Not much good to say about that one. From a Revolution perspective, the loss in Kansas City this past Saturday night was forgettable in just about every way. The timing for the Revs to begin their SuperLiga title defense looks pretty good right now, insofar as a break from league play comes at an advantageous time.

The game changer in KC was Ricardo Salazar red carding Emmanuel Osei. Letter of the law, yes, that’s a sending off. You can’t lash out like Osei did and the ref was right there. But considering Claudio Lopez stepped on Osei’s leg first, and committed the initial foul and barked in Osei’s face twice in a very aggressive manner, it would seem to me that a ref who didn’t want to overly  influence the game might have given two yellows in that situation, or two reds.

But that’s not the way it went down and the Revolution, who had scrapped back into the game to make it 1-1 after being second best for most of the first 20-plus minutes, never really had a chance after Osei got his marching orders. The second and third Wizards goals came in rapid succession, just minutes after the Revs went down a man, and New England never looked like getting back in the game after that.

Credit to Jay Heaps and Kenny Mansally for trying to get their team back into it with a lot of industrious running and attempts to make raiding runs down the left side, but with the Revs outnumbered and space at a premium (and a couple f questionable offside calls against Mansally) it was never going to happen. Too, Steve Ralston and Jeff Larentowicz ran their socks off, but New England was always chasing the game down two goals and one man. Matt Reis should not be blamed, either. The Revs goalkeeper made several important plays to keep the score as close as it was and you can’t hang any of the three KC strikes on him.

A word about Shalrie Joseph. I know the Revs are stronger in midfield when he’s there – what team in this hemisphere wouldn’t be? But the guy has been a presence at forward, as well. You can’t argue with five goals (which leads the team) and in the striking form that he’s in, the Mexican sides have to be fearing Joseph’s presence up top , especially looking back to the great success he also had scoring in SuperLiga last year. Joseph’s not the most mobile target man you’ve even seen, but he does hold it pretty well and defenders clearly don’t like playing against him, what with Shalrie’s strength and bite.

It was a good sign to see Kheli Dube get some good touches at striker in the second half. If he can get back close to the form he was in before his long, mid-season injury layoff last year (when he was a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year) Steve Nicol might have the option of sliding Shalrie back to central midfield sooner rather than later, no matter how long Taylor Twellman is out of action.

In any case, here’s hoping the Revs – who are still very much in playoff contention at 4-4-4 with 18 league games still to play – can use this SuperLiga break to get some guys back to form and fitness, even as they defend their title and look to add silverware to the trophy case.

Update: Make sure to tune into In the Net this week. My scheduled guests are former Revs star and current ESPN commentator Alexi Lalas, former Revolution Spanish-language announcer Andres Rodriguez Ferrari of ESPN Deportes and  Luis Bueno of SI.com.