MATT KREMKAU - EMPIRE OF SOCCER

by DAVE MARTINEZ

JAMAICA, Queens – Well, this is the kind of scenario that brought forth the phrase “adding insult to injury.”

The New York Cosmos not only lost their match against the New England Revolution, and not only were they ousted from U.S. Open Cup competition: they are also down one of their most important players as well.

Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese inexplicably subbed Roversio out of this Wednesday’s match for Jimmy Ockford. After the defeat, Savarese explained that Roversio had once again fallen to injury.

“He had a hamstring, a pulled hamstring and he couldn’t continue,” Savarese told reporters after the match. “I had to take him out of the game.”

Despite his brilliant play, Savarese does not believe Roversio’s injury was central to the Cosmos loss.

“That wasn’t the problem for me. The problem is to be able to not lose the ball in important areas, in not being patient and mature enough to finish a game we had in control.

“We did a lot of good things,” he said. “At the end, we are winning 2-1, we have to be smarter to finish the game.”