FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It took 73 minutes before the New England Revolution or Seattle Sounders took a shot in Saturday evening’s game at Gillette Stadium.
For the record, it came off Seattle midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro’s foot. But the effort from 40 yards did nothing to challenge New England goalkeeper Matt Turner, who easily made the save.
The lack of scoring chances was the real story on the night as the Sounders and Revolution settled for a 0-0 draw in front of an announced crowd of 16,484.
“We don’t have many games like that, that are unexciting,” Revolution coach Brad Friedel said after the game. “I don’t know what to say. The onus was on us to go out and play. They only wanted a draw. [Seattle coach] Brian Schmetzer said after the game, ‘Sorry we had to play like that, but we had to.’
“You have to take your hat off to Seattle as well. They had a three-game week, played at altitude on Wednesday and came here with a plan. The plan was to kill the game from the get-go, waste as much time as possible, get a point — and they got it.”
New England (7-4-7, 28 points) remains fifth in the Eastern Conference and has extended its unbeaten run in regular season matches to seven games. The Revs also notched their fourth clean shutout of the season. It was their first since beating Sporting Kansas City 1-0 on April 28.
“Our job as back unit in games like that is to make sure we’re clean and that we don’t give anything cheap or give up any mistakes,” said Revolution defender Jalil Anibaba. “From that standpoint, I thought the guys were solid.”
Clint Dempsey, who the Revolution drafted in the first round of the 2004 MLS Superdraft, got subbed on for Seattle in the 61st minute, but he couldn’t muster much in the attack for his side, either.
Also making his return to Gillette Stadium was Jordan McCrary, another former Revolution first-round pick (2016), who started at right back for the Sounders on Saturday.
The Sounders (4-9-4, 16 points) will visit Atlanta United on July 15 for their next match. New England hosts the Los Angeles Galaxy on July 14.