FOXBORO - After controlling the match for the entirety of the first half on Saturday, the New England Revolution had a chance to grab their second home win in a row and begin a crucial winning streak.
The Revs however, faltered out of the gates to start the second as they were blitzed by LAFC. A poor giveaway put New England down a score and by the end of the contest, they were left sitting with a 2-0 loss.
"Before the game, I told the guys that to win the game, we're gonna have to put together a 90 plus minute performance," Revs coach Caleb Porter said. "I thought the first half was excellent, we made it a very tight game. They had no shots on goal, two shots total.
"The last thing I told the group before we left the locker room was, they're going to raise their level and we need to be ready for it and we need to raise ours. And that's exactly what happened. They came out flying and pressing and we didn't manage it. That 10 minute spell where they raised their level and we didn't manage it and that cost us the game."
Aside from the second-half mishaps, here are four takeaways from New England's loss on Saturday.
Son Heung-Min sneaks an assist in first MLS start
While it did not quite reach the level of Lionel Messi, Gillette Stadium was once again buzzing due to the arrival of an opposing superstar.
On Saturday, it was Son Heung-Min causing all the commotion as he made his first MLS start. Fans all across the stadium donned Tottenham jerseys for the forward and there was also an abundance of South Korean flags displayed.
Although he did not find the back of the goal on any of his four shots, he was a consistent threat throughout the match, and tacked on an assist in the 93rd minute for his first MLS contribution.
Although both Son and LAFC as a whole caught fire in the second half, Porter was quite pleased with his team's ability to keep them contained early in the contest.
"We needed to slow them down, we needed to make it a game where we were controlling the dangerous spaces, we were controlling the transitions," Porter said. "I really liked our mentality. I liked the way we started the game.
"If you can limit their team like we did, then you put yourself in a position to win. Absolutely we were in a position to win the game."
Turner and Lloris steal the show
Son was not the only former North London man to shine Saturday night.
Starting across from each other, Matt Turner and Hugo Lloris both showed they are still high-level goalkeepers in the contest.
Lloris held off five shots in total, nothing bigger than the one he stopped from Tomas Chancalay in the 87th minute to keep the lead intact.
On the other side, Turner showed that his stellar return to the Revs last week was no fluke.
Once again, the 31-year-old flexed his lightning quick reflexes and his penchant for getting the ball out quickly. While the former has helped New England's defense, the latter has added a new threat to the team's attack.
On one play in the second half, Turner gathered the ball and sprinted to the edge of the box, kicking the ball upfield on the run, and finding Chancalay on a breakaway.
While nothing eventually came of the pass, it instantly added stress to LA's defense and further proved that Turner's distribution can be utilized moving forward.
New England drops to 10 points back
At this point in the season, the Revs need a result in just about every match they play if they want a shot at one of the wild card playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
After entering Saturday night eight points back from ninth place, the final wild card, New England slipped further back with the loss to LA.
By beating first place Philadelphia, Red Bull jumped into eighth place, pushing NYCFC to ninth. As it currently stands, the Revs are 10 points back from NYC, and that deficit could lengthen on Sunday if they manage a result against Nashville.
At the very least, after this weekend, New England will remain 10 points back from a playoff spot with just eight games remaining in its schedule.