Projecting the Final Roster

With the season opener now a week away, (…can you believe it?) let’s take a brief look at all of the players on the Revolution roster and see where they stand.

Chris Albright, D – A lock to start on Opening Night… if he weren’t suspended for a red card tackle of Cuahtemoc Blanco last year.  Totally worth it.

Kevin Alston, D – Generation Adidas status makes him a lock to make the team.  However, we’re hearing that Alston has had a tremendous camp, impressed the staff, and could very well find himself in the starting lineup against San Jose.

Preseason: Revolution 2, Austin 0

The Revolution kicked off their preseason schedule with a 2-0 win over the Austin Aztex at Nelson Field in Texas on Saturday night.  Midfielder Mike Videira knocked home a cross from Kheli Dube just seven minutes into the match, and New England benefitted from an own goal in the second half to provide the final margin of victory.

A couple of observations after the jump.

Revs Offer Contracts to Two Ghanian Players

Both the Globe and the Herald quote Steve Nicol as having offered contracts to a young forward and young defender from Ghana.  Obviously, Nicol doesn’t give too much away beyond that…

“They’re young guys,” Nicol said. “They’re only offers. They might take them, they might not.”

Taking public speaking lessons from Captain Obvious, eh Steve?

Not much to work with, but that won’t stop us from making an educated guess about the identity of one of the players in question…

Revs sign Simmons, promote Knighton, Tierney

In what appears to be a stroke of good fortune, the Revs have signed former UMass All-American goalkeeper Zack Simmons as an undrafted free agent.  Simmons will be a part of the Revolution’s developmental roster.  To make room on the Developmental Roster for Simmons and Generation Adidas defender Kevin Alston, the team has also promoted goalkeeper Brad Knighton and defender Chris Tierney to the senior roster.

Captain Obvious Strikes Again

You know, I really wanna like Mike Burns.  I think he was a pretty decent player in his day, and he takes WAY too much crap about not being on the post in the ‘98 World Cup.

But every time I start thinking positively about him, he opens his mouth.  For example, take his most recent entry on the Official Revolution Blog.

Sure, it’s a good thing that Burnsie’s taking questions from fans.  But if you had given me the questions a day ahead of time, I could have practically predicted his responses.

Let me sum up:

Revs Announce Preseason Training Plans

TNT Vacations is gonna love this…

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution will open preseason training for the 2009 Major League Soccer season on Saturday, Jan. 31, and will travel to Austin, Texas, and North Carolina for outdoor training trips this year.

Revs to Visit Geography-Challenged RailHawks

It’s official: the Revs will wrap up their preseason in Cary, NC of all places with a game against the Carolina RailHawks on March 14th.

A few quotes from the official press release caught my eye:

The 2007 US Open Cup Champions and 2008 SuperLiga Champions will participate in community events with the RailHawks while in town. In addition, during that week, the Carolina RailHawks will announce other initiatives that are sure to excite the whole Triangle community.

I’m thinking that the only announcement the RailHawks could make that would excite the whole Triangle community would be if they signed Tyler Hansbrough. (Warning: link is to a creepy Tyler Hansbrough fan site)