Cristian Penilla brought speed and dynamism to the left wing in leading the Revolution in scoring and being selected as the team’s most valuable player last season. But Penilla and the Revolution made a sluggish start to this season until breaking through for a 1-0 win over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
Penilla came off the bench to convert his first goal of the season, blowing by center back Aaron Long and finishing past Luis Robles in the 73rd minute as the Revolution (2-5-1, 7 points) overtook the Red Bulls (1-4-2, 5 points) and Atlanta United in moving into ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Revolution rallied in the second half, sparked by substitutes Penilla and Juan Fernando Caicedo. The scoring sequence started with central defender Jalil Anibaba stopping a Red Bulls’ advance, setting up Carles Gil just outside the center circle. Gil found Juan Fernando Caicedo, who sent a lead pass to Penilla on the way into the right side of the penalty area. Penilla gained a step on Long, then fired just inside the near post.
Revolution coach Brad Friedel has been varying the lineup, leaving Penilla on the bench or off the traveling squad for four matches. Last season, Penilla started 33 games and totaled 12 goals.
“I could tell there were a lot of spaces,” Penilla said. “[Friedel] read the game really well and decided to bring me in and I was lucky to get the ball and score against a very competitive team.
“No, not frustrated at all. As a professional, I waited patiently for my time to come and I will continue to work hard and whenever I’m called upon I’ll do best to help the team.”
The Revolution snapped a 282-minute scoreless streak and also earned their first shutout since the final game of last season, against the Montreal Impact, Wednesday’s opponent.
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“Our goal in this game, believe it or not, was the clean sheet,” Friedel said. “We’ve been leaking too many goals on quick attacks. We worked hard on the midfielders and made sure we had a far better block. When you have the clean sheet to build off of, then that gives you confidence to create even more chances. We have been creating chances in most all of the games and, luckily today, one went our way, because it probably wasn’t our best chance, to be honest.”
The Revolution started with Teal Bunbury and Diego Fagundez at forward, dropping striker Juan Agudelo into midfield, alongside Luis Caicedo and Scott Caldwell.
The Red Bulls seldom broke through midfield, and Cody Cropper saved a Marc Rzatkowski volley (39th), then left the net open as Michael Mancienne blocked a Bradley Wright-Phillips attempt (51st). Cropper went out of the penalty area to head away (59th) and Andreas Ivan hit the side of the net (84th).
“It’s been a long time for the team, for me personally, for this organization, since we’ve had a clean sheet,” Cropper said. “So we’re going to see how this feels. It’s just a confidence builder, a tool for us moving into next weekend.”
Revolution left back Edgar Castillo added an attacking threat in the opening half, and right back Andrew Farrell helped steady the defense in the late going.
The game began opening up midway through the second half, and Penilla found room to move on both wings.
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“From the outside, I could see they were playing a lot of long balls,” Juan Fernando Caicedo said. “We knew there was a lot of space, the guys on the bench knew we could take those opportunities and come in and make sure we were winning balls and, luckily, we were able to score the goal.”
