NE Revolution doldrums

Thoughts on the local soccer team and their troubles in losing the last four league games including the last two at home without scoring a goal.

from a recent NE Revs game

correction, the -17 goal differential is correct but the totals should be 29 and 46 (not 30 and 47)

http://www.mlssoccer.com/standings

#nerevs

playoff soccer weekend

listen to ‘playoff soccer weekend’ on audioBoom

moon over Gillette

It was a pleasant evening weather wise. It was not so pleasant soccer-wise.

The Revolution played some good soccer for 21 minutes to go up 3-0. Then forgot how to play defense and ended up in a 3-3 tie. Frustrating!

Not sure what to make of this team. They seemed to be on track for playing great soccer earlier this year and have gotten progressively worse the last 8 games.

Sports Sunday

This is the in-between week for the New England Patriots as they approach Super Bowl Sunday against the New York Giants.

As a soccer fan, my New England Revolution are in pre-season and there is a bunch of news around the team as they prepare including word that the long talked of new stadium may be in Revere.

Revs stadium in Revere?

from New England Soccer Today by Sean Donahue

Revolution 2, FC Tucson 1

from New England Revolution RSS Feed

Heaps sees “good and bad” in preseason opener

from New England Revolution RSS Feed

So what sports will you fill the gap with today?

Ball control

It was good to see the NE Revolution go up 2-0 at the half. Milton Caraglio is a quality forward and you could see the evidence of this by his play to score the two goals.

So why did the Revs lose?

For some reason beyond my comprehension, the Revs don't know how to play ball control. When they have the ball on a goalie restart, he kicks it out of bounds, or down field where it goes for an immediate turn over. The defenders, do the same thing. Kick it down and it goes for an immediate turn over.

What ever happened to playing pass back and forth, allow themselves to catch a breath, control the ball and dictate the pace of the game?

It is no surprise the Revs lose! They give the ball to the other team and the other team has more than enough chances to score a goal. If the Revs only kept the ball themselves, they would allow themselves more chances.

The full recap of the game (including video highlights) is available on the MLS website here
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2011-08-20-new-england-revolution-vs-new-york-red-bulls/recap

Revs sign Milton Caraglio as first DP

One could be negative and say the Revs have again gambled (has his knee problem really healed?).

One could also be positive and say the Revs have their first DP!

Given the history with foreign talent, the proof will be seen over time on the pitch. He has young in his favor. Let's see him help the team by staying healthy and score some goals!

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Revs sign Milton Caraglio as first DP

via New England Revolution News on 8/2/11

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution announced today that Argentine forward Milton Caraglio (pronounced car-RAHL-yee-oh) has signed with Major League Soccer and will play for the Revolution as its first-ever Designated Player. Caraglio will occupy one of the team's eight international roster spots. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not released.
Caraglio is expected to join the Revolution for training on Thursday, August 4, and will be added to the team's official roster upon the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate.
Read More

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NE Revolution - gritty win

Gutsy, gritty, not pretty.... call it what you want, the NE Revolution still managed to come out with three points in the 1-0 victory over DC United on Saturday night.

Yes, the other team was wearing the familiar DC United kit, but who were they? I think I heard only five names amongst the starters that I had heard before (Pontus, Burch, Talley, Quaranta and McTavish). Adam Christman, a former Revolution player (lost in one of the expansion drafts) came on as a substitute in the second half. And of course, the new coach, Ben Olson; his name is well known amongst MLS followers.

DC United played like they wanted to win but the Revs had just enough to stop them. Pat Phalen found the net for his first goal off a lone free kick from Chris Tierney to provide the 1-0 margin.

With two new players available (Linck, and Stolica) and a full week to help the injured recover, the Revs should be prepared to continue their streak next Saturday.

Go Revs!

MLS Soccer RSS feed = #fail (updated)

I complained about the MLS Soccer web site not having an active RSS feed on Wednesday. Today, the button itself is gone and there is still no feed option (note the red circle and question mark where the RSS feed symbol used to be in the upper right corner. You can view a larger image by clicking on the image itself).

Coincidence? or possible sign of progress?

Your guess is as good as mine!

MLS Soccer RSS feed = #fail

The revamped Major League Soccer website launched with the opening of the season still has not enabled the RSS feed. Come on folks! What is taking so long/

The RSS Feed button in the top right corner, properly placed, remains grey (inactive). When you scroll over it, it still says "placeholder".

Will the season end with there still being a placeholder?

Yes, if you have a good memory and recall me complaining about this at the beginning of the season, kudos to you.

Revolution re-sign Steve Ralston

This is good news!

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Revolution re-sign Steve Ralston

via Corner Kicks on 6/8/10

Steve Ralston has re-signed with the New England Revolution, the team announced Tuesday. The 35-year-old midfielder played eight seasons with the Revolution from 2002 to 2009, and was a player/coach for AC St. Louis of the USSF's Division 2 pro...

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The game is in us!

Great short video that captures the spirit of the game within US!

Revs need to get back to basics

Keep it compact, control the ball.

Such were the words from the NE Revolution camp this week preparing for the Weds game against Chivas USA. Unfortunately, they did not. They also went down a man with another red card and the final could have been worse than 4-0.

When you are struggling with possession, go back to the basics. Bring the ball out of the back on the ground. Just like Chivas did most of last night. They showed patience, passing to open men (before the defender crowded the player with the ball), switched sides from time to time, maintain possession for long stretches, forcing the Revs to run and defend and tire themselves.

What did the Revs do? Long balls over the top. Most were lost immediately, some even went out of bounds to Chivas. So instead of keeping possession, giving the Revs time to play offense, it was a quick turnover, Chivas ended up with the ball again and came back at the Revs.

Frustrating!

Hat trick leads Revs to win 4-1

New England Revolution had their home opener for the 2010 MLS season Saturday night. A cool breeze with temps in the low 50's made for good conditions to play on the new Astroturf field.

Rookie Jack Schilawski scored three times in the span of fourteen minutes in the second half to power the Revs to the win. Sainey Nyassi's hustle bought him a goal on a bad back pass to provide the final score 4-1.

Dwayne DeRosario, a long time Rev's nemesis, scored in the first half to give Toronto FC the lead at the half 1-0. Except for the slight lapse to allow that goal, he was really held in check all night. He started coming down the right side challenging rookie defender Seth Sinovic. Seth met his every challenge hustling to frustrate Dwayne. In the second half Dwayne switched sides to try and come down the left and had no more success against Kevin Alston. Cory Gibbs and Emmauel Osei held the fort in the central defense and parried everything Toronto had.

The Revolution offense played short smart passes getting into the triangle game, moving after the pass in to the space provided. Such movements and short passes created the opportunities for Schilawski to clinically finish two crosses from Kelli Dube. Schilawski pressed Nick Garcia into a give-away which he then took into the goalie one-on-one to bury it nicely into the net. What a start at home for the rookie to get a hat trick!

Overall, the Revolution played well. Keeping the ball down on the ground, playing smart short, triangular passes was the route to create goals. In the first half, they played more in the air and I am sorry but that has not worked for the Revs. Pressure defense created some of the opportunities and they were able to convert them. Al good signs for this year.

Darius Barnes will have trouble breaking into the back four with these guys playing as well as they have, The super sub from last week, Kenny Mansally didn't even get off the bench today. He scored two goals against DC United and sat this one out. When the remainder of the squad heal and get ready to play (Reis, Twellman, Jankauskas, Castro) the depth choices will be good ones (tough ones) to make. We'll need those options as the season progresses with the US Open Cup and SuperLiga to add to the normal schedule.

On a related note, what's with the new MLSsoccer.com site?
No RSS feed enabled? Poor contrast between text and background? It is heavily video focused and wasting a ton of space on each page layout. Doesn't seem to me that they spent much time on any usability testing! You really have to go digging to find anything of importance on the site.

The stars have aligned - let's go Revs!

Down to the final game of the season, the NE Revolution can continue their streak of making the playoffs with a win or a tie on the road at Columbus this afternoon.

It seemed improbable with the multitude of possible combinations for playoff scenarios but the one major factor only a few articles actually mentioned with some importance was the fact that all the major contenders for the final playoff spots were playing on the road.

So while the hype for some teams was there (i.e. Toronto in particular) that they were playing on the road where they historically have not done well was the key.

Chivas lost on the road at Chicago on Thursday to set up the weekend. Chicago's win gave the Support Shield to Columbus and guaranteed a place for Chicago.

DC tied on the road at KC. Toronto lost on the road at NY (their last game at Giant Stadium). FC Dallas lost on the road in Seattle (where they have arguably the best 12th man). Colorado lost on the road at Real Salt Lake.

Now all the Revs need to do is win or tie to make it! The MLS playoff standings are here.

The Revs should win. They have a good road record. They are also starting the same team, and more importantly, a healthy team for the second game in a row. This is important. Missing Twellman and Albright all season, then losing Ralston for the last several weeks has deprived the Revs of their top players. Several others have spent time on the sideline with injuries but all will be ready today.

The final regular season game. On the road. Against the Crew.

I am looking for a good Revs win!

To the spirit of soccer

Eusebio to the spirit of soccer an appropriate symbol for the #nerevs game 2day, originally uploaded by shersteve.

A statue of Eusebio, celebrating the spirit of soccer was an appropriate symbol for the New England Revolution game on Saturday.

The remains of tropical depression Danny blanketed the area with rain and clouds all day. By game time, the rain had moved off shore leaving some mist which also cleared leaving gray skies and a wet turf.

The Revolution won 2-1 with two good goals by Steve Ralston and Wells Thompson. The defense cracked slightly to allow the one goal for San Jose in stoppage time but it was not enough for them. We took the three important point from this home game.

Revs did well

Image via WikipediaAfter writing up what the New England Revolution needed to do, they actually went out and did almost all of that on Thursday night. The one thing they were not able to do was find the net for a goal. So the teams head to Chicago next Thursday with a 0-0 tie. The series is two games, aggregate goals.

I could take another result like in Chicago and take our chances in the shoot out. We might have an edge there with Reis in the nets and so many new guys on our side to tee it up that they won't know about.

I would prefer we take it outright with a 1-0 (or more) victory. This team can do it.

They just need to stay with the 'touch and go'.

Go Revs

there are plenty of empty seats for the Rev playoff game tonight. 0-0 at the half

Mobile post sent by shersteve using Utterli. Replies.

Touch and go

Image by shersteve via FlickrThe New England Revolution enter the playoffs again. While they have the longest continuous streak of making the playoffs amongst the New England pro teams, the only thing that really matters is winning the MLS Cup. Which they have yet to do. Will this be the year? It will be touch and go.

Recall that this season started back in March with some key folks missing. Noonan was gone for good, off to Norway. Riley also, via the draft to San Jose. John was not re-signed. Twellman was recovering. Who did we have? The younsters; Dube, Nyassi and Munsally to assist the core players, Ralston, Joseph, Parkhurst, Reis, etc. The Revs got started pretty well. They were top of the league and Taylor had not played a minute of a game. How did they do it? Touch and go.

Good quick passes, good movement off the ball, keeping the offensive pressure on, keeping the other offense at bay. As the season wore on, the opponents began to realize that one way to beat the speed was to be physical. Dube, Mansally, and Nyassi began to get mugged with the full approval of the officals. The SuperLiga intervened and the Revs prevailed topping the Houston Dynamo in a shoot-out final to take home their first international Cup. What was it like during the shoot-out? Touch and go!

The MLS season resumed with a series of 2 games a week and the Revs paid the price. Their legs and bodies couldn't handle the travel schedule. They got a break in mid-September, got some rest and still faltered into the end of the season. Questionable calls on the road, ugly red cards in the final game and finally the season was over. What did it feel like for the fans? Touch and go!

Now the playoffs begin. A clean slate, only 4 games left to play. They can not afford to lose a game. They have to step up big. The red card suspensions sit two starters for the first game. Twellman is still feeling the effects of his collision with the LA goalie in August. (Yes, he scored the goal). Ralston is out for the remainder of the season with his broken leg. Christman stopped his season in July to get his foot operated on. What does that leave to start? The youngsters; Dube, Mansally and Nyassi. What do they need to do? Touch and go.

Can they do it? Yes.
Will they do it? I hope so.

If they play to their strength (touch and go), Chicago can be tamed. Chicago won't be easy but they can be beaten. Who comes after that is not a concern. Chicago is the first and most important.

The Revs need to touch and go!