Antonio Mlinar Delamea helped the Revolution collect their first shutout of 2017. Photo/Kari Heistad
FOXBORO, Mass. – Improving the back line was the main priority of the New England Revolution’s off-season and so far their efforts have them on the right track.
The team added center backs Antonio Mlinar Delamea, Benjamin Angoua, and Josh Smith during the winter months and clarified their goalkeeping depth, choosing to retain U.S. national team prospect Cody Cropper instead of longtime starter Bobby Shuttleworth, whom the club traded to Minnesota.
Cropper earned his fifth consecutive start this season on Saturday afternoon in a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo at Gillette Stadium. Delamea made his fifth start as well and Smith, a rookie out of the University of San Francisco, made his second.
And the Revolution thoroughly outplayed Houston, earning their second victory of the season as well as their first clean sheet. They now sit in playoff position in the Eastern Conference and have allowed six goals in five games—not too shabby.
Though one shutout through five games isn’t impressive, it does show, at the very least, that the Revolution appear to have a solid back line to go with their deep attack. And there’s something to be said for earning a clean sheet against Houston, who hadn’t been kept scoreless yet this season and boast the talents of Erick “Cubo” Torres, the league’s current scoring leader.
On Saturday, the Revolution attack was completely ineffective in the first half but came to life in the second, producing two goals. The back line and goalkeeper couldn’t afford to play at half speed for fifty percent of the game; they limited Houston to scraps, which was probably more valuable than scoring a second goal.
Delamea was expected to start, but the rise of Smith, particularly when Ligue 1 veteran Benjamin Angoua is on the fringes, is all the more remarkable. Smith impressed in his MLS debut, a 1-1 tie against Portland one weekend ago, which prompted Revolution coach Jay Heaps to place him back into the starting lineup.
For the record, Delamea doesn’t appear to harbor any doubts and seems to even be taking the rookie under his wing.
“Be loud, speak a lot, cover me,” said Delamea of the advice he’s’ given Smith. “These are the main things for good defenders. Everything else, you need to have it or you don’t have it. He has great positioning, he’s good in the air, we need to learn to talk more and cover more each other.”
“Last time, [Josh] showed us great potential. Of course he needs to build on these performances, he needs to improve every day in training, in matches. I think he’s capable of much more.”
Houston broke through just once. It came in the 62nd minute, when Torres went in behind and entered the box one-on-one with Cropper. Torres stumbled on his last step, which put Cropper in an advantageous position to snuff the chance and take the ball off of the attacker’s feet, but that play didn’t end solely because Torres made an error. Cropper made the decision to stand his ground and remained composed, waiting for the perfect moment to emerge and stop Torres.
The Revolution back line had a strong performance, but weren’t going to make it through the game completely unscathed. And that’s where having a top keeper makes a difference.
Asked about that one chance during the post-game press conference, Revolution coach Jay Heaps said it was a turning point.
“The timing of Cody, waiting for the play,” said Heaps. “Torres was in clear. I thought the defenders did a nice job—Jose [Smith] closed down quickly to allow Cody to make the play—but you need your keeper to make that one save when the game is 0-0, or 1-0, and that preserved our lead.”
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