Photo/Kari Heistad
The 21st MLS season kicks-off on Sunday and with it, the New England Revolution’s hopes and dreams to win their elusive first league title.
Here are three hopes and dreams for the Revs ahead of their season-opening clash against the Houston Dynamo.
Hope 1: Revolution show consistency
The New England Revolution have been one of Major League Soccer’s streakiest teams for years. Last year alone, the Revs allowed a nine-game unbeaten streak to develop into a run of form that featured just one win in 13 matches.
That said, the Revolution aren’t immune to patterns, either. Not since 2005, 2006, and 2007—when they were perennial league contenders—have the Revolution not started the season in a slump.
Last season, the Revs opened with back-to-back shutout losses and only managed to score a goal four matches into the season. The year before, the Revs managed to win just once in their first five games while in 2013 they scored just twice in the opening six contests.
Consistency means the Revolution need to avoid slumps dry spells, which has been really challenging for this team in the past. Losses are inevitable, but long losing and scoreless streaks certainly don’t have to be.
Hope 2: Multiple attacking threats
Revolution coach Jay Heaps has always said that he prefers multiple scoring threats on a team rather than one true-blue goal scorer.
You can take this a bunch of different ways, especially since former Revs striker Taylor Twellman was such an influential part of the lineup. But you can also look to a team like Toronto FC, who last season with league-leading scorer and assister Sebastian Giovinco only managed to finish in the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
So more scoring threats are clearly a good thing, since having one offensive spearhead isn’t the be-all, end-all.
Over the past two seasons, the Revs have gotten 73 regular season goals out of Lee Nguyen, Teal Bunbury, Diego Fagundez, Charlie Davies, and Kelyn Rowe. Nguyen stands out from the group, in part because he scored 18 times in 2014.
But this idea that the Revs have a group of attackers that can score on any given day nevertheless holds water. In the last two seasons, this five-man group has accounted 75 percent of the team’s total goals.
The hope is that the responsibility to put the ball in the back of the net continues to fall on multiple players rather than just one.
Hope 3: Supporters’ Shield
Talking about results is risky business, especially with a team—forgive me here—that doesn’t get big results.
The Revolution have won the U.S. Open Cup once and the Superliga—a tournament that no longer exists—once.
They’ve crashed and burned through the U.S. Open Cup numerous times since and haven’t come very close to qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Winning an MLS Cup title is an after-thought unless they can secure home field advantage, which would likely happen if they were to win the Supporters’ Shield.
To do so, however, would require a level of consistency we have never seen from the Revolution. And without a marquee player like Jermaine Jones, that level of elite discipline will be hard to find.
The fact is that winning the Supporters’ Shield truly is just a hope for this team. No matter how good Fagundez or his teammates look in preseason, or how many voices on MLSsoccer.com say so, there’s no basis to call the Revolution a Supporters’ Shield contender.
There is no evidence, either from the past or present, that the Revolution have any chance of winning the Shield. But it’s nice to hope and dream.
Fear: Midfield depth
Jermaine Jones isn’t returning and Xavier Kouassi has a torn ACL. Can Scott Caldwell do it alone? Will Gershon Koffie and Daigo Kobayashi pair well in the center of the pitch?
Central midfield is arguably the most important area of the field, as it buttresses both defense and attack.
Right now, there are a number of question marks there for the Revs.
