Revolution win in a real battle
They fight way to SuperLiga final
FOXBOROUGH - A solid performance for the Revolution dissolved last night at Gillette Stadium, with Atlante FC resorting to increasingly physical play in a SuperLiga semifinal.
As the Revolution were headed for a 1-0 victory, the physicality escalated. Revolution forward Adam Cristman ended up with a yellow card, while Atlante's Javier Munoz Mustafa and Alan Zamora were handed their second yellow of the game, earning ejections.
Both teams were near midfield when the game ended, and punches were exchanged. Revolution defender Jay Heaps was issued a red card for retaliation and Atlante goalkeeper Federico Vilar was given a red after he threw a punch.
Many players pushed and shoved, all with Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber on site. At one point, an Atlante staff member could be seen in the middle of the scrum throwing punches.
The melee left players calling out referee Carlos Batres for not maintaining control.
"You see it all the time; I'm sure if you went back and looked at the tape of every game when one of the teams from Mexico has lost, they're all screaming and yelling at the referee," Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis said. "They're sitting there and have people from their staff coming out taking shots at people, the referee doesn't call the game, and we're doing all this for 15 percent of the prize. In the end, we're not happy. We're not happy with the way things went down, but we played a good game, and all they wanted to come here and do is fight us."
New England's win creates an all-MLS SuperLiga final. The Revolution will face the Houston Dynamo Tuesday at Gillette Stadium. The Dynamo made the inaugural SuperLiga final last year, but lost to Pachuca, 3-2, on penalty kicks.
The tournament matched four top Mexican teams against the top four MLS teams from 2007. Although the top prize is advertised as $1 million, an MLS team will receive $150,000 for winning it all.
In the Revolution's preseason, Atlante and New England met in a friendly, and the game also took a physical turn. The Revolution lost, 1-0, and three players were ejected, with 10 Revolution players receiving cautions.
Revolution defender Jeff Larentowicz said he expected last night's game to be physical, and he also said he believed stoppage time probably went on for too long (six minutes).
"Whether we played them in preseason or not, it's going to be incredibly contentious because for them there's $1 million on the line," Larentowicz said. "Put $1 million in front of anybody, they're going to play hard. Not only that, if they lose, they're going to be that much more upset. Obviously, we come in here with a smaller prize, but wanted to play as hard. We were at home and we got the result."
Said Revolution coach Steve Nicol, "I think we as coaches and staff of the team, we're there to help the players, whether it's on the field or off the field. The one thing that really disappointed me was there was a member of their staff on the field throwing punches and that is unacceptable, and that's the only thing I'll say about it."
The Revolution have not lost since June 21, when Real Salt Lake walked away with a 2-1 win. Since then, the Revolution are 6-0-2.
For a team that had not played in 10 days and was without a key player in defender Michael Parkhurst, who is with the US Olympic team, the Revolution's first-half performance was solid. They set up a few golden opportunities, with Steve Ralston and Shalrie Joseph teaming up to score the goal.
Munoz Mustafa committed a foul against Kenny Mansally in the 30th minute to set up a free kick from about 40 yards. Ralston launched the ball toward Joseph, who charged toward the goal and headed the ball into the bottom right corner. The goal was Joseph's second of the season.
Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com
