Revolution v. L.A. Galaxy, Tucson, Arizona, 2.22.12

There’s still something pleasantly cultic about Major League Soccer. This preseason match between the New England Revolution and the Los Angeles Galaxy was available as a live web stream, and I can’t imagine anyone made a dime off the broadcast. At one point I checked some sort of tracker at the base of my screen and it read “2638 Viewers,” this for a game in which David Beckham played all ninety minutes. The match looked as if it were filmed with a circa-1995 hand-held video camera with a grease-smeared lens. It was part of something called the Desert Diamond Cup, a four-team tourney sponsored by some casino in Arizona. I for one loved watching the game from my living room outside Boston, even though I could barely tell one player from another. Was that blurry smear on my laptop Benny Feilhaber or Chris Tierney? Replays were no help because there weren’t any. Anyway, it was fun and if you’re a Revolution fan I mildly recommend watching the next match with a beer in hand if you’ve nothing better to do. It made me feel like a teenager again, suffused as the production values were by the do-it-yourself punk air.

The Revolution won the game 3-2. Due to various interruptions, I managed to miss two of New England’s three goals, including an evidently memorable bicycle-kick by Feilhaber early in the match. (Update: You can watch Feilhaber's goal here; it's a good one.) Goals aside, it was nice to see Shalrie Joseph go the full ninety, sliding around as if the game meant something. I’ve said it before: he’s a worthy team captain, the perfect player on whom to bestow your highest-paid contract. He could have taken it easy in this one, but of course he didn’t.

This game held one pleasant surprise. Stephen McCarthy, the lanky, second-year midfielder who was hurt during the latter part of last season, played much of the game at center back and looked good doing it. Greg Lalas called the game (along with some other guy whose name I didn’t catch who made the following excited remark at least three times: “A delightful ball!”) and made the point that McCarthy was responsible for drawing two defenders away from newcomer John Lozano on a Kelyn Rowe corner kick in the 36^th minute. McCarthy “snow plowed” the Galaxy defenders out of the area and Lozano scored a header on a line far post. McCarthy was generally solid in the back, and I wonder that I’d never thought of him playing that role before. In retrospect, it seems so obvious to move a strong, tall young holding midfielder to center back, especially when you need help back there, as the Revolution did last year. Speaking of the defense, Chris Tierney started at left back tonight, which I still think is best for the team, even if the idea might not be so appealing to Tierney himself. I like the potential of the following back line: Tierney, Soares, McCarthy, and Kevin Alston. I think you could win with that unit, though whether they ever take the field together as a group of defenders is probably a long shot.

Rowe, New England’s first-round draft pick, also looked promising, not only taking the occasional corner and free kick, but chasing down through balls from Joseph. I’ve seen a few video interviews with him on the Revolution website and there’s something about his affect that I find congenial. He strikes me as respectful of guys like Joseph and Feilhaber, but seems to have a sense of humor and proportion. He also looks about twelve years old and makes me feel a little uneasy about writing a soccer blog at my age but that’s another story and one I hope never to write.