The season is over for the New England Revolution. Here’s what happened

Chris Donovan's 78th-minute goal - at a time when the New England Revolution were playing shorthanded due to Mark-Anthony Kaye’s ejection - gave the Philadelphia Union a 1-0 victory in the second game of the MLS playoffs on Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

The loss eliminated the Revs from the playoffs and brought an end to their season.

The two sides had met in the first game of the best-of-three series in Philadelphia on Oct. 28, with the Union winning 3-1 in a match that saw captain Carles Gil leave midway through the first half due to injury. As a result, the Revolution needed to win yesterday in order to force a deciding third game, which would have been played on Sunday.

History gave the side from Foxborough some hope, as the Revolution had never lost a home playoff game during regulation. In 1997, they were edged on penalty kicks by D.C. United, and the same happened two years ago when they were upset by New York City FC in a game that ended in a 2-2 draw before also being decided by penalty shots. In the other games, they had registered 13 wins and 6 draws.

In addition, Carles Gil had recovered from his injury and started the game, as did central defender Henry Kessler, who had also missed the game in Philadelphia.

On the other hand, Philadelphia had never won away from home in the playoffs, losing all four games. Last season, they did reach the final, with regulation ending in a 3-3 draw, but Los Angeles FC prevailed in the penalty shot tiebreaker.

The visitors were also missing defender Kai Wagner, who was the subject of an investigation conducted by MLS over allegations that in the first game of the series he had directed a racist slur at Revolution forward Bobby Wood.

On Tuesday, MLS announced in a statement sent to the media that it had decided to suspend the player for three games “for violating the league’s on-field antidiscrimination policy during the Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution match on Saturday, Oct. 28”.

Kaye gets game-changing ejection

From the opening minutes, the contrasting strategies from both sides were quite evident, with Philadelphia playing more direct, as they were caught off-sides twice in the first two minutes. The Revolution opted for their usual style of possessing the ball and building from the back, with captain Carles Gil as the maestro setting the tone.

Because the two sides were evenly matched, there were very few goal scoring opportunities.

The first threat belonged to the Revolution in the 17th minute. Following a Philadelphia corner, the ball was deflected to Tomás Chancalay, who quickly sprinted towards the visiting area. As he neared the box, Chancalay slid a pass to Mark-Anthony Kaye, who had been running alongside him, but the Revolution midfielder did not turn properly, and his shot was easily deflected by defender Olivier Mbaizo.

Two minutes later, Kaye misfired again, this time reaching a cross from Gustavo Bou, but sending his header just wide of the left post.

The visitors' response came in the 27th minute. On a lightning-fast counterattack, Michael Uhre served Quinn Sullivan, who ran at Henry Kessler and then fired as he reached the area, but the Revolution defender was able to slightly deflect the shot, which sailed just wide of the far post. On the on-suing corner kick, there were a couple of missed clearing attempts and that allowed the ball to drop in front of Nathan Harriel, who was just outside the small box. His shot sailed past Revolution goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr., but struck the post and sailed over the end line.

In the 33rd minute. Revolution fans loudly expressed their disagreement with referee Drew Fischer, who had already made a couple of minor calls that appeared to favor the visitors. Gustavo Bou spun around to try to slip past his marker but, as he went by, Damien Lowe struck him in the face and knocked him down. The referee elected to show only a yellow card.

Then came the turning point of the match came.

In the 43rd minute, Mark-Anthony Kay challenged Dániel Gazdag for the ball and the Union player went down. The Revolution midfielder then tried to step over him to get to gain possession, but as Gazdag rolled over Kaye appeared to stomp on him. Fisher was about to restart the game, but the VAR, Ian McKay, called and asked him to go and review the play. After a few seconds, the referee gestured that he had reviewed the play, reached for his back pocket, and pulled out the red card, ejecting the Revolution player.

It is difficult to determine if Kaye intentionally tried to stomp on his opponent, but there is no doubt that currently plays like this are frequently reviewed by the VAR, which has the luxury of viewing multiple angles. Thus, the Revs midfielder was, at the very least, reckless and that left his team in a very precarious situation for the remainder of the match.

“It was ruled that he stomped on the player, so he got a red card,” Clint Peay said after the match. “I don’t have a take. I didn’t see the replay, but I think by the law if you stomp on someone, you’re liable to get a red card, unfortunately. Those are the cards you’re dealt.”

After the game, referee Drew Fisher explained his decision when questioned by Boston Globe writer Frank Dell'Apa.

“After an on-field review, there was clear evidence that Mark-Anthony Kaye stomped on an opponent lying on the ground in a manner that was violent conduct,” Fisher answered.

The Revolution were the better team during the first 45 minutes, with and an edge in possession (63 percent), and more passes completed (279 to 162), but Philadelphia had the advantage on shots, 11-2, although only one was on target.

Revolution battled in the second half

There were no changes at half-time and the Revolution came into the second half showing that, despite being down a man, they would be looking to attack whenever possible to try to get a positive result.

In the 48th minute the home side came very close to breaking the deadline. In the center of the park, Carles Gil played a through ball for Andrew Farrell, who was making a run down the right side. His cross found Gustavo Bou just inside the area and the Argentinian striker fired quickly, but keeper Andre Blake was well positioned, dove and grabbed the shot.

Three minutes later, it was the Union’s turn to threaten. The play came after another questionable call by the referee, who ruled that Thomás Chancalay had fouled his opponent. The free kick, near the corner of the area, on the right, was taken by Jack McGlynn, who tried to sneak a shot just inside the near post and almost surprised the Revolution goalkeeper. But Earl Edwards dove and was able to eventually grab the shot.

The Revolution continued to dominate possession, but as had happened in the first half, they couldn't find the right path to the opponent's goal.

Apparently unhappy with the way his team was managing the numerical advantage, Union coach Jim Curtin made two substitutions, removing Mikael Uhre and Jose Martinez, and bringing in Chris Donovan and Joaquin Torres. And, after that, the visiting team became more incisive, with probative passes from flank to flank, looking for the right moment to cross or shoot.

In the 72nd minute, the Revolution again expressed their disappointment with the referee. This time, it was because Damien Lowe, who had already been yellow carded, first grabbed and then brought down Gustavo Bou. But, once again, Fisher kept the card in his pocket, and the visiting defender escaped the punishment he deserved.

One minute later, the Revs came very close to scoring. Bou, near the right sideline, dropped the ball back on to the path of Andrew Farrell, who took one touch and then fired on target, but Andre Blake was able to push the ball over the end line, for a corner.

In the 76th minute, they threatened again. Carles Gil's excellent pass found Farrell on the edge of the area, but this time his shot struck the side netting.

The Revolution's resistance finally ended in the 78th minute. A careless foul by Chancalay resulted in a free kick near the corner of the area, on the right side. The Revolution elected not to form a wall, putting only Carles Gil in front of the ball, but that did not block McGlynn’s view, and he slid a low cross towards the heart of the area, where Chris Donovan was able to cut in front of his marker and deflect the ball past a helpless Edwards Jr.

As it turned out, this game deciding play is sort of what interim coach Clint Peay had expected from Philadelphia. In his game preview he had warned that “we can expect a physical group that is looking to hit you with set pieces, hit you on the counter, and really make it difficult for you to score goals.”

He was right. Philadelphia did all those things, including deciding the game on a set piece.

“In the playoffs, when it’s one-play games like that, the restarts can decide things… and we get the goal, and now we move on to the next round, which is good,” Curtin added in his post-game conference.

Right after, Clint Peay made his first substitution and curiously removed the only striker he had on the field, Gustavo Bou, to bring on a midfielder, Thomas McNamara. One might ask: why?

One minute later striker Bobby Wood replaced defender Andrew Farrell and in the 89th minute Peay made another substitution, with the other full-back, DeJuan Jones, giving way to winger Emmanuel Boateng. This move was probably a bit late because a player with Boateng’s speed could have been more useful earlier as a weapon to try to surprise the Union on counter-attacking plays.

The game ended right after that, with the Revolution players surrounding the referee to express their frustration at what they considered, with some justification, an uneven performance as in close plays Fisher tended to lean towards the visiting team.

It was a very disappointing end to a Revolution season that started in such promising fashion, as the team performed very well for more than half of the year and was viewed as a serious title contender. But the departure of head coach Bruce Arena, who was suspended by the league at the end of July due to “inappropriate and insensitive remarks” and later resigned, on Sept. 9, turned everything upside down and the team was never able to regain its top form.

“Those moments are never easy,” Peay said. “I think as I reflect, it was a great experience for me in terms of being able to work with the group and learn a little bit more about what that means. In terms of my future, yeah, that’s not for me to decide, so we’ll see.”

Right now there are a lot of unanswered questions about next season, but it would appear that club ownership will reveal their plans for the future in the coming days, including the appointment of a new coach, technical director and changes to the roster.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: The season is over for the New England Revolution. Here’s why