Brad Friedel didn’t pull any punches after watching the New England Revolution crash out of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in a 3-2 fourth round defeat to Louisville City FC Tuesday night.
The first-year coach said his side didn’t match the defending USL champions workrate, a cardinal rule in cup competitions.
“We broke a very important rule – when you go and play teams that are in lower divisions than yourself … you have to at least match their workrate,” Friedel said in an article on RevolutionSoccer.net. “It’s a very simple thing. We spoke about it for the last two days. We spoke about it right before we went out on the field.”
The first "Cupset" of MLS competition serves as a humbling lesson for the Revs, according to Friedel.
“Each and every day, you owe it to yourself as a player to bring the energy,” Friedel said. “It’s not for somebody else to corral it with the group. It is a bare minimum requirement to work hard when you play soccer. The best players in the world, the most technically-gifted players in the world, they all work hard – every single one of them. You can never just stroll out onto the field and expect to get results.
“I think they felt they’ll put the shirt on, they’re an MLS team, they’ll come out and they deserve to win the game. I’m afraid that’s not how it works. That’s not how it works anywhere in the world in cup competitions.”
