RSS
ATOM
advertisement
New England Revolution 1-2 Monarcas Morelia: Sabah Brace Wins SuperLiga For Monarcas
A brace from Miguel Sabah broke New England hearts in the SuperLiga final.
|
Sign up with 188BET for a FREE bet up to £25 – Great Prices, Every Game |
|
Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
|
Sign up with Paddy Power for a free bet up to £50 |
Sep 2, 2010 2:30:00 AM
By Nicholas Rosano
Miguel Sabah scored two goals - a controversial penalty followed by a scorching volley - to give Morelias the edge in a hotly-contested SuperLiga final at Gillette Stadium. Kevin Alston pulled a goal back for New England, who were second best for most of the match, but fought until the final whistle.
First Half
The first half kicked off with both teams playing fairly tight 4-4-2 formations, meaning there was little room for either team to attack through the middle. Morelia looked to their wide players to make an impact and in the first few minutes, Hugo Droguett broke past Kevin Alston to fire in a cross, but play was called back for a soft foul on Alston.
Droguett continued to be a thorn in New England's side throughout the early stages of the game, threading a ball through for veteran striker Luis Gabriel Rey, only for Matt Reis to come out smartly and shut down the move. Minutes later, New England had their first chance of the game, with Marko Perovic curling his free kick inches over the crossbar.
Both teams struggled early on to impose themselves on the game, but Morelia started to to find their rhythm, and in the 25th minute, the crossbar ended up saving the Revolution in a big way. Some sloppy play at the back led Darrius Barnes to give the ball away to Morelia, who smartly set up Ismael Pineda for a curling shot off the outside of his boot that rattled the crossbar.
Six minutes later, the crossbar once again came to the rescue for the home side, with left back Mauricio Romero striking the frame with a redirected header off a corner kick. The corner itself was a result of Morelia's continued excellence on the flanks, with a well-worked give and go on the right side between Rey and Miguel Sabah forcing New England to put the ball behind.
The game took a more physical tone towards the end of the half as New England looked to disrupt Morelia's control in the midfield sector. It was Sabah who picked up the first yellow card of the match for a late body check on a New England player, while Shalrie Joseph fought hard to give the Revolution a leg up in the midfield. There were no goals to be found, though, and two teams went into half-time knowing there were only 45 minutes separating them from the dreaded penalty shootout.
Second Half
The second half started much as the first, with the two teams looking to figure each other out in the midfield. The first significant action came when Matt Reis was forced to tip over a long range effort from Jaime Lozano after a breakdown in the New England midfield.
Morelia had the better of play, but New England nearly took the lead when Chris Tierney capitalised on some poor defending from Monarcas to send a header through to Kheli Dube, but the Zimbabwean forward was stonewalled by Federico Vilar.
After that close call, Morelia continued to pressure, and were rewarded with a penalty just after the hour mark, albeit in controversial circumstances. Darrius Barnes appeared to have been fouled by Rey in the New England penalty area and brought Rey down with him, but the referee adjudged it to be a foul by Barnes on Rey, sending Miguel Sabah to the penalty spot while resulting in a yellow card for Barnes. Sabah duly converted the penalty, sending it straight up the middle to put the visitors up 1-0.
New England, disjointed before the goal, started to combine better and push forward more after the goal, but couldn't find a way through, and before long, Monarcas doubled their lead. Sabah struck again ten minutes after the first goal, but this time, there was nothing controversial about it. Darrius Barnes went up to challenge for an aerial ball, and his soft header fell right to Sabah, who took it straight on the volley to drill it past the helpless Reis from well-outside the area.
The two-goal lead lasted only four minutes, and after a nice midfield combination from Shalrie Joseph, Zach Schilawski, and Kevin Alston resulted in a give and go between Schilawski and Alston that sent Alston dashing through on goal. The MLS All-Star starter made no mistake, threading the needle and rolling the ball straight past Vilar and into the back corner of the net.
With New England pressing in the last ten minutes and Morelias trying to kill the game off, things started to get testy. Lozano came in late on Alston, prompting a swift reaction from Pat Phelan and resulting in yellow cards for both Lozano and Phelan.
With the minutes winding down, New England caught a break when Sabah was adjudged to have dived during a one-on-one with Matt Reis, resulting in a second yellow for the man who scored both of Morelia's goals. However, the Revolution were unable to capitalise, with Cory Gibbs wasting a great chance in the dying seconds by volleying straight at Vilar. Second later, the referee blew for full time, giving Morelia their first-ever SuperLiga win.
First Half
The first half kicked off with both teams playing fairly tight 4-4-2 formations, meaning there was little room for either team to attack through the middle. Morelia looked to their wide players to make an impact and in the first few minutes, Hugo Droguett broke past Kevin Alston to fire in a cross, but play was called back for a soft foul on Alston.
Droguett continued to be a thorn in New England's side throughout the early stages of the game, threading a ball through for veteran striker Luis Gabriel Rey, only for Matt Reis to come out smartly and shut down the move. Minutes later, New England had their first chance of the game, with Marko Perovic curling his free kick inches over the crossbar.
Both teams struggled early on to impose themselves on the game, but Morelia started to to find their rhythm, and in the 25th minute, the crossbar ended up saving the Revolution in a big way. Some sloppy play at the back led Darrius Barnes to give the ball away to Morelia, who smartly set up Ismael Pineda for a curling shot off the outside of his boot that rattled the crossbar.
Six minutes later, the crossbar once again came to the rescue for the home side, with left back Mauricio Romero striking the frame with a redirected header off a corner kick. The corner itself was a result of Morelia's continued excellence on the flanks, with a well-worked give and go on the right side between Rey and Miguel Sabah forcing New England to put the ball behind.
The game took a more physical tone towards the end of the half as New England looked to disrupt Morelia's control in the midfield sector. It was Sabah who picked up the first yellow card of the match for a late body check on a New England player, while Shalrie Joseph fought hard to give the Revolution a leg up in the midfield. There were no goals to be found, though, and two teams went into half-time knowing there were only 45 minutes separating them from the dreaded penalty shootout.
Second Half
The second half started much as the first, with the two teams looking to figure each other out in the midfield. The first significant action came when Matt Reis was forced to tip over a long range effort from Jaime Lozano after a breakdown in the New England midfield.
Morelia had the better of play, but New England nearly took the lead when Chris Tierney capitalised on some poor defending from Monarcas to send a header through to Kheli Dube, but the Zimbabwean forward was stonewalled by Federico Vilar.
After that close call, Morelia continued to pressure, and were rewarded with a penalty just after the hour mark, albeit in controversial circumstances. Darrius Barnes appeared to have been fouled by Rey in the New England penalty area and brought Rey down with him, but the referee adjudged it to be a foul by Barnes on Rey, sending Miguel Sabah to the penalty spot while resulting in a yellow card for Barnes. Sabah duly converted the penalty, sending it straight up the middle to put the visitors up 1-0.
New England, disjointed before the goal, started to combine better and push forward more after the goal, but couldn't find a way through, and before long, Monarcas doubled their lead. Sabah struck again ten minutes after the first goal, but this time, there was nothing controversial about it. Darrius Barnes went up to challenge for an aerial ball, and his soft header fell right to Sabah, who took it straight on the volley to drill it past the helpless Reis from well-outside the area.
The two-goal lead lasted only four minutes, and after a nice midfield combination from Shalrie Joseph, Zach Schilawski, and Kevin Alston resulted in a give and go between Schilawski and Alston that sent Alston dashing through on goal. The MLS All-Star starter made no mistake, threading the needle and rolling the ball straight past Vilar and into the back corner of the net.
With New England pressing in the last ten minutes and Morelias trying to kill the game off, things started to get testy. Lozano came in late on Alston, prompting a swift reaction from Pat Phelan and resulting in yellow cards for both Lozano and Phelan.
With the minutes winding down, New England caught a break when Sabah was adjudged to have dived during a one-on-one with Matt Reis, resulting in a second yellow for the man who scored both of Morelia's goals. However, the Revolution were unable to capitalise, with Cory Gibbs wasting a great chance in the dying seconds by volleying straight at Vilar. Second later, the referee blew for full time, giving Morelia their first-ever SuperLiga win.
Our 
provides the best breaking news online and our 
football fan community is unmatched worldwide. Never miss a thing again!
provides the best breaking news online and our football fan community is unmatched worldwide. Never miss a thing again!| Sign up with 188BET for a FREE bet up to £25 – Great Prices, Every Game |
|
| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
|
| Sign up with Paddy Power for a free bet up to £50 |
|
Advertisement
Inside Goal.Com
-
Capello remains one of the greats of the game
After tasting success wherever he had gone previously, the coach will look upon his time at Wembley as an incomplete job rather than a complete failure
-
Can Suarez repeat Cantona's grand comeback?
The divisive Uruguayan can look to history when he starts against United on Saturday for the first time since receiving an eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra
-
Key battles: Manchester United v Liverpool
The former Reds defender believes that the Uruguayan must put controversy to the back of his mind when his team face the champions
-
The importance of Champions League qualification
The Ruhr side's remarkable run in Europe's elite tournament saw their revenue unexpectedly soar last season, but some teams are structured to depend on such results to survive
-
Cartoon: Capello's managerial merry-go-round
Goal.com cartoonist Omar Momani gives us his unique take on the football news of the day ...
Advertisement
Advertisement
