Local Tandem Davies and Tierney Leads Revolution Closer to Glory
FOXBOROUGH – Thierry Henry brought a reputation, world-class skill, and plenty of will along with his New York Red Bulls to Gillette Stadium Saturday. But that wasn’t enough to overcome a team sparked by couple of local players – Charlie Davies and Chris Tierney – who combined for two goals in a 2-2 tie that sends the Revolution to their fifth MLS Cup final next Sunday.
The Revolution, 12-1-3 since Aug. 2, will play on the home field of the winner of Sunday night’s Seattle Sounders-Los Angeles Galaxy game.
“It’s amazing, to be in my first MLS Cup,’’ Davies said. “This franchise has been there four times and hasn’t won it. So, for us to finally get a chance to win one will be special, especially since I grew up here. So bringing a championship back to Boston would be the ultimate goal and something we hope we can do. We all have the confidence that if we go out and play the way we can we can make that happen.’’
The Revolution, entering the match with a 2-1 edge in the aggregate series, fell behind twice, but the Davies-Tierney combination countered both times.
Tim Cahill scored in the 26th minute, Henry setting up the goal by lofting a perfect cross just over defender Jose Gonçalves, Cahill chesting down. Gonçalves appeared to have recovered, but Cahill poked the ball through his legs and to the left of goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth
In the 42nd minute, Davies tied the score, 1-1, after Teal Bunbury won a corner. Tierney and Lee Nguyen exchanged passes on a short corner, then Tierney crossing, Davies’ header slanting past Cahill and defender Ibrahim Sekagya and past goalkeeper Luis Robles.
The Red Bulls dominated possession at the start of the second half, but the Revolution had the best early chance to score as Jermaine Jones made a steal and fired wide with a left-foot shot (48th).
Peguy Luyindula, Henry’s boyhood friend from Les Ulis in the Paris suburbs, broke the tie – equalizing the aggregate score – with a left-footer from close range after a Lloyd Sam cross went off right back Andrew Farrell’s thigh.
Cahill had a chance to up the lead but volleyed over the bar off an Henry cross in the 66th minute.
That would be the break the Revolution needed. Four minutes later, they capitalized on a mixup in the Red Bull defense, Robles and Sekgya colliding, to maintain possession. Jones touched on to Scott Caldwell, who found Tierney on the left side of the penalty area. By then, the Red Bull defense had recovered. But this time, Davies outmaneuvered Dax McCarthy to head past Robles.
“It’s a training ground move that we’ve been working on,’’ Tierney said of the first goal. “Just try to get the ball to Lee’s feet as much as we can because good things happen. He did well to lay it off for me so I could whip it in first time and the guys just made good runs going into the box and I just tried to put it in a good area and Charlie, luckily, got on the end of it.’’
Tierney credited fortune for the second goal, but also said the understanding he has with Davies played a part.
“The second goal, I’m just trying to whip it into a good area,’’ Tierney said. “Me and Charlie work on that all the time. I knew Charlie was sensing that when I got the ball there he was going to be in that spot, so I try to whip in a good ball and he did unbelievably well to get on the end of it.’’
Davies (Lawrence) and Tierney (Wellesley), both 28, were teammates on the Greater Boston Bolts club teams, and prep school and collegiate rivals – Davies at Brooks School and Boston College, Tierney at Noble & Greenough and the University of Virginia – before going separate ways as professionals. They became teammates again last season, but have seldom been on the field together until recently, mostly because of injuries.
“I feel great,’’ said Davies, who had struggled to recover following a 2009 auto accident. “The thing with me, I’ve never been satisfied, I always want to get better.
“I’m at a point right now where after every game I’m not struggling to recover. I’m not, you know, in the training room getting massages until game day. I think that’s a huge point for me is to be able to recover. Now I feel like I’ve been able to get back to playing the way I used to. Now it’s just improving, just continuing to improve. I think I’m a smarter player now and I think it’s going to be great next season – next season I’ll really have my feet under me, so it’s just continue to build and continuing to improve and hopefully I can continue to make new heights.’’
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