If this were Sesame Street, today's Vancouver Whitecaps game would have been brought to you by the number six.
Heading in to New England, the Caps were looking for their sixth win in a row in all competitions. They were also looking for their sixth MLS win of the season, which would tie their mark for the whole of last year. They also travelled to Gillette Stadium without their captain, number six, Jay DeMerit.
DeMerit's absence was felt, as several defensive lapses, and some clinical finishing from New England, saw Vancouver fall to a deserved 4-1 defeat.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Vancouver face a busy remaining month of May, with five games in 15 days, including the upcoming two legged Voyageurs Cup final against Toronto.
If anyone doubted whether Martin Rennie was taking the Cup seriously, you only had to look at today's starting line up.
Jay DeMerit and Camilo Sanvezzo didn't travel, to keep them fresh for Wednesday, and Martin Bonjour was kept on the bench to allow Carlyle Mitchell to get his first MLS start of the season, partnering Alain Rochat in the middle of the defence.
Davide Chiumiento was rewarded for his three assists against Edmonton midweek by a return to the starting line up, with Eric Hassli, Sebastien Le Toux and Omar Salgado spearheading the attack.
New England had lost four of their last five games and were on paper certainly a team ripe for the picking with the talent that the Caps still had on offer. On the pitch though it was a whole different story.
After last weekend's late, late show against San Jose, Vancouver nearly got off to a flyer in the third minute.
Y-P Lee played a short pass inside to Hassli and his first time chip put through Le Toux, who took a touch to control and then shot, but Matt Reis had come out and got his right hand on it to direct it just past the left hand post.
It was only to be a short respite for New England and Vancouver opened the scoring in the fifth minute.
A long ball forward from Lee was chested down by Hassli to Chiumiento. The Swiss maestro played a pinpoint ball through to Le Toux, who hit the byeline, cut the ball back to Hassli and the Frenchman continued his rich vein of scoring form to drill the ball past Reis from eight yards.
It was to be a shortlived lead.
The home side went on the attack from the restart and were back level again 61 seconds later.
Blake Brettschneider's shot in the box bounced off Lee. Le Toux and Lee Nguyen battled for the rebound and it was the ex Whitecap who won, and Nguyen buried the ball past Joe Cannon for the equaliser.
The Revolution had a great opportunity to take the lead in the 10th minute.
Saer Sene played a short pass inside to Clyde Simms and the midfielder fired a shot from outside the box inches past Cannon's outstretched hand, but also inches past the left hand post.
As the game reached the quarter of an hour mark, a neat back flick from Hassli sent Chiumiento through but he shot weakly at the keeper.
Simms had another long range effort whizz narrowly past in the 20th minute after being set up again by Sene when Lee uncharacteristically had easily lost possession. This time Simms wasn't as close, but showed the need for the Caps to shut down the Revs midfielder quicker.
Lee again gave the ball cheaply in the 24th minute and this time the Whitecaps were punished.
Nguyen and Chris Tierney exchanged passes, before Nguyen put his foot on the gas and sent through Sene, who easily turned Rochat and made no mistake in firing past Cannon and into the bottom right hand corner of the Caps net.
It was soon three in 33 for New England.
Benny Feilhaber played the ball out right to Sene, who cut it across the box, just past the outstretched leg of Brettschneider. The ball bounced off Mitchell, who had just come back onto the pitch after a head knock, straight into the path of Shalrie Joseph and the Revs captain made no mistake from 12 yards out.
Vancouver tried to take the game to the home team for the remainder of the half but didn't come close to finding a way through what was now going to be a more defensive minded Revolution side.
Both sides started off the second half in lacklustre and lethargic mode, with New England seemingly having no interest in being an attacking entity for the remainder of the game.
Vancouver were struggling to get out of their lull and into any kind of a groove, but Rochat forced a save out of Reis with a low 25 yard free kick in the 57th minute.
The Caps introduced Darren Mattocks for Omar Salgado, who had been quiet all match, in an attempt to try and liven up the attack.
He nearly made an impact within a minute of coming on, after getting the better of AJ Soares before hitting the post. The play was called back for a foul on Soares, which replays showed the Revs defender untouched and faking contact to try and draw a decision. Disgustingly it worked.
Sene had the home side's first shot of the second half in the 71st minute, which was easily saved by Cannon. Seconds later he had another chance, but Cannon again made the stop.
New England grabbed a fourth goal out of nowhere in the 72nd minute, and what a goal it was.
Nguyen collected a thrown in 25 yards out and looped a beauty on the bounce that left Cannon rooted and the Caps routed.
If Nguyen wanted to make Martin Rennie regret cutting him from the Caps before the season started, then I think he made his point tonight.
It was game over but to their credit, the Caps tried to keep pressing and Mitchell headed over a great Jordan Harvey cross with eleven minutes remaining.
In the end, frustration started to set in for the Whitecaps, with neither side able to carve any serious goalscoring chances in the remaining minutes of regulation.
With the game in the final seconds of stoppage time, Reis parried a Le Toux volley at his near post.
The final whistle was a relief for Vancouver.
Tonight was the worst Whitecaps performance we've seen so far under Martin Rennie. It had to happen some time, and better for it to be against eastern opposition than western.
It's just unfortunate that it wasn't the confidence boosting match we hoped for going in to face a rested Toronto midweek.
Although our defensive depth seems strong, it appears than tinkering too much with the dynamics can be our undoing.
They need to get that defensive cohesion and solidness back for Wednesday, or they could find themselves punished once again.
ATT : 12,112
FINAL SCORE : New England Revolution 4 - 1 Vancouver Whitecaps
NEW ENGLAND : Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Stephen McCarthy, A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; Lee Nguyen (Fernando Cardenas 80), Clyde Simms, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber; Saer Sene (Diego Fagundez 72), Blake Brettschneider (Alex Purdie 85) [subs Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Darrius Barnes, John Lazano, Bjorn Runstrom]
VANCOUVER : Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Carlyle Mitchell, Alain Rochat, Jordan Harvey; Gershon Koffie (Etienne Barbara 80), Jun Marques Davidson (Floyd Franks 89), Davide Chiumiento; Sebastien Le Toux, Eric Hassli, Omar Salgado (Darren Mattocks 62) [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Martin Bonjour, Matt Watson, Michael Nanchoff]
<p>