Revolution at Montreal Impact, 10.27.12: Summing Up a Season

An optimist, or a member of the New England Revolution marketing team, would likely summarize New England’s last game of the 2012 MLS season thus: The Revolution beat the Montreal Impact 1-0, matched their longest consecutive-wins streak of the season, and won on Canadian soil for the first time in nine attempts. A more balanced appraiser would note that Montreal dominated Saturday’s game in every statistical category except goals scored, that New England’s longest win streak this season is two games (a modest feat they accomplished only twice), and that winning occasional MLS games in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal is not a noteworthy achievement.

The game was one of those in which one team creates many chances but can’t finish, and the other team creates one or two chances but converts. Shortly before that conversion, Montreal had created a couple chances in front of the Revs’ goal, but the ball ultimately—it seemed almost incredibly—failed to cross the line. The Revolution got their chance in the 88^th minute courtesy of a Jeb Brovsky foul on Ryan Guy near the right corner flag. The call was dubious and Brovsky was understandably irate at the assistant referee who’d made it, but of course play marched on. Chris Tierney lined up and hit one of his characteristically excellent dead-ball strikes. His pass found A. J. Soares at the near-post corner of the six-yard box. Soares snapped a header down into the ground towards the far post and into the net.

It may have been fitting that Soares capped this season with a winning goal, as he’s been one of the Revolution’s most consistent performers during his two years with the team. He was second on the team (to Kevin Alston) in minutes played this year despite coming off season-ending ankle surgery last October and suffering through some minor (relative to ankle surgery) injuries during the latter part of this season. He, Alston, and Reis can be counted on above all others on the roster.

In some ways, though, 2012 has been a bit of a comedown for Soares. He was named Best Defender last year by the Revolution beat media, but fellow central defender Stephen McCarthy won that award this year. Furthermore, last season Soares was the heir apparent to Shalrie Joseph as New England’s undisputed team leader. Soares may yet fulfill that role, but Joseph is now gone and it is the steady veteran Clyde Simms, not Soares, who typically captains New England. And when Darrius Barnes replaced Soares in central defense in a September 1 game against the Philadelphia Union, there was no noticeable drop-off. In fact, Barnes played well and New England came away with a clean sheet and a 0-0 draw. Soares sat for the next two games—a 2-0 win against Columbus and a 2-1 loss at D.C.—and it was unclear if he hadn’t played due to injury (he was listed as “probable” with whiplash) or to coach’s decisions. Whatever the case, Soares did regain his starting position for the final five games of the season, and he played well if not spectacularly. And there’s no doubting that the Revolution are still counting on Soares to be a fixture for them at center back for years to come, whether or not he becomes a Joseph-like face of the franchise.

Benny Feilhaber is another candidate to become the long-term leader of this New England team. After sitting out last week’s win against Chicago due to a red-card suspension, Feilhaber played the full 90 minutes against Montreal, an indication, perhaps, that coach Jay Heaps still has Feilhaber in his long-term plans. I’ve discussed Feilhaber’s sometimes dazzling, often frustrating play in a few recent posts, and I won’t go into them much here. As usual, Feilhaber saw a lot of the ball against Montreal, connected on a lot of passes in the midfield, but ultimately wasn’t much of a factor near the goal. Also as usual, he had more than his share of head-scratching unforced giveaways. In the 58^th minute, he passed to Tierney along the left sideline and the ball rolled out of bounds; in the 65^th minute he passed directly to the Montreal defense; and in the 76^th minute he gave the ball away at midfield, leading to a scoring opportunity for Montreal. Feilhaber finished the season stuck on one goal and two assists, and he is surely happy to see that season end.

With luck, Feilhaber will be around next year to improve on those numbers and build a rapport with Designated Player Bengtson. Bengtson like Feilhaber is talented but hasn’t produced much for the Revolution. He ended the season with two goals in thirteen games played. In Montreal, he did work a nice give-and-go with Fagundez in and around the box near the end of the first half. Unfortunately, though, his standout play of the night was a squandered chance in the 42^nd minute. Soares played a good ball into space for Bengtson, and Bengtson proceeded to run at the Montreal defense, Tierney making an overlapping run to Bengtson’s immediate left. Bengtson’s final ball was both poor and ambiguous; it was either a remarkably weak shot on goal or a remarkably inaccurate pass to Tierney. Tierney is not one of nature’s complainers, but even he couldn’t hide his frustration with Bengtson on that one.

In the end, the Revolution had another disappointing season, finishing well out of the Eastern Conference playoffs with 35 points. Still, that’s a seven-point improvement over last year. And while the Revolution didn’t necessarily deserve to beat Montreal in the finale, good and improving teams often win games they probably shouldn’t win, especially on the road. And to the Revolution players’ credit, they effectively killed the Montreal game after getting their late goal. Last year’s Revolution team almost certainly would have squandered the lead, as they did for example against Philadelphia after going up 4-2 in the 55^th minute. (Sebastien Le Toux scored the equalizer in stoppage time in that one.)

Also, despite their poor record, New England’s 2012 team had many new players who produced, most notably forward Saer Sene and midfielders Lee Nguyen, Clyde Simms, and Kelyn Rowe. The 17-year-old Fagundez is also skilled, and he gained much valuable experience towards the end of the season. (Fagundez easily could have had two assists in the Revs’ final two games, but Bengtson failed to convert from close range against Chicago and Fernando Cardenas couldn’t beat the keeper after getting in behind against Montreal.) Even Dimitry Imbongo, despite his occasional wild shots, has proved to be a strong player with his back to the goal and adds good value when trying to kill a game, as he did against Montreal as a substitute. Finally, the diminutive Cardenas is quick and dangerous with the ball at his feet, though it must be said that he consistently runs out of gas after about 45 minutes of play.

If those promising new acquisitions continue to produce next season, if Feilhaber and Bengtson play up to their contracts and talent levels, if Heaps and GM Michael Burns can come up with a few more good player acquisitions in the offseason, and if Revolution players can avoid too many injuries, then New England should make the playoffs in 2013. That statement is hardly a bold one given its numerous conditions. But it’s plausible that those conditions are all met. And even if some don’t break New England’s way, the Revolution should improve as their young players continue to work together and gain experience.

Something must be said in closing about the Revolution’s home field. No matter how successful the Revolution may be on the field next season, the franchise will never generate any excitement in New England or anywhere else if the team continues to play at Gillette. MLS is growing its fan base in no small part because of its appealing new stadiums, most of which hold about 20,000 fans so that there are no vast sections of empty seats, which always lends a bush-league air to any game. And of course there are no NFL markings on those stadiums’ fields, as there often are when the Revolution play at home. (Click here to see a list of MLS stadiums, along with capacities, playing surfaces, and years built.)

From a fan’s perspective, the only positive aspects of the Revs’ current stadium situation is that you can decide to go to a game at any time, right up until first kick, because no game is ever sold out. Also, fans can park and tailgate for free. Those are considerable benefits, but even fans with shallow pockets recognize that good sports teams almost by definition create ticket demand, a sense that you’d better buy in advance or it’ll be others who are having the fun and not you. The Revs will never generate that kind of excitement and demand if they continue playing at Gillette.

All of these stadium-related points have been made before, but they bear repeating because building a new stadium is critical if soccer is ever going to get widely noticed in New England, where the Revolution must compete with the popular Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins. No one is dumb enough to think that building a stadium anywhere in this country is as easy as waving a wand. But no team in MLS plays in such an unsatisfactory setting as the Revolution. And with the recent proliferation of state-of-the-art soccer stadiums—such as those built outside New York and in Kansas City and Houston—the gap between the Revolution and other teams is widening. It’s therefore deeply disappointing that the Revolution still have no firm plans to play anywhere else but at an NFL stadium with an artificial playing surface in a faceless suburb with no satisfactory access to public transportation.