Another season, another unsatisfactory conclusion.

A few days removed from what was an exceptionally painful ending (Jesus, anyone but him…) many Revolution fans are taking time to step back and look at the bigger picture.  And I’d have to think that most don’t really like what they’re looking at.

2009 was the 3rd consecutive year in which the club earned fewer points and had a worse goal differential than the previous season.  It’s difficult to draw any other conclusion then the organization is moving in the wrong direction.  And it’s time for that to stop before the situation gets any worse.

It’s beyond time for the Revolution to make sweeping changes to their organization, both on and off the field.  Players, trainers, coaches, executives, peanut vendors – they should all be evaluated, and none of them should be assured of returning in 2010.  Because as a Revolution fan from Day One, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to get excited about a club that seems to be stagnating on the playing field and at the gate.

And if the team truly wants to remake itself – and they should – then those changes need to include finding a coach.

The argument in favor of keeping Nicol usually boils down to a complaint about how much the club is willing to spend on player salaries.  And admittedly, I’ve voiced the same complaint in the past.  But at some point, the salary structure is what it is.  If the job description involves winning on the cheap, then it involves winning on the cheap.  And if Nicol can’t do it, then the Revs need to try and find someone who can.

And while we’re at it, let’s not lose sight of the fact that he’s squandered many of the resources he has been given.  The signings of Mauricio Castro and Gabriel Badilla loom as tremendous mistakes.  Edgaras Jankauskas’ signing made it clear that Nicol had the green light to add a significant salary to his roster, but he chose to wait until the season was half over before pulling the trigger on 36-year old forward who seemingly doesn’t have much tread left on his tires.  Chris Albright has given the team virtually nothing in his two seasons with the club.  That’s nearly $675,000 and three international roster spots wrapped up in players who didn’t contribute a whole lot.

Of course Nicol has his positives.  While I don’t feel qualified to judge his tactics, he remains very popular with his players.  Over the course of his tenure, he’s done remarkably well in the draft, and there’s no short-changing the job he’s done developing players like Jeff Larentowicz.

I also understand that the Revs have been bitten pretty severely over the past two years by the injury bug.  But to write off this team’s shortcomings to injuries does nothing but gloss over the fact that they’ve never been good enough under Nicol’s tenure, even when completely healthy.

Bluntly, Steve Nicol is part of the problem in Foxboro.  Is he the entire problem?  No.  Is he a bad coach?  Probably not.  But he’s been in place for seven seasons now, and there’s no sense that he’s suddenly going to come up with the magic formula to win in Foxboro.

I fully concede that things may get worse should Nicol and the Revs choose to part ways.  There’s no guarantee that the next manager would be any better the the former Liverpool legend.  But I no longer believe that a Nicol-led Revolution squad will eventually lift an MLS Cup.  And once enough Revolution fans reach the same conclusion, it’s time to make serious changes.

By Walter Silva

Não foi um resultado justo, não senhor, estes jovens jogadores do Revolution mereçiam mais e melhor, fizeram tudo para poderam estar nas meias finais, mas encontraram uma equipa que teve a sorte do jogo, e teve no árbitro do jogo um exçelente colaborador.

Quem le as minhas crónicas aos jogos do Revolution sabe muito bem que não é meu costume arranjar desculpas para as derrotas da equipa de Foxboro, já foram quatro as finais que o Revolution perdeu, mas nunca falei de árbitros, mas este foi mau demais para ser verdade.

Não se podia tocar nos jogadores do Chicago, andou o jogou cause todo a ameaçar o central do Revolution, Emmanuel Osei é verdade que este jogador joga nos limites, mas se houvesse um critério igual para os dois lados, seria diferento, mas não, este árbitro persegui matemáticamento os jogadores do Revolution.

Marcou nada menos do que 33 faltas, 23 contra a equipa de Foxboro, só Blanco com as suas simulações que foram muitas teria ido tomar banho mais çedo, e o penalti que ficou por marcar sobre Jaunkauskas foi mesmo o cúmulo da vergonha,.

E o pior de isto tudo é que este senhor Alex Prus está nomeado para ser um dos árbitros para representar os Estado Unidos no mundial da África do Sul, foi sem dúvida nenhuma a pior arbitragem que vi neste 7 anos de seguir o Revolution.

Mas vamos ao jogo, foi o Revolution que teve a iniçiativa do jogo, foi á procura do golo que lhe desse uma maior vantagem na eliminatória, e logo na primeira jogado do jogo Dube obrigou Busch a uma boa defesa. Estava visto que o Revolution não estava ali para defender o 2-1 que trazia de Foxboro, e ia dominando a partida, e a equipa do Fire ia defendendo como podia, e contra atacando de vez em quanto.

E foi no minuto 23 que o Revolution podia ter “matado” o jogo, ataque rápido pelo lado direito com Nyassi a cruzar para a area e Jankuaskas de cabeça a mandar a bola á barra da baliza á guarda de Busch, e na recarga Heaps falhou a emenda.

E como quem não marca acaba sofrendo, foi isto mesmo que aconteçeu, na jogada seguinte, Pappa passa por Heaps leva a bola até á linha de fundo faz um passe atrasado e Thorrington com um remate de primeira faz o primeiro golo do jogo.

Foi contra a corrento do jogo, e a partir dai a equipa da casa ganhou algum asçendente no jogo, e o Revolution começou a defender mais perto da sua baliza, e foi nesta altura que o Chicago criou algumas situações de perigo perto da baliza de Matt Reis.

Com o resultado de 1-0 favoravél á equipa da casa chegamos ao intervalo do jogo, era um resultado que não se ajustava pelo que se passou nestes primeiros 45 minutos de jogo, foi o Revolution que mais posse de bola teve e foi tambem a equipa que mais trabalhou para não ir para o intervalo a perder.

No segundo tempo Steve Nicol fez entrar Castro para o lugar do apagadissimo Manssaly, mas foi sol de pouca dura, já que Castro teve de sair por ter feito um corte na mão direita depois de ser empurrado violentamento por Prideaux, e este ter ido embater contra os placares de publiçidade. E o sr árbitro nem falta marcou, falta esta mereçedora de pelo menos cartão amarelo. O Revolution ia perdendo aos poucos o fulgor atacante que teve cause todo o encontro, e já perto do final do jogo, e quando o Revolution tentava o tudo por tudo para empatar a partida, o Fire num contra ataque fez o segundo golo.

Foi um golo proçedido de falta, quando do contra a taque Osei consegui roubar a abola a Pappa e quando este tentava que a bola saisse pela linha final foi claramento empurrado pelas costas sem que o árbitro ou ou árbitro auxiliar marca-se qualquer falta, e Pappa meteu a bola em Blanco no çentro da area do Revolution, e este desviou do caminho Heaps e com um remate colocado fez do 2-0.

Com muitas culpas para o veterano Jay Heaps que se deixou passar muito infantilmento, e que aconteçeu muitas vezes durante o jogo, e foi por ai que o Fire ia criando todas as suas jogadas de perigo.

Pena foi que os rapazes do Revolution fossem eliminados desta forma, não foi a culpa do Fire, que em nomes está muito açima do Revolution tem no veterano mexicano Blanco a sua figura de cartaz, embora com muito “teatro” por parte do mexicano, mas a verdade é que ele faz a difereça, tem uma visão de jogo de fazer inveja a qualquer um.
Já com os seus 36 anos foi ele o grande obreiro desta vitória, e não só, tambem a classificação do seu pais para o mundial da África do Sul.

Quanto ao Revolution teve o condão do seu melhor elemento nunca apareçeu no jogo,estamos a falar de Shalrie Joseh, que carregou com esta equipa esta temporada toda, só que neste jogo estoirou por completo, nunca chamou a si todo o jogo ofensivo como nos acostomou, nunca teve aquele empactou no jogo defensivo da sua equipa como nos acostomou, mas tambem não se pode crussificar um jogador que deixa a pele dentro do campo em todos os jogos.

Ficamos por aqui, terminou a época para a equipa de Foxboro, que vendeu cara esta derrota, e ao sr Alex Prus, será que sai deste jogo com a consçiençia tranquila? Penso que não, porque foram muitos os erros e o maior foi não ter assinalado uma grande penalidade a derrube de Jankauskas, todos eles a prejudicar claramento os comandados de Steve Nicol.

O Chicago Fire no proximo sabado reçebe a vezita do Real Salt Lake jogo este que poderáver o Fox Soccer Channel pela 8.30 da noite

By Walter Silva

Foi sofrida mas justa esta vitória do Revolution, frente a uma equipa que o Revolution já não vençia á sete jogos, mas só depois de sofrer o golo é que a equipa de Foxboro acordou.

Começou melhor a equipa do Chicago Fire que logo nos primeiros minutos criou várias oportunidades de golo, aos 5 minutos a cruzamento de Pappa, McBride de cabeça rematou ao lado da baliza.

Dois minutos depois novamento McBride, desta feita a cruzamento de Blanco a rematar por cima da barra, na resposta foi Larentowicz que rematou forte para boa defesa de Bush. A equipa forasteira já havia ameaçado por duas vezes, mas á terçeira foi de vez, cruzamento de Pappa com Reis a defender para a frente e Rolfe na recarga rematou colocado para o fundo da baliza á guarda de Reis.

A partir dai o Revolution perdeu um pouco a cabeça, e levou alguns minutos a tentar sacudir a pressão que o Chicago Fire ia mantendo, e aos poucos o Revolution ia defendendo mais perto da baliza adversária. E quando todos presentes pensavam que o resultado não ia sofrer alteração antes do intervalo, eis que o Revolution empata a partida, livre apontado por Mansally do lado direito como atacava a equipa da casa e Osei a desviar para o fundo da baliza.

A partida voltava a estar empatada,e foi com este resultado que chegariamos ao intervalo, resultado que se ajustava, e esta primeira parte teve duas partes destintas, a primeira metade foi do Chicago Fire, a segunda foi do Revolution, mas havia mais 45 minutos para se jogar.

Agora restava saber se o Revolution ia continuar a exerçer a pressão nesta segunda parte como acabou a primeira, e a resposta veio bem çedo, que por pouco não marcou a remate de Nyassi. Mas aos poucos o Chicago ia puxando o Revolution para o seu meio campo, e Husidic com uma “bomba” por pouco que não desfez a igualdade, a bola bateu com um estrondo no travessão da baliza de Reis.

O jogo era de parada e resposta, mas o Revolution ia levar a melhor, aos 56 minutos Pat Phelan entrou para o lular e Jankauskas, e Shalrie Joseph foi ocupar o lugar de ponta de lança e Phelan ocupou o lugar de Joseph no meio campo.

Foi então que a equipa da casa começou a criar mais perigo, e consegui chegar ao golo da vitória, jogada confusa dentro da area do Chicago com a bola a ficar á merçe de Joseph que não se fez rogado e atirou para o fundo da baliza, com muitas culpas para Jon Bush.

A partir dai o Revolution foi controlando o jogo, mas antes do apito final o Chicago Fire ai fazer estremeçer o poste da baliza de Matt Reis. Foi um resultado justo pelo que as duas equipas fizeram, será este resultado suficiento para o Revolution passar ás meias finais, um empade dá para o Revolution passar ás meias finais, a ver vamos, é so esperar pelo próximo sábado pelas 8:30 da noite, e poderá ver este jogo no Fox Soccer Channel.

A VIEW FROM THE FORT

By Jim Dow

This past Sunday the world of world football was chock full of classicos and derbies (River-Boca, America-Guadalajara, Liverpool-ManU and Arsenal-West Ham, just to name what was on TV locally), the self-proclaimed globally meaningful NFL Patriots and Bucs were wallowing at Wembley and the New England Revolution faced off in a do-or-die match to determine their playoff fate that culminated in a gutsy, grafting, hard won 1-0 victory that propelled them forward, albeit limping as has generally been the case in 2009. All this after a Saturday series of events that defied every bit of received wisdom as to both quality and odds.

No one but a truly grouchy grinch could wish for anything but success for Steve Nicol’s plucky band of brothers against the terminally evil Chicago Fire in the forthcoming two-legged face-off and beat down but it shouldn’t mask the fact that an era is passing, signified by the seemingly sudden departure of Steve Nicol’s sidekick Paul Mariner but really brought about by a far broader team transition fueled by age, injury and lack of offensively adept acquisitions that must be addressed in the forthcoming off-season for the club, oops franchise, to flourish in the immediate future.

Finishing only a few points out of first place shouldn’t mask the disappointment of underachievement in a presently watered-down league full of clubs that share such demarcations (underachievers and watered-down). Had the full roster been available the 2009 Revolution might well have taken the Supporter’s Shield but that doesn’t hide that there were major miscalculations made in advance of the just completed campaign. If they were driven by honest mistakes, that is one thing but if they were a result of management/ownership-forced bottom-line concerns that is another matter and supporters, coaches and players should all feel hard done by should such prove to be the case.

In his last pronouncements while wearing Revo red and blue and only hours before jetting off to don Argyle black and green departing Assistant Coach Paul Mariner conducted an “exit interview” with assorted Kraft FC honchos; a debriefing, info-sharing exercise that may, or may not have been revealing and, over time, might even prove to be helpful. However, other than to say “I told them that we need to win MLS Cup,” no one is talking about what actually transpired, at least thus far but I couldn’t help fantasizing what might have taken place when I heard an NPR program on what the British Foreign Office called “valedictory dispatches,” which prior to 2007 were the final official communication sent to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, MI5 (security), Buckingham Palace, i.e. the royal family, the Bank of England and, of course, the FO itself by a British ambassador as he or she stepped down. Please note it is only circumstantial that a Brit was asked to talk about his experiences toiling in the colonies.

In these communiquÈs the exiting ambassador often put forward his or her true feelings about the people, place and situation to which they had been posted, and the responses were sometimes in less than flattering terms. Given that Coach Mariner is a person who has proven to be demonstrably honest, thoughtful and quite open regarding both accomplishments and failings, I certainly hope that his parting observations were offered in the same manner and, in fact, I’m confident that such was the case.

But what might he have said that would be useful? By his own admission it was clear that during the team’s supposed salad days from 2004 through 2007, that there was never a complete complement of cash made available to push those rosters over the hump to better the odds of winning the Cup. An addition of a top-level player to buttress the classy but overworked core would have almost certainly led to at least one MLS trophy if not two and maybe even three. The 2002 final doesn’t really count since that team was held together by gaffer tape (yes, I mean Nicol’s ability as a coach) and stumbled into the playoffs in a manner similar to the current squad. But during those subsequent successful seasons the selfsame coaches had little depth to work with and were forced to play their starters far too often, thereby bringing exhausted teams to the 05 and 06 Finals and having no additional offensive threat to force the issue when push came to shove late in the 07 match against the Dynamo. In all three cases the margin between winning and losing was paper thin but one could argue that in each and every case the differences could have been addressed by spending perhaps an extra $250K, money that appeared to be in the account, just waiting and wanting under the cap.

The question will always linger about the ambition of an organization that knew that the coaches had to send out tired troops as the season(s) wore on. At the same time, repeatedly, the same coaches, with the season over and now serving as scouts, came back from foreign tours with serious shopping lists, which included some high quality talent. Again, no one is talking as to who wasn’t signed but we do know that there were some very good players suggested by the staff who were not.

Then there is the matter of the playing surface, good for gorilla ball but increasingly bad for soccer, as well as for soccer players. On Sunday’s ESPN broadcast it was mentioned that golden greybeard Guillermo Barros-Schelloto had played in only twenty minutes on fake turf in 2009 and this was offered as a reason for his relative good health in a physical, demanding, hot weather league with lots of long travel. By way of helpful context, in Argentina Guille was known as a physical player, here he is clearly an individual who survives amongst the behemoths through experience and guile. Certainly when the Gillette Field Turf was installed it was quite an improvement over the construction site class of mud bowl that it replaced but with each passing season it has become more and more matted and skeletal, particularly in the midfield and now resembles a 70’s motel carpet that offers as shoddy a game as would traditionally be on offer in such cheap Rte 1 establishments. Truthfully, if you hire folks to design and outfit a posh new stadium from scratch and they can’t get grass to grow, well maybe you, the folks who hired the folks who designed the place and are failures at horticulture are, well, incompetent at least at things that negatively affect their proper football team.

Finally there is the matter of playing style, which to some extent gets back to the quality of the groceries but also to the philosophy of the coaches. Jose Morinho, the flamboyant, designer Portuguese with an unlimited budget had his West London millionaires playing some of the dourest football imaginable while cutting a wide swath through the Premiership. Now Carlo Ancellotti, a podgy lifer from the terminally cynical world of Serie A cattenaccio, has switched the Blues to an up market version of jogo bonito with many of the same players in the same style he played at Milan. It is the intentions of the architect as much as the quality of the materials that carries the day.

Against Columbus, on a high quality surface, facing a team that wanted to play, New England put out some decent stuff despite not finishing their chances. Sure, they were without Ralston and Twellman and it showed but the level of the game was pretty good, even better on HD where the shape of the screen allowed the viewer to see both the passer and intended recipient, thereby showing the players intentions to be far more under control than they often seem. Yes, many of the Revs don’t run off the ball particularly well, or at least they don’t seem to anticipate one another but that would be greatly improved with the return of Ralston and Twellman, that plus allowing Steve Nicol and associates to really shop for the groceries in order to play their kind of game that, to the surprise of many, is firmly based on the ground.

Finally, as Coach Mariner was getting ready to shake hands and head for Logan I would have hoped that he would have said something like this, “make Stevie the real manager, give him the bottom line, whatever the amount of cash he has to spend for salaries, transfers, bonuses, the lot. Don’t make him seek approval from people who know far, far less about the game than he does (including Sunil Gulati), trust him, let the team thrive or not based on what he and his staff can accomplish and not on a standard that really applies more to a K-Mart idea of management (irony intended) and not serious football (soccer).

If that got said, well maybe, just maybe, it might have sunk in.

Way back in the day Mark Watson played a few games (4) for the New England Revolution at the end of their initial season. He was on the field when the Revs faced the Columbus Crew and indeed got an unfair red card that was part of a general meltdown in front of 38,000 people who showed up for the final match of the season. Since then he has played and coached for a variety of clubs in MLS, USL and Europe and is currently the number two at the Charleston Battery one of the consistently best teams in the USL (second division). I spoke with him after training during his second week with the Revolution.

JIM: You have been around MLS, in and out, off to Europe for a while and back in USL in the subsequent 14 years both as a player and now a coach, so you are in a unique position to respond to this question. We are looking at something between two and four new teams being added to MLS over the next few years, plus a couple having just been created (Seattle and San Jose), where the hell are the players going to come from?

MARK: It’s a great question. When the league started it was ten, ten teams, now it is fifteen and will be sixteen and in two years it will be eighteen, so the players do have to come from somewhere obviously and I think it will come from a couple of different places, there will be more opportunities for young kids, kids coming out of college will get an opportunity and I think the USL will supplement the league to a certain extent. I’ve been involved with that league for a while, so I know the level and there is a little step down but I think there is quite a few players there that could be a part of an (MLS) squad, the question is are there any impact players, any stars in that league that could come through? That’s maybe a bit more doubtful but in terms of a squad player that could make a contribution, I think 100%, I think that the one thing that the USL provides the MLS is that it catches some players that maybe aren’t ready right out of college to come in here to an MLS team and make an impact and stay with them. Sometimes you need a year or two of playing day in and day out, against (grown) men, people who are as strong and as fast and as quick as you but they are smarter and it is vital for some guys to take that step back and learn the game, you know and it is an important thing for…MLS to catch those guys who have the quality but just aren’t ready.

JIM: A combination of legend and rumor always has it that there is this great range of hidden, undiscovered talent that never gets discovered here in the States, for all sorts of different reasons. Do you think that is true, or just urban soccer legend?

MARK: I really do, you look at the size of the country, look at how many college programs are out there, and it would take vast resources to scout this country properly. I know that teams do their best, they have combines, they see as many games as they can, they make phone calls constantly to try to cover the nation but it really is impossible unless you had scouts in every nook and cranny of this nation, so there are going to be players that slip through the cracks and you hope that the lower leagues pick them up, give them the opportunity, let them play some games, mature and then at some point show that they really can play at the MLS level.

JIM: What about the middle class, the sort of players that seem to be leaving now, not like Dempsey going to England or Altidore to Spain but the players who are going to Scandinavia for more money, for sure but not necessarily a step up in quality. Do you think a raise in the salary cap would help to keep those players, or is it more a question of a kind of ambition to try something new?

MARK: That would be ideal, to get into a situation where players don’t have to leave. I think the lure of top leagues is always going to be there, to play for Man United is something that every player should probably want and would probably be silly to turn down but it would be ideal if the league could get to the pint where players wouldn’t make more money in Norway, Sweden or Denmark and they could stay here because the standard here is good, it is getting better all the time and you want to keep your best players.

JIM: Looking at the Revolution, for example, a lot of the young players have gotten to play this year, which hasn’t been in the past, when the team was winning, coming close to winning the championship they were basically playing fourteen players, now I think they have played maybe 20, 21, 22 players and now the season is about to end, maybe, hopefully, it will go on for two or three more weeks but basically all these young kids are now going to sit still for three months, that seems to me to be a crazy system.

MARK: Yeah, you obviously need some rest throughout the year, I know in most places around the world (the close season) is between six and eight weeks, maybe four weeks if you are playing internationally, so it is a little bit too long but that is the situation that we are in, I think the climate dictates a little bit of that, it is maybe a bit too long but I think the one thing that is unique about the MLS and soccer in this country is the travel schedule. You look at the big picture and maybe our players do need a little bit more time to recover because you are playing the same amount of games but you are traveling exorbitant distances to fulfill your schedule. It may be a little bit too long but maybe not as much as you would think due to the travel schedule.

JIM: Well, I’m thinking in terms of development, when you have a 20, 21 year old player they are nearing the end of the time when they are able to physically improve, they can learn in the head until the end but to really improve physically, suddenly, boom, they are cut off and have to start from scratch again in January, February, three months down the road.

MARK: Yeas, that is a great point, I think they don’t need as much time off as they need to play more games and that is one thing that is a really difficult situation that the lower end of your squad, you never want injuries to happen but if they do it gives guys some opportunities but if all is well and everyone is healthy then a lot of guys aren’t going to be playing significant minutes which is a crucial part of a players development. I know there have been some attempts (and) it is something that is really important, if you are talking about the development side, it is hard for players to really improve if they are not playing 30 games a year.

JIM: Having played and coached in the USL will there ever be any hope for a working relationship between USL and MLS, loaning players to USL teams so that they can play regularly? I would imagine that on the one hand it would be quite disruptive.

MARK: Well, teah, I personally am a big fan of that and I think that eventually it may come to that because it is probably the right way to do it. I know they do that in baseball, I know hockey does it, it will demean the lower leagues a little bit the lower leagues franchise, you will lose your best players but I think that for the development of the game here it is probably the best solution, if the Revs have a couple of guys that are young, that aren’t ready for their first team and they haven’t played some games they can send them somewhere for a month and play week in and week out and get that little bit of experience, I’m sure that it is a very complicated issue and I do know that there are clubs in the USL that are receptive to that, they think that is the way to go forward and there are other clubs that don’t want to take the competitive side away from their team. I think it is a little bit split but for me, it makes a lot of sense and it would be nice if at some point we got there.
JIM: Of course USL has individual ownership, not collective like MLS, so decisions about things like this could be made individually, on a club by club basis.

MARK: For sure, anything could happen there, I know that topic has been discussed and hopefully for the greater good they get together and realize that it is the right way to go forward.

JIM: You were here in 1996, and back in the day things were what they were and you come back now, 14 years later, not having been here since, what strikes you as the most impressive difference?

MARK: I mean the club has really gone to the next level, ‘96 was the first year of the league and it was fantastic but clubs were still in their infancy and learning and growing and probably making mistakes and learning from their mistakes (but now) to see the facilities here, to be in the locker rooms, to see how professional the club is was very much a professional surprise. They’ve got a great staff here, Stevie Nicol is fabulous, fantastic; he was a great player, a proven top, top coach, so to come join this type of organization is a real treat.

By Walter Silva

Era um jogo do tudo ou nada para a equipa comandada por Steve Nicol, ou pontuavam ou a época terminava para o Revolution, e foi com um “golaço” de Jeff Larentowicz que o Revolution garantio um lugar nesta edição dos playoffs 2009.

Ainda á poucos dias tinha dito que esta equipa quanto menos se espereva faziam alguma supresa, e foi o que aconteçeu, vençer em casa da melhor equipa do MLS não é para qualquer equipa.

Mas o querer, a entreajuda, a força de vontade, e muita determinação foi o que esta equipa mostrou, era preçiso vençer, e os rapazes da equipa de Foxboro vestiram o fato macaco e foram á procura do que preçisavam para continuar a sonhar com a final do MLS.

Com um golo de fazer levantar estádios, levou o Revolution ao ultimo lugar que faltava preencher para esta edição dos playoffs, foi uma das melhores partidas que vi o Revolution fazer esta temporada.

E foi aos 79 minutos de jogo que a equipa do Revolution chegou ao tão almejado golo, Jankauskas foi carregado já mutio perto da grande area do Columbus Crew, e Jeff Larentowicz encarregado de marcar o respectivo livre encheu o pé e a bola só parou no fundo da baliza á guarda de Kenny Schoeni.

Estava feito o único golo do jogo e para o Revolution, e foi um golo muito festejado pelos jovens jogadores da equipa de Foxboro, e esta vitória foi justa, porque o adversário fez tudo ao seu alcançe para vençer a partida, pois estava frente ao seu público e ia reçeber o troféu da melhor equipa do MLS.

Foi uma partida toda ela disputada com uma intensidade que pareçia que se estava disputando uma finalissima, e embora fosse a equipa da casa que tivesse criado mais oportunidades de golo, mas alias foi o Revolution que criou as melhores.

Steve Nicol foi o primeiro treinador a levar uma equipa por oito vezes aos playoffs do MLS, desde que este escocês tomou conta dos destinos do Revolution esta equipa nunca falhou os playoffs, tendo por quatro vezes atingido a final.

O Revolution vai defrontar o Chicago Fire, hora e dia aindo por determinar. (Jogo vai ser Sabado em Foxboro pelas 4 horas da tarde.)

According to numerous media reports, Revolution assistant Paul Mariner is set to return to England as Plymouth Argyle’s new Technical Director.

More details to follow.

By Walter Silva

E já são trez jogos sem ganhar, desta feita frente ao mais sério candidato a vençer este campeonato do MLS. Ficaria acause com um lugar garantido se tive-se vençido esta partida, mas a jogar como o fizeram sábado á noite vai ser mesmo muito difiçil garantirem um lugar nesta edição dos playoffs 2009.

E não vai ser nada façil, ora vejamos, no próximo sábado o Revolution vai reçeber a vizita do Chicago Fire, uma equipa que o Revolution já leva 7 partidas sem vençer, e no último jogo da temporada vai até Columbus para defrontar a equipa local.

Mas esta equipa do Revolution quando não se espera nada dela é quando eles tiram um coelho do chapáu, oxalá que assim seja esta temporada, pois Steve Nicol nunca falhou um playoff desde que comanda esta equipa. O jogo até estava equilibrado quando a equipa forasteira fez o único golo do jogo, livre apontado do lado direito como atacava a equipa visitante, com Gino Padula a fazer um cruzamento remate, e a bola foi direitinha á cabeça de Emmmanuel Osei, só que este se agachou para Matt Reis poder apanhar a bola, nem uma coisa nem outra, e a bola só parou no fundo das redes do Revolution.

Culpas para os dois Matt Reis e Emmanuel Osei, primeiro o defesa tinha obrigação de cabeçear a bola para longe, segundo Matt Reis ao chamar pelo seu colega devia ter segurado a bola. Já não é a primeira vez que os dois se desentendam, já no último jogo,cause que Reis sofria dois golos por se desentender com Emmanuel Osei, que por vezes joga mais com o coração do que com a cabeça.

O Revolution pouco ou nada fez para contrariar o favoritismo dos visitantes, mesmo com o seu melhor jogador no banco, Guillermo Barros Schelloto, para o fazer descansar porque vem ai os playoffs, ia dizendo que a equipa da casa pouco ou nada fez durante os 95 minutos de jogo. Fazem falta os jogadores que estão de fora , disto eu não duvido, quando o plantel já de si é fraco, faltando um dos bons jogadores já faz uma falta terrivel, e quando faltam os trez melhores ainda pior.
São, Steve Ralston, Taylor Twellman, e Jeff Larentowicz, quer queiramos quer não, é um trio que faz falta a qualqer uma equipa, e muito menos ao tão já enfraqueçido Revolution.

Mas no segundo tempo o Revolution com mais um pouquinho de sorte poderia ter empado a partida, quando da melhor jogada da equipa da casa durante todo o jogo, quando Joeph com um exçelente passe isola Sainey Nyassi, este rematou forte e colocado para grande defesa de William Hesmer. Mas ficou-se por aqui todo o jogo ofensivo do Revolution, com Shalrie Joseph a carregar com toda esta equipa, torna-se demasiado peso só para um jogador, ele vai sentido a falta do veterano Steve Ralston, do do seu colega mais defensivo Jeff Larentowicz.

Por seu lado o Columbus Crew práticamento com o mesmo plantel da temporada passada, mas com um novo treinador, cause nada mudou, o fio de jogo é práticamento o mesmo, um 4×4x2, com os médios alas a ter um papel bastante inportante no jogo ofensivo e defensivo. Ao fim e ao cabo vitória çerta da melhor equipa, esta equipa é uma séria candidata e renovar o titúlo, quanto ao Revolution vai ter imensas dificuldades e chegar aos playoffs, e se lá chegar não irá muito longe.

No próximo sábado o Revolution vai ter um jogo de vital inportançia quando reçeber o Chicago Fire na quele que é o último jogo da temporada no seu estádio, e poderá ver este jogo no Fox Soccer Channel pelas 6 horas da tarde.

A VIEW FROM THE FORT By Jim Dow

The last few days have offered up a fascinating comparison in the world of world football when TV38 showed last Saturday’s stirring contest between the New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids followed by Monday’s ESPN broadcast of Manchester City’s millionaires paying a visit to Birmingham’s Aston Villa. Certainly there was much to play for in either case, whether as an early season tussle for a place in Europe or a close to the wire clash between two clubs fighting for an MLS playoff spot.

In one situation the stakes were for millions, in the other, well, for practically peanuts but both contests were played at a high intensity, with all four teams covering acres of genuine greensward in pursuit of a wildly pinging ball and one another’s ankles. There were crunching tackles, delicate flicks and wild swipes, beautifully taken goals and misplays worthy of a pickup match between two U-10 teams addled by the aftereffects of the swine flu. Both encounters ended 1-1 and left all concerned mildly frustrated despite being mutually excellent adverts for football at both Premiership and MLS level.

What really struck me, admittedly as a hardly neutral observer, was how slight, albeit significant, the difference was between the two levels of quality, given the enormous, indeed cavernous and yes, obscene gap in compensation and reward available for the assorted participants. At certain moments the Premiership thoroughbreds battling it out in Balti-land had as much trouble pulling the ball down on the deck and stringing passes together as their poverty-stricken counterparts a half a continent and full ocean apart on a cold night in Colorado.

In the current economic climate any number of formerly reputable enterprises have gone to the wall when a significant portion of their primary assets became tied up in paying off creditors and servicing debt that could no longer be applied towards actually delivering a better product or service. While it isn’t precisely the same situation, the New England Revolution currently have over 45% ($1,124,000) of their salary budget of approximately $2.5 million tied up in players who aren’t able to play and most likely won’t be for the remaining 2009 season. Of course it is harsh to judge such sums as money badly spent considering the yeoman service of stalwarts such as Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman, to name just two, but the fact is that much of the higher priced horse flesh on this squad such as Gabriel Badilla at $138,000, Steve Ralston ($150,000), Chris Albright ($176,000), Edgaras Jankauskas ($240,000) and Taylor Twellman ($420,000) are down for the count, leaving the field to mainly more bargain basement teammates such as Darius Barnes, Kehli Dube, Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson plus assorted African imports, all drawing pay packets that range between $34 and 50K. And the paucity of these figures becomes even more blatant when the three Generation Adidas players on New England’s books, Alston ($104,000), Colaluca ($108,000) and Igwe ($108,000) are considered, since they do not count against the salary cap and don’t cost Kraft FC a farthing in compensation.

In point of fact, the almost completely cut-price lineup that Stevie Nicol put out against Colorado last Saturday draws a total pay packet of $1,200,576 or an average of $100,048 per season for the 12 players who appeared in the game and these valuations were completely thrown off by the three Gen Ads lads, plus the last senior worthies capable of taking the field, Joseph and Reis. Six of Saturday’s stalwarts make $34K per season and one, the combative Ghanaian Emmanuel Osei, pulls down a whopping $50K. So the value of the lame and halt far exceeded that of the spry and successful, horrible penalty call aside, particularly if you add the salaries of the injured Castro and Heaps and the criminally underpaid and, hopefully for his own self-esteem, soon to be solvent in Scandinavia, Jeff Larentowicz.

While salary figures in MLS are hardly an accurate measure of quality as witness the obscenity of a four-year veteran and almost All Star like Big Red making $34K, the penury isn’t by any means limited to FC Kraft. Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America recently put together an underpaid All Star team consisting of Brad Knighton (Revs) and Jon Conway (Chivas USA) in goal, a backline of AJ DeLaGarza (Galaxy), Darrius Barnes (Revs), Eric Brunner (Crew), Jair Benitez (Dallas), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Seattle) and George John (Dallas). The midfielders were Andre Luiz (San Jose), Jeff Larentowicz (Revs), Corey Ashe, Geoff Cameron, Stuart Holden (all Houston) and Sinisa Ubiparipovic (Red Bulls) and the front line was made up of Kheli Dube (Revs), Steven Lenhart (Crew), Bryan Jordan (Galaxy), Jesus Padilla and Jorge Flores (Chivas USA) and Dominic Oduro (Houston). None of these players earn more than $36,000, making the MLS salary structure the professional sports equivalent of what one might expect in a maquiladora on the down low side of the Tex/Mex border, maybe worthy of a raid by inspectors looking for criminally penurious reimbursement for significantly hazardous (think Field Turf) employment.

To put a fine point on it the average salary of the 30 senior Man City players currently on the books is 66 times the average salary of the 12 Revvies who took the field in Colorado, or counting Alston, Colaluca and Igwe, the average salary for the 25 New England players on the 2009 squad is about $112,000, or slightly above the League One average of $108,560, far less than half the Championship norm of $313,200 and around 11% of the Premiership average of $1,081,600. These figures come from a survey conducted by the Independent newspaper as well as the English Professional footballers Association (PFA). With almost all the MLS teams at or near the salary cap limit (and the Revvies certainly are at that point) typical Major League Soccer players in the United States make only a few thousand dollars more than players in what amounts to the Third Division of English football. While there is no question that the salaries in the U.K. are currently bolstered by a perfect storm of big television contracts, trickledown cash from the upper divisions to the lower ones, deep pockets chairmen besotted with the idea of doing a multiple division ascension to the promised land and higher ticket prices at the gate, most observers of the English and European game predict a crash at some point, the cash cow has been milked and milked again.

So when it was reported by New of the World last August that Manchester City’s whopping annual wage bill has crossed the 100 million-a-year pound mark for players like Robinho (160,000 pounds a week) $13.3 million a year, Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez (150,000 pounds), $12.5 million annually, Gareth Barry and Kolo Toure (120,000 pounds) $9.9 million who are the top earners for the perpetually underachieving Sky Blues compared with proven quality veterans such as Shalrie Joseph ($450,000 yearly) and Taylor Twellman ($420,000), well, it is sobering to say the least and a foolish but graphic illustration of just how far there is to go if MLS is to persuade its’ players not to bolt for solvency in Scandinavia.

When first encountered Edgaras Jankauskas could easily be Scandinavian himself, a sort of end of career counter to people like Parkhurst, newly come to New England in pursuit of a final pay day at the end of an illustrious career. The fact is that the lanky Lithuanian is totally charming, something of a philosopher in multiple languages. I was told that his first day on the job he gave interviews in three different tongues and then joked with his teammates in another two and regardless of what he is speaking his responses to questions are measured, serious and informative. I spoke with him after training, before the recent glut of injuries and his observations are both intelligent and prescient in light of the situation the team faces going into the final three matches of the 2009 season.

JIM: What I am interested in talking to you about is the fact that you come here to the States ands to the evolution with an enormous amount of experience, having played in a variety of different leagues and competitions and to get an overall estimation of the difference between where you have played before and where you are now, in MLS?

EDGARAS: Well, there isn’t a big difference because it is the same rules, eleven against eleven and, well three refs and (there) we go. But the main difference would be that in Europe soccer is much more popular than in America and that is understandable because in your culture baseball and football (are) number one, (they) are the sports of the country and soccer has yet to gain that much attention probably and that makes the difference because in Europe those soccer countries like Spain, Portugal, France, (etc.) you start with the soccer news and of course it makes the general quality of (the) sport higher, there is much more attention from the media, from people, players get known everywhere so it puts more pressure on them and here it is totally different but if we talk about the quality of the game, I think it is a decent quality here, in this league you never get the easy games, nor the easy wins.

JIM: It is very competitive.

EDGARAS: Yes, and it is a nice experience for me, from (the off field) side the organization is good, inside the organization it is of a higher level, more so than in Europe, so…

JIM: Interesting, so the support for the players in terms of the way that the team is run day to day, the quality of the conditions when you travel, the dressing rooms, the training facilities, etc. these things are of a high level of quality?

EDGARAS: There isn’t a big difference.

JIM: (referring to the training pitch at Foxboro) It is beautiful grass.

EDGARAS: Even better than in most European countries…

JIM: (pointing to the stadium) Now how about over there?

EDGARAS: Well, I didn’t mention that because the surface is artificial and in Europe you never play on that, it is, like, forbidden.

JIM: It is interesting in that regard talking to some of the U.S. kids who have grown up on the stuff, some of them actually prefer it whereas those of us who have some perspective beyond the States just think it is awful and damages not only the game itself but the players.

EDGARAS: Yes, doctors say that it affects your tendons badly and, well, in the beginning it was hard, the surface is much harder and the heels and tendons hurt after games, the problem is I think that it takes you more time to recover and it puts you at greater risk to get injured. But, well, we have to face that, it’s life and it is flat, like Beckham says.

JIM: I notice that watching you play that you have, at least by U.S. standards, a very, very good touch on the ball and you tend to, how shall I say it, protect it extremely well. Does that become more difficult on a slick, plastic surface?

EDGARAS: Well, depending on the weather conditions it (can be) hard, the surface is very different when there are rainy conditions but as far as touch or ball protection, that is the thing of technique which is important at a high level you cannot (be comfortable) to lose many balls, in Europe, sometimes, great teams they don’t forgive you (for) that.

JIM: You mean if you lose it, your team might not see the ball again for a while.

EDGARAS: Yes, you know (your) team has to recover the ball, so you cannot lose the ball easily, that is the problem, so you know that ten guys will have to run to get this ball back so, with respect you try to keep the ball as long as possible, you know (that) you must not lose it.

JIM: So, in a sense, protecting the ball is a gesture of respect, of consideration for your teammates, you are preserving them from too much work as much as you are preserving the ball itself, they don’t have to go and attack defensively to get it back.

EDGARAS: Yes, nobody likes to run behind (or after) the ball, it is always better when the team possesses the ball and that is the main thing in this sport, because you have to play with the ball, well you have to play without the ball as well, but that makes for less of a pleasure.

JIM: When people talk about soccer here, compared to the rest of the world, they often say that in Europe and Latin America the ball always moves faster than the players do whereas here it is the opposite, the players move faster than the ball, does that seem to be the case?

EDGARAS (laughing): There could be a little difference, well, yes, that’s right because the ball always goes faster than players…

JIM: As long as the players keep possession of the ball.

EDGARAS: Yes, well we have another saying, “to run is easy, and you can run behind the bus as well.” No, soccer is about playing with the ball, not just running like you are without your head.

JIM: I don’t know if you have seen any college games here but that is what you see, 22 people running around, occasionally touching the ball.

EDGARAS: Really, well in Europe while you run a lot when you see those types of players, well we never run in the rain because we save the energy, we keep energy, we run when we need to run. Here, OK, if you have good pulmonary conditioning you can run but nobody is able to run for ninety minutes, there comes a moment when you just say, “I’m done, my time is up…”

JIM: Well, the college coaches think their players can run for ninety minutes, that is the problem with the game at that level.

EDGARAS: That’s the difference. That’s where we see the difference there.

JIM: You grew up in a basketball playing country, and you are tall and the hardest thing in soccer is keeping your balance while trying to maintain possession of the ball and do something with it, and for a tall player that is often thought of as being even more difficult. How did you develop that ability? Say someone like Maradona had a very low center of gravity, he is very short and compact, his center of gravity must be down around his ankles somewhere, how did you work with that as you grew up, being a tall player?

EDGARAS: Well, when you are young, 16 years old, you accelerate quickly, you are tall but you don’t have weight, you don’t have the strength, then it is a problem, but with age it will come to any player, it doesn’t matter (what) size you are. And, of course, you have to train and I was working hard, you know, I never had problems with coordination or balance; probably it is because of everyday training, exercises. If you have no balance you cannot go any higher (in the game).

JIM: In English there is a term, “scowl,” which means a glare, a hard look. You have this particular scowl or look towards the referees after you have suffered a clear foul but gotten no call. If you were sitting down with the MLS referees committee, let’s say, what would you suggest to them about the way that they seem to see the game? Are there any suggestions that you would have, not criticisms as such but suggestions?

EDGARAS: I think it would not be very clever to go on (about) that because I don’t want to talk about the referees or about the decisions they make towards our team sometimes, in the two last games we get two red cards and I wouldn’t agree 100% on that but, OK, they try to do a hard job and I hope that people just make mistakes, that’s human because everybody fails and I don’t want to criticize them and say that they are bad or good, they are trying to do a job and sometimes we don’t agree, sorry for that, we have to understand this as well because we are on the field, in the heat of a game and suddenly you get the wrong call and you think it’s a foul, or (it isn’t given), or they send you off, you never know the reaction that you will have at the moment. That is the problem, so sorry for that look…

JIM: No, no need to apologize, it is a wonderful look, my point is that in most sports that involve ball possession the referees give the skilled players a certain amount of freedom, perhaps a space of a few feet around them where defenders are not permitted to blindside them or kick them, it seems that here in MLS the skilled players are not protected.

EDGARAS: Well, yes, I would agree with you.

A bit of a shocker for a slow Thursday evening:

Former England striker Paul Mariner is being lined up for a return to first club Plymouth as assistant manager.

Mariner, 56, has been in talks with the new Home Park board and his appointment is set to be rubber-stamped next week.

It will be his first management post in England after 20 years in the USA, where he is assistant to ex-Liverpool and Scotland defender Steve Nicol at MLS club New England Revolution.

No word as to whether Mariner would be leaving immediately, or if he’d see this season out in Foxboro.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Goal.com: Revolution Will Surprise Most by Missing Playoffs

Seriously, who would be surprised if the Revs missed the playoffs?  Not even Goal.com’s readers would be surprised.

Taylor Twellman, Cosmo Model.

I can’t even add anything to this.

Emergency Update: It just keeps getting better.

Twellman, who split last year from wife Lindsay, reveals in his Cosmo Q&A that he hates talking to women about his job (“I’m looking for a girl who’s about being with me, not about being with a soccer player,” he says), and that he’s into ladies who wear white tops with jeans and high heels. Good to know.

By Walter Silva
Podia ter sido muito pior, porque a jogar desta maneira um ponto é bastante bom, mesmo a jogar contra dez o Revolution não teve arte nem engenho para poder ter chegado á vitória. É que foi meia hora a jogar com mais um elemento, e foi o pior momemto do jogo, porque até então o Revolution tinha feito uma boa partida.

Começou bem a equipa de Foxboro, e criou duas boas ocasiões de golo que o guarda redes da equipa da casa consegui evitar o pior, mas á terçeira foi de vez, livre apontado do lado esquerdo como atacava o Revolution por Kenny Manssaly e Kheli Dube a elevar-se mais alto do que toda a defesa do Colorado e a fazer o primeiro golo do jogo.

Estava feito o mais difiçil para a equipa do Revolution, que continuou á procura do segundo golo, o que esteve perto de o conseguir, com um remate forte de Nyassi que Preston Burpo conrespondeu com uma exçelente defesa para canto. Na resposta o Colorado cause que empatava a partida, bola metida na frente para Casey Conor, com este a meter Baudet que rematou forte e colocado, tão colocado que acertou em cheio no poste da baliza á guarda de Matt Reis.

Mas antes do intervalo o Revolution podia ter aumentado a contagem, Nico Colaluca que se estreou a titular pela primeira vez esta temporda reçebeu um passe de Joseph rematou de pronto para nova boa defesa de Burpo.

Era um resultado çerto ao intervalo, a equipa de Foxboro foi sempre melhor durante toda os primeiros 45 minutos. É que a equipa do Colorado nunca consegui contrariar o melhor futebol da equipa visitante. Na segunda metade tudo foi diferento para a equipa da casa que logo aos 58 minutos empatou a partida, Omar Cummings ao tentar passar por Osei este agarou o seu adversário e o árbitro foi parentório a mandar marcar a respectiva grande penalidade.

Chamado a marcar Conor Casey não se fez rogado e empatou a partida, mas volvidos 4 minutos a equipa da casa ficou reduzida a 10 unidades por explusão de Julien Baudet por agressão a Kheli Dube. E a partir da altura em que a equipa da casa ficou reduzida a 10 elementos foi quando começou a jogar melhor, dominou por completo o resto do jogo, enquanto o Revolution se remetia a defender o empate.

N se perçebe como foi que o Revolution após ter ficado com mais um elemento em campo nunca mais se encontrou, não consegui-a reter a bola, pareçia que a bola queimava os pés dos seus jogadores. Não fosse Matt Reis o Revolution tinha sofrido a segunda derrota em pouco mais de 3 dias, é que na quarta feira o Revolution foi derrotato pelo FC Dallas por uma bola a zero.

Esperava-se mais desta equipa depois de ter mais um elemento tinha a obrigação de segurar mais a bola, de tentar chegar mais vezes á baliza adversária, com a bola a ser trocada entre os seus jogadores, mas a equipa depois da expulsão pareçe que teve medo de assumir o jogo, ou teve medo de perder um ponto. Quando assim é torna-se difiçil de se poder ganhar, com uma equipa cause toda diferento da habitual o Revolution senti a falta do seu veterano jogador Steve Ralston, que ficará afastado dos relvados o resto desta temporada, e talvez nem voltará a jogar, pois fez um estiramento do ligamento interior no joelho direito.

E o jovem Nico Colaluca foi quem teve a difiçil missão de fazer esqueçer o capitão do Revolution, coisa que nunca o consegui durante os 80 minutos que esteve em campo,nem mesmo o portugues Micael Videira que entrou para o seu lugar consegui. Não vai ser façil a esta equipa chegar aos playoffs, tem uma boa oportunidade porque tem ainda trez jogos para jogar enquanto os seus adversários mais directo só tem dois, e o Revolution tem mais dois pontos, do que o DC United, mas esta juventude toda vai poder aguentar a pressão? A ver vamos.

É que no próximo fim de semana o Revolution reçebe a vezita da melhor equipa do campeonato o Columbus Crew que não vai querer perder este estatuto, e quanto mais pontos conseguir mais jogos fará em casa quando dos playoffs.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” – Geoffrey Chaucer, 1374 AD

In retrospect, I should probably be happy with a point on the road in Colorado.  After all, the game was played three days after losing to the Artists Formerly Known as the Dallas Burn.  And it was played in Colorado, where the Revolution haven’t won since they employed the likes of Ian Fuller and Alex Pineda Chacon.

But the timid, overly careful manner in which Steve Nicol’s team emerged with a 1-1 draw leaves me shaking my head.

Yes, they deserve credit for taking the lead in the first half on a beautiful free kick from Kenny Mansally that Kheli Dube dutifully nodded home after Colorado’s Omar Cummings deemed the New England sophomore unworthy of marking.

And yes, the penalty call against Manny Osei was atrocious.  In fact, Baldomero Toledo is atrocious in general.  But Toledo is nothing if not equal opportunity atrocious.  And leave it to him to “make up” for his goof by red carding Julien Baudet for “striking” Dube with the same amount of force that I use when I check my three-month old daughter’s forehead to see if she has a temperature.

And so, in the heat of a playoff race, locked in tie match with 30 minutes to go and up a man, do the Revs turn up the pressure and go for what would have been three crucial points?

Would I be writing this if they had?

I very rarely criticize Steve Nicol for tactical decisions.  After all, he’s won just about every major trophy there is as a player, and I didn’t even play in High School.  But waiting for 23 minutes before substituting Mike Videira on for Nico Colaluca strikes me as playing it safe to a fault.

Yes, I understand that the bench was exceptionally short. (Note: I don’t want to hear again about how Gabby Badilla and Mauricio Castro are valuable depth.  Each had their butts super-glued to the bench last night.) But why wait so long to make a change?  And why bring off one midfielder for another?  Why not bring off someone like Amaechi Igwe and throw another body in the midfield, at least?

When I criticize Steve Nicol and wonder if he’s the right person to break through that proverbial glass ceiling, it’s nights like this I have in mind.

Other thoughts:

*  More Nico Colaluca, less Wells Thompson, please.  It befuddles me why we haven’t seen more of Nico since the trade.  He’s been a bit of an offensive spark whenever he’s played.

*  Manny Osei needs a raise.  He’s not Michael Parkhurst, but he’s pretty darn good.

*  Thought both Gambians played pretty well.  Nice to see Kenny work his way out of Chateau Bow-wow.  His development has been one of the bright spots this year.

*  He won’t win, but Darrius Barnes should get more Rookie of the Year votes then he will get.

*  Pablo Mastroeni clearly forgot to take his meds before the game.  Holy crap.

I had a feeling when he left the field on Saturday night that it would be the last time we saw Steve Ralston this year.

Looks like I was right.

Ralston suffers season-ending knee injury
Revs captain tore the ACL in his right knee on Saturday against Seattle

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution captain Steve Ralston suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on Saturday, Sept. 26, in the Revs’ match against Seattle, and will miss the remainder of the 2009 season. Surgery to repair the injury will be scheduled for a later date.

I hate to say it, but at 35-years of age, even if Ralston is willing and able to make a comeback, might the Revs be at the point where they should say, “Thanks, but no thanks”?  And if he still wants to play, deal him to whatever team he’d like to go to – Kansas City, perhaps?

At this point in his career, I just don’t like the odds of him playing as many minutes as the Revs need him to play.  Cut the cord, wish Rally all the best, and move on.

By Walter Silva

Valeu Shalrie Joseph, com os dois golos á sua conta, mas o segundo foi mesmo á ponta de lança, mas foi mais difiçil do que pareçeu, é que ainda alguns jogadores não estavam quentes e já a equipa visitante estava na frente no marcador.

Mas foi uma vitória suada, e á custa de uma grave lesão do capitão e o melhor jogador desta equipa do Revolution, Steve Ralston contrai uma lesão dos ligamentos do joelho direito, mas só mais tarde se saberá a gravidade da mesma.

Se for confirmada a lesão dos ligamentos, já com 34 anos muito difiçilmento o capitão voltará aos relvados para jogar futebol, falamos por experiençia própria, é uma lesão que deixa muitas marcas. E foi aos 5 minutos de jogo que a equipa forasteira chegou ao golo, Montero ganha uma bola a meio campo passa por dois adversários e remata forte deixando o guarad redes Matt Reis pregado ao solo.

Este era um jogo com um adversário directo na corrida pelos playoffs, e não era a melhor maneira de se começar o jogo, não ficou isento de culpas o guardião da equipa da casa. Mas o pior estava para vir, e foi aos 21 minutos de jogo que Steve Ralston se magouo sériamento, Ralston saltou com Osvaldo Alonso, e ao meter o pé no chão felo mal e só sai do campo em maca, não só se magouo um grande´jogador de futebol, mas tambem o grande homen que é Steve Ralston. Não será façil arranjar alguém para o seu lugar, o portugues Michael Videira será o candidato numero 1, mas vai ter de fazer melhor do que tem feito nos jogos que fez o lugar do capitao do Revolution.

O Revolution demorou a responder ao golo da equipa que pela primeira vez vesitou o estádio Gillette, e tivemos mesmo de esperar pela segunda parte, porque na primeira parte só por uma vez a equipa da casa incomodou o experiento guarda redes Kasey Keller. Na segunda metade foi bem melhor, foi talvez a melhor segunda metade que o Revolution fez esta temporada, e foi aos 51 minutos que a equipa da casa chegou ao empate, Nyassi faz um cruzamento remate e Leo Gonzalez desvia a bola com o braço e o árbitro foi paremtório e mandou marcar a respectiva grande penalidade, que Shalrie Joseph transformou no golo da igualdade.

Estava feito o mais difiçil, agora era preçiso ir á busca do golo que desse os trez preçiosos pontos que a equipa comandada por Steve Nicol tanto preçisava para continuar a sonhar com os playoffs desta edição 2009. E foi Edgaras Jankauskas a dar o sinal do que poderia a vir a aconteçer, jogada de entendimento entra Joseph e Manssaly com este a cruzar para a area e Jankauskas de cabeça obrigar o internaçional guarda redes Kasey keller a uma boa defesa.

Mas estava escrito que ainda não era desta que a equipa que pela primeira vez visitava a Nova Inglaterra ia sair deste jogo com pontos frente ao Revolution,e quando todos já pensavam que o resultado seria de um empate, eis que “Sao” Joseph faz um golo espetacular, Larentowicz faz um cruzamento com conta peso e medida e Shalrie Joseph de cabeça a rematar forte fora do alcançe do guarda redes do Seatle Sounders.

Estava feito o resultado final, promessa paga é promessa comprida, e os rapazes do Revolution que pouco ou nada fizeram nos primeiros 45 minutos vieram dispostos a virar o resultado, e tiveram a recompensa pelo o esforço, pela dedicação, pelo espirito de equipa que mostraram nos ultimos 45 minutos, e com esta vitória deram um passe importnte para poderam estar na próxima edição dos playoff.

Vem ai uma semana bastante difiçil para a equipa de Foxboro, com um jogo ao meio da semana em Texas, e depois no sábado no Colorado, frente ao Colorado Rapids pelas 9 horas da noite e poderá ver este jogo no canal de televisão WSBK TV 38.

Women, Children, and Burnsie first!

I’m calling it.  It’s over.

The SS Revolution has hit an iceberg.  Time to abandon ship.

What other conclusion am I supposed to come up with?  Three games against Kansas City, Chivas USA, and the artists formerly known as the MetroStars, and they manage one point?

And with five of their remaining six games against likely playoff teams?

Nope, not buying it.  This is not a playoff team.  Time to start scouting for the draft.

Time to cue Jim Mora:

(Note: The author of this article reserves the right to change his mind should the Revs beat Seattle next weekend.)

By Walter Silva

As duas equipas tiveram o que mereçeram, um ponto para cada uma e já foi demais, para quem joga assim não mereçe mais, é que o futebol praticado pelas duas equipas ficou áquem do esperado.

É que as duas equipas tinha de fazer melhor, os Red Bulls com este empate ficou práticamento fora desta edição dos playoffs, o Revolution ainda pode lá chegar mas terá forçosamento de fazer melhor.

Até nem começou mal a equipa de Foxboro, que logo aos 13 minutos fez o seu golo, Joseph mete a bola em Nyassi este passa por dois adversários e remata forte e colocado fora do alcançe de Bouna Coundoul. Estava feito o primeiro golo do jogo, e ai pareçia que o Revolution ia arrencar para uma boa exibição, puro engano nosso,a jogar contra uma equipa que só consegui vençer por quatro vezes teria de fazer muito mais.

É que tambem o Red Bulls ja á 13 jogos que não coseguem vençer o Revolution, isto já era motivação sufiçienta para se lançaram para uma vitória que lhe desse os trez pontos que tão neçessários eram. E o golo que Nyassi marcou foi uma bonita jogada de futebol, mas mesmo assim os comandados de Steve Nicol marcaram um golo e deitaram-es á sombra da bananeira, á espera de não sei o que.

Mas o NY Red Bulls tambem pouco ou nada fazia,e só aos 38 minutos é que o capitão Wolyniec rematou com perigo á baliza de Matt Reis. O resultado que se verificava ao intervalo era justo porque mesmo assim o Revolution foi melhor do que o seu adversário, o Reds Bulls mesmo com a troca de treinador não melhorou nada, e sem o seu melhor jogador Juan Pablo Angel esta equipa já teve melhores dias.

É que na época passada esta equipa chegou á final do MLS, perdendo para o Columbus Crew é verdade mas era muito diferento do que é hoje, para pior evidentemento. E no segundo tempo a coisa não foi mutio melhor, com muitas perdas de bolas por parte das duas equipas, sem oportunidades de golo para ambos os conjuntos, e nem mesmo Shalrie Joseph se salvou.

E na única oportunidade de golo, mas na melhor jogada de todo o encontro o NY Red Bulls chegou ao empate, Dane Richards fez um passe primoroso para a direita do seu ataque e Macoumba Kandji arrencou um cruzamento com conta peso e medida e o capitão dos Red Bulls John Wolyniec não perdouo.

Estava feito o resultado do jogo, mas é que Wolyniec na marcação do golo teve de sair devido a lesão no seu pé direito, mais um contra tempo para o treinador interino Richie Williams, que não pode contar com o portugues Carlos Mendes.

O Revolution vai ter no proximo jogo um teste ás sua capaçidades, vai defrontar uma das melhores equipas deste campeonato, o Seatle Sounders FC, e nada menos do que os trez pontos será bom para o Revolution.

Este jogo poderá ser visto no canal de televisão WSBK TV 38 pelas 7.30 da noite.

By: Jim Dow

When viewed through New England Revolution-biased eyes watching the re-branded “Boston” Patriots open up this season’s NFL campaign was a painful exercise in myriad ways. While the old-school uniforms were certainly an improvement on the Fashion Institute techno-tighties with accompanying Elvis logo inspired by some marketing idiot with the visual taste of a meatball, horrific memories rushed back of a cash-starved franchise constantly that long labored in the shadow of a more prosperous big brother.

Of course back in the day the top dog plied its’ trade well down the soon to be completed Rte. 95 just off the Grand Concourse in Yankee Stadium as the New York Football Giants while today the big boys (literally) waddle around right next-door, just down the hall, sharing a mildly down market Rte. 1 address that has been tarted as yet another  overpriced shopping mall on the endless strip from Maine to Florida.  The 15 to 18,000 crowds at B.U. Field and subsequently Fenway Park look like the Bernabau compared to the few folks who currently turn up for Revs matches at Gillette these days and while the inept, perpetually insolvent stewardship of the somewhat sleazy Sullivan family has been replaced by squeaky clean folks who have accomplished great things, winning the notoriously fickle support of the local supposed real football fans hasn’t been one of them and, currently, on the verge of the MLS’s 15th anniversary, things are only getting worse.

A couple of weeks ago I was taking a photograph hard by Bayou Lafourche, so far south in Louisiana that New Orleans is referred to as “up nawth,” when an affable looking, largish gentleman ambled over and introduced himself, curious as to what I was up to. Turns out, after I said my piece (“I’m a photographer from Boston working on a project about…”) he told me that his name was Robert (Bob) Huth, born and brought up in deepest Southie who ended up living in Cajun country after meeting his bride-to-be while in the military. But the six degrees of separation didn’t end there as he told me that he had been a taxi squad player for the old Boston Patriots in their first AFL season back in 1960 and that he had actually been pressed into the breech, due to injuries, defections and general malaise, to play a couple of regular season games. And, funnily enough, I remembered watching him from the old rickety portable stand on the north side of B.U. Field, way back when. The bargain basement Sullivans and coach Lou Saban had been so desperate for bodies that they had signed young Bob with no college experience from the South Boston Chippewas, a local semi-pro
team of note. I suspect the reader knows where I am going here.

Viewed in the cold light of day with an enormous dollop of hindsight, is Steve Ralston more or less the equivalent of Gino Cappeletti, Jay Heaps a sort of Tommy Addison, Shalrie Joseph like Larry Eisenhauer and Taylor Twellman the contemporary equivalent of the “Sweet Kentucky Babe” Parelli? Well, if you think of the Revs as being analogous to the old 60’s/70’s Beantown Pats and Barcelona, Chelsea or Inter being the Bears, Giants or Packers of similar vintage well, yes. Which is not to say that all of the aforementioned weren’t and aren’t fine players, they were and are, they just weren’t and aren’t the very, very best in the world and when they are/were surrounded by significantly less skilled individuals like the kind one gets from the lower end of the procurement line the game they played/play just suffers by comparison. Just look at the TV ratings of the AFL vs. NFL in the 60’s and MLS vs. the world today. Reality bites.

So whose fault is that? The Patriots got better only because the upstart Jets beat the overconfident Colts and the post-merger NFL became a lot more socialistic than anything the supposed socialist in the White House has proposed. Until the Krafts took over and actually brought in serious pigskin professionals to run the show, the Patriots just sucked, with just a couple of single season exceptions, mostly due to the fact that they were run on a shoestring. And now in the early 21st century Steve Nicol and Paul Mariner have to put Chippewa/BC talent next to the likes of Joseph and Ralston to try and compete in a league that is getting better and better and on a budget that, pre-inflation, Mike Holovak and perhaps even Billy Sullivan would find embarrassing.

Where to place the blame? To some extent it is the work of MLS itself, a set up that perpetually penalizes success and rewards mediocrity, something that the NBA, NFL and NHL do as well but with fat TV contracts, draft choices that have zero alternatives and plenty of shirt sale and season tickets in hand. Clubs like the Revs have no resources beyond their paltry ticket sales and the shared liabilities/profits of single entity and while Robert Kraft may be a charter member of the NFL competition committee, he doesn’t seem to understand, or at least honor the fact that to succeed in soccer you need to spend more money than the next person, no matter what the rules. Given his level of intelligence I find it impossible to believe that he doesn’t know, which makes for a truly cynical analysis of the situation. Worse, while the current best teams, Columbus, D.C, Houston and Seattle may have similar player pay packets dictated by the salary cap, outside of DP’s (Shellotto, Emilio, Landin and Lunjberg), their coaching, scouting and other management outlays are likely considerably higher than the Revs. And then, of course, there are those pesky DP’s, oh, did Toronto just sign De Guzman…

Starting up from scratch on a shoestring is never easy and, admittedly, New England got behind the schneid from the very start with horrible coaching and player decisions until Steve Nicol took over in 2002. Again, who was running the ship? After all, folks like Stapleton, Zenga and Clavijo could easily be compared to zombie incompetents like Clive
Rush, Ron Erhardt and Dick MacPherson, although, Mike Holovak, a good one, equals Steve Nicol, both worthies hamstrung by a budget made up in beancounterville. MLS gifted the Revvies some quality (Brown, Ralston, etc.) when the Florida teams folded in 2002 and I doubt if there had been any serious scouting prior to the canny Scot’s and the knowing Northerner’s trips to places like Buenos Aires, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ghana and Toronto. But scouting isn’t signing and therein lies the rub, the coaches can find all the talent they can assess but then comes the really hard work which, on face value, Kraft Sports doesn’t have the appetite or tactical nous for. After all, we know that the coaches came back from their trip to Argentina with a short list of 40 players of interest. Has a single Argie ended up on the Revos books? It is a lot easier when dealing with the closed shop that is the NFL where the best draftees have no place to go, other than to dance with the one that brung them. Belicheck is a genius, shit, he’s shooting fish in a barrel sitting there in front of the computer, let’s see how he does in Ghana, Costa Rica or BA. Bluntly put, Kraft Sports, Inc. is happy to give Parcells and Belicheck the money for the groceries, Nicol and Mariner have to survive on food stamps. Or, to continue the supermarket metaphor, the coaches bring the shopping list, which might be appropriate for Whole Foods or at least Star Market, the ownership opts for day-olds, example, Jose Sand vs. Kehli Dube and if the names don’t resonate, go Google, the Revs scouted and recognized the former in Argentina. He plays for Lanus and is thinking of Dubai.

And now the transfer window is closed, the trading deadline come and gone and while Babe Parelli (Twellman) is down for the season and likely his career, the folks in charge have done nothing, nothing to replace him. Yes, they brought in Edgaras Jankauskas who may be slow of foot but has a delicacy of touch that is delightful, yet the team has only two forwards in a league where you need at least three and really four to succeed. If this were the Patriots, there would be useful strikers and their partners prepping on the taxi squad, ready to fill in if and when the circumstances dictate, as in right now.

With the draw in the Swamp the chances of making the post-season got next to nil and given the current state of the squad that may be for the best. Everyone in the organization needs to look hard in the mirror, from top to bottom and decide if there need to be significant changes for the future. From the development program to the location of the stadium, to players, coaches, everything and everybody needs to be re-evaluated. The team is in transition, and while some of the factors have been beyond anyone’s control, all competitive professional sports teams potentially face the same problems every season. Certainly some good new players have been brought in, perhaps as many as five but one is way past the sell-by date (Jankauskas), another maddingly inconsistent (Osei), two are kids who might also fit that label (Alston and Barnes) and one basically untested (Videria). All of these five may prosper next season and if (huge if) Twellman returns, Larentowicz doesn’t bolt for Scandinavia (fat chance), Joseph is fine and Heaps, Ralston and Reis continue to play at a high level, well in the 2010 MLS you cannot fill in with Chippewas and hope to succeed.

The ambitions of ownership need to be higher than that.

Of course the final straw in the whole Pat Patriot revival is the memory of playing in Fenway Park with that funky stand hauled over from B.U. Field and set up in front of the Green Monster. Those Friday night games (Revs fans, remember them too?) where crowds of 15,18, 20,000 would go mental, plastered on Narraganset or whatever crap was sold then, supporting a team that was certainly colorful, often entertaining and fun to watch in person but always under funded and suffered by comparison with Roosevelt Grier, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff and Y.A. Tittle, to say nothing of Guillermo Barros Schellotto or Juan Pablo Angel and that it just staying inside MLS.

Does the metaphor hold? I’m afraid so. More on an urban stadium next time…

By Walter silva

É verdade os playoffs desta temporada estão em perigo, com esta derrota com um adversário directo está a ficar cada vez mais difiçil, com o novo modelo de playoffs o Revolution vai ter de começar a ganhar para poder lá chegar, senão sujeita-se pela primeira vez na era de Steve Nicol á frente do Revolution ficar de fora.

Foram preçisos 9 minutos para a equipa da casa chegar ao golo, jogada pelo lado direito como atacava a equipa da casa, com Jay Heaps a ser batido por Carey Talley e este a cruzar para a frente da baliza e o brasileiro Maicon Santos a rematar para o fundo da baliza.

Muito mal esteve o central Darrius Barnes que podia e devia ter feito melhor para poder chegar á bola, mas pareçe que este central não gosta muito de sujar os calções, que com um carrinho teria chegado á bola.

Com este golo a equipa da casa tentou controlar o jogo a meio campo, coisa que ia conseguindo perante a passividade da equipa visitante, que pareçia conformada com o resultado.

E pouco ou nada fazia os comandados de Steve Nicol para tentar virar o rumo aos aconteçimentos, é que durante toda a primeira metade o guarda redes Zack Thornton foi um mero espectador, não fez uma única defesa.

Muita falta faz Shalrie Joseph, é que o jogador de Granada, é o “motor” desta equipa, quando não á muitos bons jogadores qualquer bom jogador faz falta, mas este é sem dúvida alguma o melhor jogador desta equipa do Revolution.

Ainda nos primeiros 45 minutos a equipa da casa podia ter elevado o marcador não fosse o experiente guarda redes Matt Reis a fazer duas exçelentes defesas. No segundo tempo o Revolution tentou chegar o mais rápido possivel á baliza do Chivas USA, com um futebol mais directo, mas a pouca eficáçia dos seus dianteiros nunca conseguiram incomodar o guarda redes do Chivas.

E foi já perto do apito final que o Chivas Usa aumentou o marcador através de uma grande penalidade que o árbitro inventou. Eduardo Lilligston isolou-se e ao passar por Matt Reis tirou-se para o chão, e o juiz da partida foi na cantiga e mandou marcar a respectiva grande penalidade, que Sacha Kljestan transformou no segundo golo da sua equipa.

Muito mal esteve o árbitro Ricardo Salazar, em dois pontos, primeiro errou ao mandar marcar a grande penalidade, segundo ao marcar a grande penalidade teria de mostrar o cartão vermelhor directo ao guarda redes Matt Reis, que era o último defesa ao impedir a marcação do golo teria obrigatóriamento de expulsar o guarda redes.

Mas não foi por culpa do árbitro que o Revolution perdeu, a jodar desta maneira o Revolution não vai chegar aos playoffs, mas como um mal nunca vem só Edgaras Jankauskas do Revolution e o capitão do Chivas USA Carey Talley acabaram os dois por seram expulsos por uma traca de “mimos”.

Muito trabalho vai ter o treinador do Revolution Steve Nicol para conseguir que esta equipa não fique fora dos playoffs, porque não vai poder contar con Jankauskas que presentemente é o melhor avançado da equipa.

There’s simply no way Edgaras Jankauskas doesn’t win Goal of the Week honors.  He’s currently leading the vote with 70%.  There’s no need to even stuff the ballot box on this one, boys and girls.