Revved up: New England tops Houston Dynamo after penalty kick tie-breaker

New England Revolution coach Brad Friedel ended his first preseason with a cup after his team won the Mobile Mini Sun Cup after a penalty kick shootout.

Much of the first half was played in the middle of the field, but New England’s Juan Agudelo, Scott Caldwell and Andrew Farrell both had strong shots, as did Houston’s Mauro Manotas. Near the end of the half, some physical back and forth between midfielders Boniek Garcia and Diego Fagundez ended with a shove by the Dynamo’s Garcia and his expulsion from the match.

New England’s Kelyn Rowe began the second half with a shot that hit the post, but the rebound was left loose to become a goal shot by Krisztián Németh. Németh score came as he was playing only his second match in preseason after recovering from injury.

Houston’s Alberth Elis took a pass from Memo Rodriguez and ran through the box. New England keeper Cody Cropper came off his line to intervene, and instead rolled through Elis.The referee called a penalty and Elis easily scored.

Cropper made up for his error moments later when he batted away shots in rapid succession from both Elis and Rodriguez. A late shot by Rowe would have zipped up a win, but the fingertips of Chris Seitz sent his shot just wide.

Per tournament rules, the game went straight to penalty kicks. New England’s first shot, by Kellyn Rowe, was saved by Seitz, putting the team behind early. But a shot by Houston’s Arturo Alvarez was saved by Cropper then a miss by Elis put New England back into the hunt. It fell to New England’s goal scorer, Krisztián Németh. His shot went just right of the middle of the net as Seitz dove the other direction.

The win makes New England the first team to repeat a championship in the Desert Cup/Sun Cup. Midfielder Diego Fagundez was named the team’s MVP. Houston can still claim bragging rights. Since the match was a tie at the end of regulation, they can claim an undefeated streak in the competition going back to 2016.

Houston opens their season on Saturday, March 3, in Atlanta. New England opens their season at home against Philadelphia that day.

Should the game end in a tie…

This isn’t the first time New England ended preseason in Tucson with penalty kicks. In the 2012 Desert Diamond Cup final, the Revolution missed two penalty kicks out of four that year, with Benny Feilhaber missing the final one leaving Galaxy midfielder Marcelo Sarvas a chance to be the hero for his team that year. Sarvas powered the ball past Matt Reis giving his team the cup.

A lot has changed for both of those teams since then. Among those changes is the new Revolution coach, Brad Friedel. His career included playing nearly 500 games between the pipes in the English Premier League, 82 games for the U.S. national team plus some seasons with Columbus Crew and Turkish giants Galatasaray. He’s faced a few penalty kicks in his life. So, one wonders what advice he gave Cody Cropper before the tie-breaker.

None, he says.

“I gave no advice,” he said. “For a goalkeeper, it’s a win-win situation. Or should I say a no lose situation. All the onus is on the players; all the pressure is on the players. It’s probably the one time in a game where, as a goalkeeper, there is little pressure on you.”

“It’ll do Cody’s confidence a world of good to win a penalty shoot out,” he added. “But no little tidbits...I can’t take any credit.”