The Revolution went into Philadelphia shorthanded and manager Jay Heaps had a dilemma of whom to start. Striker Juan Agudelo and midfielder Kelyn Rowe were away with the US men’s national team. Forward Diego Fagundez was serving an uncalled for suspension for stepping on Toronto FC star Sebastian Giovinco. Defender Antonio Delamea was out with a concussion.
Heaps went for an experimental 4-1-4-1 formation rather than his standard 4-2-3-1 and gave rookie Donnie Smith his first career start at left back. It didn’t take long for the Revolution to make a mistake and it was a costly one.