show saves Revs By Andrew Hush
June 12, 2006


New England Revolution 3-3 Chicago Fire

Andy Dorman

A crazy finish in Chicago saw the Revolution overcome frustration, physical intimidation and some questionable officiating to escape with a point. Andy Dorman’s goal after four minutes of stoppage time capped a remarkable comeback which he had begun just seconds earlier with an assist on a goal for Steve Ralston.

At the time, Ralston’s strike looked to have joined Taylor Twellman’s 87th minute header as mere consolation, with Nate Jaqua (2) and Calen Carr having given Chicago’s a seemingly unassailable lead. However, there was still time for Dorman’s heroics, which sparked wild scenes of celebration from the entire Revolution squad at the final whistle.

When Jaqua scored his second goal of the night in the 79th minute, there was little sign of the fireworks to come. The lanky striker followed up his first-half goal, which came when he tapped home the rebound from Matt Reis’ parry of Andy Herron’s shot in the 39th minute, with another opportunistic finish following a giveaway by Joe Franchino, who was injured in the play and, worryingly, limped off just moments later.

Jaqua’s second goal came as the Revolution players were still trying to fathom how they were not on level terms. On a night when the refereeing team did little to cover themselves in glory, their worst moment came in the 72nd minute. A floated ball into the Fire penalty area was flicked on by Twellman to Dorman, who stabbed home what he thought was the Revs’ first road goal since the opening game of the season.

However, the away side’s celebrations were cut short by an inexplicable offside decision. Replays showed that Dorman had been at least two yards behind the last defender when Twellman played the ball but assistant referee, Anthony Vasoli, was clearly watching a different game and raised his flag, to the dismay of everyone associated with New England.

As has been a pattern in its away games this season, the Revs were dominant in the second half but looked set to come away empty-handed once again. Even when Twellman headed in Tony Lochhead’s pass in the 87th minute, expertly pulling off the back of the lumbering CJ Brown to guide the ball past Zach Thornton, time looked to be against Steve Nicol’s side. The cause looked totally lost a minute into stoppage time when, pushing forward in search of the leveler, the Revs were caught on the break and Carr tapped home Jared Montz’s centering pass.

With the 12,941 fans in attendance set to celebrate their side’s first ever game at Toyota Park with a win, the Revolution marched back down the field and, with the spirit that saved so many games in 2005 combined with (finally) some luck, somehow pulled the game back. First, Chicago failed to clear a corner and Lochhead’s return ball found Dorman on the right touchline and the Englishman’s pull-back was turned in by Ralston.

From the ensuing kick-off, Shalrie Joseph shrugged a Chicago opponent off the ball and drove into the home penalty area. After a scramble in which the ball should have been cleared by the panicked defense, Kyle Brown, who had replaced Franchino, showed maturity beyond his years to pick out the unmarked Dorman with a pass across the area and the midfielder calmly placed the ball beyond Thornton, into the bottom right corner.

The three-goal explosion was in stark contrast to the fortunes the Revolution have enjoyed in front of the net on the road this season and the drought seemed set to continue, until the astonishing finish. Dorman had seen first-half efforts foiled first by Thornton from the left side and then slide just wide following a set-up by Twellman. Seven minutes after the break, Dorman was in the thick of the action again when, lining up a shot on goal, he went down under the challenge of Logan Pause, who was lucky not to concede a penalty.

In the 65th minute Twellman was denied by a fine diving save by Thornton from his goalbound header following an excellent aerial pass by Jeff Larentowicz, who started his first MLS game and had an effective night in the center of midfield. With thirteen minutes left, Ralston was also denied by the burly Chicago number one and when Jaqua doubled his side’s lead two minutes later, it looked as though all the Revs’ work would be for nothing once again. Fortunately, nobody told that to the men in white and a stirring comeback ensued.

Fire: Thornton, Brown, Griffin, Thiago (Carr 84), Jaqua, Pause, Armas, Plotkin (Stewart 68), Guerrero, Segares, Herron (Montz 77)

Subs not used: Pickens (GK), Curtin, Mapp, Franks

Goals: Jaqua 39 & 79, Carr 90 + 1

Booked: Plotkin, Segares, Carr

Revolution: Reis, Heaps, Parkhurst, Larentowicz, Dorman, Joseph, Franchino (Brown 82), Ralston, Cancela, Lochhead, Twellman

Subs not used: Tomasso (GK), Haggerty, Galik, Wynn, Williamson

Goals: Twellman 87, Ralston 90 + 3, Dorman 90 + 4

Booked: Franchino, Larentowicz

Referee: Hilario Grajeda

Attendance: 12,941