The Revolution's hopes of making another deep run in the U.S. Open Cup ended with a 3-2 loss to USL Cup champion Louisville City FC on Tuesday night in Louisville.
The Revs reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup last year and the final in 2016 but blew a 2-1 lead on this night and drew some pointed postgame from coach Brad Friedel.
“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 work rate,” Friedel told reporters. “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.
“It wasn’t until Juan [Agudelo] came on the field, until Kelyn [Rowe] came on the field (in the second half) that there was any sort of energy whatsoever with our team. I’m just really disappointed that some players had a chance to impress tonight and they didn’t take it.”
The Revs scored on a Mark Segbers goal in the fifth minute and then took a 2-1 lead via own goal in the 26th minute.
“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," Friedel said. "I’m afraid that’s not how it works. That’s not how it works anywhere in the world in cup competitions.”
The Revs return to MLS play Saturday in Chicago against the Fire at 8:30 p.m.