Desert Diamond Cup

Red Bulls back-ups drop one to Revs

New England features new look defense and goals from old hands Rowe, Nguyen

Posted Feb 26, 2017

Ted Prezelski
TucsonSentinel.com

Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comNew England's Juan Agudelo cuts through the New York Red Bull defense.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comNew England's Kei Kamara chests a high ball.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comThe New York Red Bulls fielded a very inexperienced squad against the New England Revolution.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comNew York keeper Rafael Diaz collects the rebound from Kei Kamara's point blank shot which came off the far post.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comRevs attacker Juan Agudelo.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comNew England's Kelyn Rowe chips a ball past the New York keeper to open the scoring.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comRevs forward Kei Kamara heads the ball.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comSoccer wasn't the only form of entertainment on offer at Kino. A variety of jumping castles and other family-oriented entertainment was available during the final round of MLS preseason action.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comNew England striker Juan Agudelo was a constant menace for the Red Bulls defense.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comRevolution forward Juan Agudelo has been playing in a protective mask since an injury sustained while playing for the U.S. national team.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comNew England attacker Agudelo holds off the Red Bulls defense.
Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.comRed Bulls goalkeeper Rafael Diaz saves an early attempt from the New England Revolution.

The final day of the Desert Diamond Cup began Saturday afternoon with win for last year’s champion New England Revolution over the New York Red Bulls.

The Red Bulls squad was composed almost entirely of players from the team’s USL affiliate, Red Bulls II. The Revolution side looked a lot like the team that will start the season next weekend, with new acquisitions Benjamin Angoua and Antonio Mlinar Delamea anchoring the back line.

The Revs’ offensive pressure didn’t pay off until the second half, when Kelyn Rowe delivered a shot into the goal off of a pass from Diego Fagundez. Kei Kamara followed up with two frustratingly close chances, but it took until the closing minutes of the match for Lee Nguyen to score the final goal. Late game sub Je-Vaughn Watson earned the assist on that one.

The Revolution open their season with a match against the Rapids in Colorado next Saturday. The Red Bulls open up their MLS season next Sunday against Atlanta United, but first play the second leg of the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League at Vancouver on Thursday.

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Benjamin Angoua has spent much of preseason nursing an injury, so his 56 minutes on the field were the first time he got time to play with his centerback partner Antonio Mlinar Delamea and goalkeeper Cody Cropper.

Cropper is the closest thing to an old hand of the new backfield triangle, a late season acquisition that appeared in one match in 2016. The other two signed on this year. If a preseason match against lower division players is any indication, the new defensive arrangement is a success.

“I thought the whole plan worked well from start to finish,” said Cropper. “We finished the first half at zeroes.”

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The bulk of the Red Bulls senior squad was away because of the CONCACAF Champions League. Bradley Wright-Phillips scored a goal in the first leg of their quarterfinal on Wednesday, earning the team a 1 - 1 draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

One starter for the Red Bulls was former FC Tucson player Aaron Long, who the team announced as their new signing earlier that day.

Ted Prezelski writes about all things soccer, fútbol and piłka nożna for TucsonSentinel.com and at the blog How Flair is Punished (mindingthe.net).