Sunday New England will visit the Philadelphia Union. It might be too much to hope that Philly could feel an All Star hangover and gift our Revs a result. If you are curious about how the union’s year has gone listen to the latest episode of #TRAP with “mid-season” reports from all teams including Total-MLS Philly writer, Andrew Workman. Our New England Revolution may have a three point, or one win, lead on Philadephia in the standings, but Philly has played two fewer games than our club. Right now the Revolution are eight points behind Chicago for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot and we have 14 games left to play. A winner of this game could go on to push into the playoff discussion while a loss or a draw will put either of these teams on a more difficult path to post season games and a likely path to an early off season.
The Friday injury report will tell us more about who will be available for Sunday’s contest, but Tuesday’s injury report does reveal a few things worth noting. Alec Purdie remains out and Darrius Barnes has joined him with an abductor strain. Barnes’ performances last week in Montreal and Kansas City were good, and his shift at left back allowed Chris Tierney to contribute more on offense. Darrius will be missed. Benny Feilhaber was listed as questionable, while Clyde Simms and Chris Tierney were listed as probable. I would guess that all three are available on Sunday. All three can contribute to Revolution results, though Clyde Simms might be the only one who has performed consistently this season. Simms might be the only player on the entire squad who has performed consistently this season. For all of the improvement we have seen in 2012 compared to 2011, our Revs are in no way a finished product. The improvements are clear however, and most MLS observers would agree that the Revs are moving in a positive direction. The same could be said of Philly in recent weeks.
The Philadelphia Union have had a roller coaster season. Similar to the Toronto FC team we’ve spent some time with lately, a coaching change seems to have sparked a resurgence in the Union. With Nowak out, and now suing the Union, John Hackworth has taken over. Since the change was made young players Jack McInerney (19), Michael Farfan (24), and Freddy Adu (23) have all given exciting performances. Lionard Pajoy (31) is a statistical leader for the Union and the fourth member of the offense we are likely to see line up against us on Sunday. Antoine Hoppenot (21) has earned minutes as an attacking option, so we’ll watch for him to come in during the second half. The Union are looking up at us in the standings, but they will feel they can get past us.
So our New England Revolution have improved. We compete in every game and we don’t quit before the final whistle. This is great, but results are better. We are still working on turning promise into actual progress. I am pleased that Jay Heaps’ line up choices show he isn’t satisfied either. This Revs team hasn’t done enough, yet. I don’t know who Heaps and his staff will start on Sunday.
I’ll tell you who I’d like to see start and attempt to explain. Matt Reis in goal, until his command of the box slips he is our starting goal keeper. He’ll be behind our center backs AJ Soares and Stephen McCarthywith Kevin Alston on the right. AJ and McCarthy have good chemistry and they seem to be back on the same page with Reis. Alston is our best option at right back, but not optimal. I would love to see him develop a productive relationship with a right wing. I would like to put Darrius Barnes back on the left side of the defense. If these four guys, Alston, McCarth, Soares, and Barnes all stay home, or at least three of them do consistently then I think the communication, speed, and positioning is there. With Barnes injured, however, Tierney will have to resume his defensive position, and he and Alston both have to be conservative with their ranging forward, AND more accurate with their passes when they do join the attack. In the midfield I want Clyde Simms patrolling in front of our defense. I also want Nguyen, Benny, and Shalrie orchestrating the attack, but I’m worried about our width so either Benny or Shalrie might have to sit or move out of the central midfield. I’m fine with Nguyen drifting into the middle because he and Tierney have a fairly good relationship on the left. I don’t know who to put on the right side because neither Cardenas nor Rowe have made strong cases to start – Nyassi or even Fagundez might deserve a chance but neither seems well suited to the task. At striker I would start Jose Moreno and Ryan Guy – and bring Saer Sene off the bench until his accuracy returns, Brettschnieder could replace Moreno, but I want to see what the big guy can do, we haven’t seen him in a while. Now that I think about it, I’d be willing to slide Guy back to right wing and give Fagundez a start at striker. All that said, Jay Heaps definitely has more information about our players and his decisions will be better than mine. There is also a strong likelihood that his decisions will be different than mine – that won’t surprise anyone, even if his starting line up does surprise us again.
I love that coach is looking for winning combination and not locking any player into starting. Until we are stringing together wins every starting position should be competitive. Last week in Kansas City we exectued our game plan, our opposition may have not played their best game, but this week’s oponent hasn’t been a model of consistency this season either. If we field a team of players hungry for success who know their roles then we can beat this Philly team. Let’s change Doop to Doh! C’mon you Revs!
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
