BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Playing on the road with a full squad for 90 minutes is difficult enough, but the scope of the task magnifies twofold when playing with 10 men for more than an hour.
That’s the situation the New England Revolution found themselves in on Saturday evening at Toyota Park, where Je-Vaughn Watson’s 27th-minute ejection put the visitors in a hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of in a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Fire.
Watson, who was making his first start since last year’s U.S. Open Cup Final in a move head coach Jay Heaps said was designed to strengthen the midfield by pushing Kelyn Rowe higher, was sent off for a pair of bookable offenses inside the opening half-hour.