The New England Revolution have made it through a half of soccer without conceding against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night, but may feel they should be going into the interval with the lead. The Revs created a number of solid chances, and had an early goal called back for offside when the replays showed that the officials may have gotten it wrong.
Jerry Bengtson was sent in on goal in the 4th minute by Lee Nguyen and buried his shot into the back of the net. The assistant referee waved for offside, though, erasing the advantage. Upon replay, it looked as though Diego Fagundez was certainly offside, but the teenager wasn't involved in the play, and Bengtson seemed to be level with the last defender when Nguyen played the ball.
Bobby Shuttleworth was called into action a minute later, catching a volleyed attempt from Jan Gunnar Solli. That was one of the Red Bulls only real chances, however, and the Revs came raring back in the 16th minute when Fagundez received a feed from Rowe and blasted a shot from just inside the area on frame, forcing Bill Gaudette to punch away.
Nguyen nearly had a goal of his own in the 18th minute off a direct free kick, but Gaudette did very well to dive to his right and parry a shot that was curving wickedly and had very good pace. Darrius Barnes headed a Nguyen free kick over the bar just two minutes later as New England continued to pile on the pressure.
The 35th minute saw a pair of substitutions forced by injury. Red Bulls midfielder and designated player Rafa Marquez was replaced with Joel Lindpere after trying unsuccessfully to play through a hamstring injury. For the Revs, Florian Lechner made way for Stephen McCarthy after struggling with a knee complaint, though it appeared he wanted to soldier on.
Tim Cahill had the Red Bulls best chance of the half in the 36th minute, pouncing on a loose ball just outside the area and ripping a shot that he pulled just wide of the left post with Shuttleworth likely beaten. The Revs followed up on that with a well-worked move in the 42nd minute, as a long ball out of the back from Barnes was headed into the path of Bengtson by Clyde Simms. The Honduran striker had a rip, and Gaudette just managed to get a finger to it to put it off the crossbar and out.
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