HARRISON, N.J. (AP) – If the New England Revolution are going to shed their mantle as the team that can’t quite seal the deal, maybe it’ll be the midseason addition of Jermaine Jones that helped them finally get over the hill.
Jones, who played for the United States at this past summer’s World Cup, finished a counter attack in the 85th minute with a tap-in and gave New England a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls Sunday to put the Revolution within a draw of the MLS Cup final.
Having earned the tag as the “Buffalo Bills of MLS” for its four trips to the MLS championship game without a win, the Revolution are the closest they’ve been to the title match since the last trip in 2007.
The result gives the Revolution a significant advantage heading home for the second leg of the aggregate-goals series on Saturday at Gillette Stadium. They will need only a tie on Saturday at home at Gillette Stadium to advance and face either Los Angeles or Seattle.
The 33-year-old Jones, who joined the team in August after a club career in Germany, England and Turkey, has been widely credited as being the piece that has pushed the Revolution to the brink of returning to the final.