Revolution v. Chivas USA, 8.29.12: Shalrie Joseph’s Nearly Triumphant Return

For the first twenty-one minutes of tonight’s game, Chivas USA looked like they were going to get run out of the building by the New England Revolution. The Chivas defense in particular played wretchedly during that stretch. The poor play started in the first minute with a bizarre back-pass that looked like a through-ball to New England striker Jerry Bengtson. Chivas escaped that miscue, but three minutes later defender Rauwshan McKenzie attempted to clear a long ball into the box by Chris Tierney. McKenzei’s header fell kindly to Saer Sene, who turned and hit a volley into the side netting. Six minutes later, McKenzie scored an own-goal off a Kelyn Rowe cross. And ten minutes after that, Sene collected a giveaway and scored his second goal of the night on a left-footed strike from distance.

New England announcers noted that, through 27 minutes of the game, the Revolution had controlled the ball 72% of the time. The match was so lopsided at that point that it didn’t look fair. Shalrie Joseph and his new club were getting embarrassed, and not even the most ardent Revolution fan would want that on Joseph’s first trip back to Gillette in another team’s shirt.

Of course, any ardent New England fan of the last couple of years, or even someone who tuned in to New England’s 4-3 loss a few days ago to Columbus, knows that the Revolution haven’t learned how to kill a game, no matter how large their lead. Up 3-0 in the 21^st minute, the Revolution proceeded to give up two goals before the end of the half, both by their former captain. The first goal was vintage Joseph, a strong run to the near post on a corner kick ending in a solid, unspectacular, and courageous header in traffic. Joseph’s second goal was a beauty. Juan Agudelo received a pass in the final third with his back to the goal, turned, briefly ran at the defense, and played a square ball to Joseph, who was making a well-timed run through a static-looking Revolution defense and midfield. Joseph altered his run without touching the pass to set up his shot, which he one-timed with his left foot. It was a technical strike that curled around Joseph’s old friend and mate Matt Reis. That goal came in extra time, and it should be noted that, after controlling the ball for 72% of the time through 27 minutes, the Revs managed to lose the battle of possession during the first half, 62% to 38%.

The Revs conceded a third goal shortly after the start of the second half. Rowe lost his mark on a cross into the box, allowing Miller Bolanos to score off a pass played back across the goal from the far post. It was an extremely frustrating sequence for the Revolution, but there was actually a bright spot to it, or its aftermath. Revolution center back Stephen McCarthy, rather than chewing out Rowe or parading frustration, put a hand on Rowe’s shoulder in commiseration. That kind of gesture during hard times, combined with a lot of hard work, are the kinds of things that build winning teams.

Both defenses tightened up and played with more conviction after that, and the game ended in a 3-3 draw. After the match, the cameras caught players from both sides, along with a number of New England staff members, paying their respects to Joseph at midfield. A. J. Soares, who will likely assume Joseph’s old role as the so-called face of the franchise, seemed particularly gracious and happy to see his old teammate. Kevin Alston began exchanging jerseys with Joseph when my MLS Live feed went dead. It must have all been very poignant for Joseph, though I suspect he’d envisioned exchanging jerseys with Reis. He’d no doubt also envisioned a Chivas victory, but an old hand like him knows that things don’t always turn out the way we plan.

Revolution v. Sporting KC, 8.4.12: Why Should We Support the Revolution?

There are many reasons to follow a sports team. Most kids grow up supporting their local teams because their parents and friends support those teams and because the teams appear on local TV and in local venues. And since most of us value loyalty, we tend to keep following those teams of our youth, even if we move away from our hometowns. We may also continue supporting those teams because our allegiances help us (and others) to define who we are. Nick Hornby is excellent on this subject in his memoir Fever Pitch, which should be required reading for anyone who’s ever passionately followed a particular club.

There are other reasons besides loyalty and proximity to pull for a sports team. I, like many others, am a fan of FC Barcelona’s not because I’m from Barcelona, but because the current team plays attractive soccer and because it has such great and likeable players. That last point has become increasingly important to me. Real Madrid is, like Barca, a great team comprised of great players. But for whatever combination of subjective reasons, I find Ronaldo, Pepe, and Marcello not nearly as likeable as Messi, Iniesta, and Xavi. Barcelona players are not only great athletes, they’re also respectful of each other. Ask yourself how many times you’ve seen Messi or Iniesta or Xavi bitch at one of his teammates for not providing proper service or for a poorly timed run or whatever. Clearly, Barca’s culture dissuades players from openly griping at each other on the field, and I like that.

Which brings me back (or down) to the subject of the New England Revolution. Why, I asked myself on Saturday during their 1-0 home loss to Sporting Kansas City, am I even supporting this team? There are so many reasons not to support them, beginning with their poor record of late and the team’s characterless and ill-attended stadium (built for an NFL team). Despite all that and more, the team has for me remained likeable in recent years largely because of its former captain, Shalrie Joseph. On an MLS field, Joseph looks like a man among boys, a pro among amateurs. I can’t stand whiners and egotists and guys who bitch at their teammates when things aren’t going their way. Joseph is an example of a pro athlete that eschews that in favor of quietly producing and leading by example.

Instead of Joseph’s stoic professionalism, the game against Kansas City was in my mind defined by the petulant attitude and largely ineffectual play of new Revolution striker Dimitry Imbongo. To his credit, Imbongo drew a number of fouls during the game, but to his discredit he had two great chances to score—in the 36^th minute off a pass from Benny Feilhaber and in the 49^th off a cross from Chris Tierney—and his finishes (especially the first) were notably poor. After the second miss—a close-range header that he put over the bar—he unaccountably wheeled around and began chewing out Fernando Cardenas, presumably for passing the ball to Tierney instead of directly to him (Imbongo). If that’s the kind of player coach Jay Heaps wants in favor of players like Joseph, then fans like me will simply stop watching the Revolution. If our sports allegiances do in part define who we are, I want no part of following players who engage in nonsensical and unprofessional tirades.

Speaking of Heaps, I didn’t much care for how he and the rest of New England management explained, or explained away, the Joseph trade. Here’s Heaps on the trade: “It's not a decision we took lightly. It's not a decision we came to on a whim. There was a lot of organizational thought process behind it.” And here’s Revs’ GM Michael Burns: “Trading Shalrie was a not a decision we made easily.” To which I feel like responding, “So you guys didn’t dream this up over a game of beer pong?” Seriously, how patronizing is it to the fans and to Joseph to say that the decision to trade the team’s highest-paid player took some consideration? Such statements are not only meaningless, they’re distastefully self-congratulatory. They imply that the trade was “hard” not on Joseph or the fans, but on Heaps and Burns themselves, the poor guys. Managers in any type of organization should make a point never to refer to layoffs or firings or trades as the result of “tough decisions.” Unless of course they’re firing themselves.

Revolution at Philadelphia Union, 7.29.12: Shalrie Joseph's Last Game for New England

The New England Revolution traded Shalrie Joseph to Chivas USA today for 23-year-old midfielder Blair Gavin, a draft pick in 2013, and an unspecified amount of allocation money. That seems not a lot for Chivas to give for an eight-time all-star with a sterling reputation. I’ve written in praise of Joseph many times, including a piece last December after New England re-signed him to a generous contract. I won’t repeat myself here except to say that I believe he has a lot of good soccer left in him and that, notwithstanding club and fan votes, Joseph was last year’s team MVP. (Admittedly, it was a bad team.)

Of course, team sports are as cutthroat as any other business. And company and employee loyalty in any area of our economy are increasingly rare. All of which is to say that I’m not surprised about the trade. At 34, Joseph is old for a pro athlete, and New England is rebuilding and stocking its roster with young players. Some fans and commentators are no doubt already saying Joseph’s time was up with the Revs and that his departure will benefit the club. But I think less of New England as an organization for getting rid of Joseph, and I’ll root for the team a little less heartily now that he’s gone. He was economical, composed, and strong when patrolling the midfield, the kind of player respected and liked by fans, coaches, and teammates alike. He was also versatile and could drop into the defense effectively, particularly important to a team so thin along the back line. I believe he had a couple of more solid years to give a team that, after a decade of stellar service and years wearing the captain's armband, most MLS fans thought of as his.

Joseph’s last game (presumably) in a Revolution uniform was not one that he’ll recall fondly, a 2-1 loss to the Union in Philadelphia. He didn’t start due to a coach’s decision, came on in the 60^th minute immediately after Philly scored off a penalty kick, missed a chip shot on a breakaway in the 79^th minute, and watched helplessly in the 90^th minute as Kevin Alston lost his mark, allowing Jack McInerney to head a Sheanon Williams cross down into the turf and past Matt Reis for the game-winner.

McInerney’s goal extended New England’s winless streak to four games and allowed Philadelphia to pull level with the Revolution in the standings (and Philadelphia has two games in hand). Moreover, New England is now just four points ahead of last-place Toronto, a team that began the season with nine straight defeats. Given last year, and the way this year is going, Joseph may actually be happy about the trade to Chivas. Thinking Revolution fans will wish him and his new team success, even as they miss watching him in a New England shirt.

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.

MLS Castrol Index and the New England Revolution

The MLS Castrol Index, which yearns to impose white-lab-coated objectivity on the statistics-resistant game of soccer, assigns a batting-average-like number to every MLS player. (Castrol also posts rankings of players from the top five European soccer leagues.) According to the MLS website, the Index “tracks [a player’s] every move on the field and assesses whether it has a positive or negative impact on a team’s ability to score or concede a goal.” The final results are in for the 2011 MLS season, and Chris Wondolowski tops the Index with a score of 9.13 out of a possible 10.

Those who would undercut the validity of the Castrol Index might point out that 2011 MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario did not even crack the top ten. The Index has De Rosario as the league’s 31^st ranked player. Furthermore, De Ro’s fellow-MVP candidates Brek Shea and Brad Davis finished 29^th and 58^th, respectively. Each of those players finished below Aurélien Collin (5^th), Chance Myers (6^th), and Matt Besler (17^th), all of whom played for Sporting Kansas City. I doubt there’s a GM in the league that would choose the second, more highly ranked trio over the first, so there is probably a good argument to be made that the Index is so much hogwash.

Then again, in my opinion many of the rankings ring true, particularly with regard to the New England Revolution. I argued in my last post that Shalrie Joseph was New England’s most valuable player during the 2011 season, even though Matt Reis won the team MVP award and Benny Feilhaber won the fan (Midnight Riders) vote. Sure enough, the Castrol Index ranks Joseph as the Revs’ top player. According to the Index, the Revs’ next best performers in 2011 were, in order: A.J. Soares, Feilhaber, Chris Tierney, and Rajko Lekic. Personally, I might put Kevin Alston above Lekic, but it would be a close call. Interestingly, Alston’s and Lekic’s Index scores (7.03 and 7.02, respectively) and rankings (152 and 150) are virtually identical. In short, I mostly agree with how the Index ranks New England’s players relative to each other. (For evidence of this, note that I singled out much the same group of players in an October post, writing: “I feel like the Revolution have good players—Joseph, Feilhaber, Soares, Reis, Alston, and Tierney in particular.” I also wrote a statistical defense of Lekic, which can be found here.)

Since Reis’s name came up twice in the last paragraph, I should mention that the Index ranks him as the 2011 Revolution’s eighth-best player, just below Darrius Barnes. This is almost certainly too low a ranking for Reis, who had an excellent season, though Reis’s score and ranking seem to be in line with the rest of the Index as far as goalkeepers are concerned. Reis has an Index score of 6.74 and a player ranking of 182. To put those numbers in context, MLS 2011 Goalkeeper of the Year Kasey Keller has an Index score of 7.08 and ranks 145 on the list, very close to Reis’s numbers. Dallas’s Kevin Hartman and Philadelphia’s Faryd Mondragon—both of whom were in the running with Keller for Goalkeeper of the Year—rank below Reis on the Index.

It is perhaps more interesting to see where New England’s players rank in relation to the rest of the league. The Index ranks Joseph—who as you’ll recall is the Revolution’s top-ranked player—as only the 94^th best-performing player in MLS in 2011. The only other 2011 MLS team whose top-ranked player rated below Joseph is Toronto FC, which tied the Revolution for last place in the 2011 overall standings.

Infuriatingly, I’ve been unable import the full Index rankings into an Excel spreadsheet in any kind of easily sortable format. I’d like to see each team’s average player ranking and compare those numbers to how each team finished in the final standings. In lieu of entering all that information by hand into a spreadsheet, I thought it might be interesting for Revolution fans to see each team’s top player ranking and how many players each team had on its roster that were ranked above Joseph. Remember, Joseph was ranked the 94^th best performer in MLS for the 2011 season by the Castrol Index.

·      Chicago Fire: Best player ranked 15^th; 6 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Chivas USA: Best player ranked 25^th; 6 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Colorado Rapids: Best player ranked 7^th; 6 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Columbus Crew: Best player ranked 33^rd; 4 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      D.C. United: Best player ranked 31^st; 3 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      FC Dallas: Best player ranked 8^th; 9 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Houston Dynamo: Best player ranked 9^th; 5 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      L.A. Galaxy: Best player ranked 4^th; 8 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      New York Red Bulls: Best player ranked 3^rd; 6 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Portland Timbers: Best player ranked 39^th; 3 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Philadelphia Union: Best player ranked 20^th; 4 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Real Salt Lake: Best player ranked 10^th; 9 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      San Jose Earthquakes: Best player ranked 1^st; 4 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Seattle Sounders: Best player ranked 2^nd; 8 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Sporting KC: Best player ranked 5^th; 10 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Toronto FC: Best player ranked 141^st; 0 players ranked higher than Joseph

·      Vancouver Whitecaps: Best player ranked 59^th; 2 players ranked higher than Joseph

Whatever one thinks of the Castrol Index, the five teams that ended the 2011 season with the most points—L.A., Seattle, Salt Lake, Dallas, and Kansas City—were the only teams that each had at least eight players on their rosters that ranked higher than Joseph. The two teams that ended the 2011 season with the fewest points besides New England—Toronto and Vancouver—managed to have only two players between them that ranked above Joseph.

These statistics I think lend some credibility to the Index. One wonders, of course, how a player like Joseph would be ranked if he played on a better team. Presumably, the more goals a team scores and the fewer goals it concedes boost the rankings of all of that team’s players. Given this, the rankings might be more accurate at reflecting a player’s value vis-à-vis his own teammates, rather than the entire league. (If this is true, then Wondolowski’s number-one ranking is particularly impressive, since his team didn’t even make the playoffs.) Still, if the Index’s overall player rankings are remotely credible, then New England’s roster could be in need of an even more radical overhaul than many of us had assumed.

Sanity Remains on Throne in Foxboro: Revolution Re-Sign Shalrie Joseph

Given the New England Revolution’s performance during the 2011 season, a mostly drab roster in need of changes, and an artificial-turf home stadium built for an NFL team, soccer fans aren’t pitching tents outside Gillette stadium to secure Revs 2012 season tickets. But the organization did something right this month by re-signing midfielder Shalrie Joseph. Here’s New England GM Michael Burns announcing the agreement, as quoted in an article yesterday on the Revolution’s website: “Getting him re-signed was a top priority for us this off-season. We expect that Shalrie will continue to lead this team on the field, but also off the field and in the community, as well, as we move ahead into 2012.”

I recently heard someone quoted on the MLS podcast Extratime Radio saying he didn’t think Shalrie Joseph was worth the $475,000 the Revolution paid him last year. I’ve heard this kind of thing before—that Shalrie Joseph is overrated and overpaid—heard it even from someone who knows a lot about soccer, and each time I get almost angry. Of all the athletes in the world, or for that matter in the Boston area, it’s almost unfathomable to me that someone would get worked up about a team paying Joseph half a million a year, even an MLS team.

Obviously, anybody that makes this “argument” did not watch the 2011 Revolution season. In lieu of watching all those games now, after the fact, I suggest those in the anti-Joseph camp watch the July friendly against Manchester United. Joseph was the only Revolution player that clearly belonged on the field with the EPL side, not because of his speed but because he’s so strong, he’s calm on the ball, and he distributes well. To me, it’s significant that the Revs’ now-departed coach Steve Nicol played Joseph the entire match against Man. U. Joseph was the only Revolution player to go the full ninety minutes. Nicol of course was a hugely successful player in the Premiership, and this gesture I believe was his way of telling Joseph and everyone else that Joseph is a world-class player.

To continue, as if I need to: Joseph has been officially named one of MLS’s best eleven players four times in his career so far, and he’s led the Revolution in scoring two out of the last three years as a defensive midfielder. He’s tough and never dives, he commands respect from his teammates, other players, and other coaches. (In that Extratime podcast I mentioned, Greg Lalas told an anecdote about going to the bathroom during halftime of a game involving Joseph and seeing Bruce Arena, who shook his head and said something like, “Man, that Shalrie Joseph is really something.”) This season Joseph passed up playing in the Gold Cup for his country because he knew the faltering Revolution desperately needed his services. This is the guy some people choose to say is overpaid at $500K? Revolution fans named Benny Feilhaber last season’s MVP, and the club named Matt Reis. Reis is a decent choice, and Feilhaber is more explosive than Joseph, but there’s zero question in my mind the MVP of that team was Joseph. 

If you care to read about contract terms, the MLS Designated Player (DP) rule and how it relates to Joseph’s new contract, and other information about the re-signing, check out Kyle McCarthy’s excellent, well-researched article in Goal.com. In it, McCarthy reports, “[Jonathan] Kraft's public support and his private guarantees that the club would foot some of the bill to secure Joseph's services in 2012 all but assured that the two sides would reach an agreement.” The Krafts’ reputation for being a “class” organization typically extends only to how they run the Patriots. Their decision to reward Joseph for his past loyalty to the club proves the Krafts have some class in reserve to lavish on their soccer team.

Revolution v. Chivas USA, 8.6.11

The Revolution returned home from a tough but successful three-game road trip to play the Chivas USA Goats, who at 7-8-8 epitomize the very concept of a middling sports team. Instead of adding to the five points they recently accumulated on the road, New England lost 3-2 in deeply frustrating fashion. The defense, playing without A. J. Soares due to a red card in the Revs’ previous outing, looked particularly hopeless. We might as well take Chivas’s first goal as an example of their ineptitude, but any of them would do. On that play, Darrius Barnes sprinted back towards his net as Chivas midfielder Nick LaBrocca trapped a wide pass off his chest and sent in a dangerous cross. Barnes was in an excellent position to clear the ball over the byline, but he elected to abruptly stop his run and spread his arms wide away from his body as though playing a game of dodgeball.  The pass narrowly missed Barnes, but it did not miss the foot of Chivas striker and Revolution tormentor Alejandro Moreno, who sent it into the goal.

Enough. Aside from pushing the hapless Revolution even further down in the standings, this game was notable for a couple of reasons. First, New England’s new designated player Milton Caraglio saw his first action in a Revolution uniform. He had a forgettable game, but did manage to nearly get an assist by heading a Zack Schilawski cross back across the goal to Chris Tierney, who whiffed on the near-sure-thing shot. On the down side, Caraglio took a comically weak shot from distance that slowly rolled into the arms of the Chivas keeper Dan Kennedy. Caraglio came out after about sixty minutes of play, not surprising given that this was his first game since playing in Argentina’s second division last season. His Revolution bio indicates that he scored 11 goals in 49 outings while in Argentina’s first division. Those are hardly impressive numbers for a DP striker, but Revolution management must have liked something about him. Obviously, it’s too early to judge the move.

It’s also too early to judge Diego Fagundez—another Revolution player with South American roots who saw his first regular-season action against Chivas—but Fagundez has sure given Revolution fans reason to hope. The sixteen-year-old Fagundez, whose father played in Uruguay, has decided to forgo college and is part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, and more specifically is part of the Revolution’s youth development program. He came on in the 66^th minute for Schilawski. Fagundez first got my attention for his fauxhawk haircut, which wouldn’t have looked out of place on a would-be anarchist in the “pit” area of Harvard Square. But I soon forgot about that and delighted in the quality and effectiveness of his play. Within two minutes of checking in, he’d received a pass at the corner of the penalty box, juked and split two Chivas defenders, and drawn a penalty kick. (Shalrie Joseph buried the PK on a nice, high shot.) And less than twenty minutes later, Fagundez scored in the run of play. (May those and similar words be repeated many, many times after future games). Partly sprung by a pick from Joseph, he collected a long ball into the penalty box from Kevin Alston. Fagundez ran onto the bouncing pass and judged it perfectly, skirting the defender as one might circle a Maypole, then slid a shot under the outstretched Kennedy. The strike brought the Revolution to within a goal of Chivas, where unfortunately they would remain.

Fagundez was one of the only Revolution players who deserved to be on the field with Revs’ captain Joseph, who had yet another strong game. Joseph corralled any ball within his reach and distributed and attacked effectively. Maybe his most impressive play came in the opening minutes of the game. He received a pass from Alston on the wing, looked up to spot an attacking Cochrane, and sailed an absolutely flawless, on-target ball into the box. Cochrane received the pass at the six and had nothing but net in front of him. Given how this season has gone for the Revolution, I almost feel I don’t have to add that Cochrane’s header somehow managed to miss the goal’s gaping maw. Newcomer Caraglio witnessed the miscue from a few feet away and buried his face in his hands in disbelief. Get used to it, Milton.

Joseph’s next-best play came in stoppage time, with the Revs down 3-2 and furiously pressing. Nyassi sent a ball into a crowded Chivas penalty box and Joseph, standing at the 18, headed the cross in the direction of the goal. The ball likely hit a Chivas defender in the hand but the referee didn’t blow the whistle. While Joseph’s teammates were gesturing and screaming for the call, Joseph savagely volleyed the rebound on target. It looked to be a sure equalizer, but Kennedy got just enough of a hand on the ball to redirect it off the post. Mansally collected that rebound on the left wing and crossed again to Joseph, but the latter couldn’t direct it on target.

The Revolution simply must find more players like Fagundez to put around Joseph. Joseph recently tweeted that he may not be back in New England next year, and I don’t like to speculate about just how bad, how drab, how unlikeable the team would be without him given how consistently poorly the team has played with him this season.

Revolution at D.C. United, 7.20.11

I rarely get excited by the play of a goalkeeper, but Matt Reis was magnificent yesterday. He bailed out the Revolution time and again in their 1-0 victory over D.C. United.

Though there were other candidates, Reis’s best save of the night probably came in the 82^nd minute, with his team holding on to a rare late-game lead. The United’s Andy Najar sailed a perfect ball in to Dwayne De Rosario, who was having a splendid match himself. De Rosario had nearly scored at least a couple of times earlier in the game, and now it looked as though he wouldn’t be denied. He settled Najar’s pass with a deft downward knifing trap. The ball bent to his will and he got off a characteristically quick, hard shot. Reis then seemed to morph into that other, more renowned Boston goalie—Tim Thomas—and kick-saved the shot into the outside of the netting. The crowd thought D.C. had scored and sent up a cheer, but De Rosario knew immediately that he’d missed. He clenched his fists in front of him in controlled frustration and looked down at Reis as if to say, you have got to be kidding me! Indeed, against almost any other keeper, and maybe even against Reis on any other night, that shot would have gone in.

The Revolution deserved this win, which is in itself almost as remarkable as the fact that they broke their nine-game winless streak. True, New England did look shaky in the first half, particularly on defense, and were exceedingly lucky to come out of it with a 0-0 score. D.C. controlled that period and created many excellent opportunities but failed to actually score, and that state of affairs usually spells doom for a soccer team. (Just ask the players on the U.S. women’s national team.)

D.C.’s best opportunity of the night came when Pat Phelan handled a ball in the penalty box. It was one of those inadvertent handballs that nevertheless must be called, since Phelan unthinkingly raised his arms when defending a cross. Charlie Davies stepped in to take the penalty kick and, delightfully for Revolution fans, his attempt sailed over the crossbar.

Could that missed PK signal a turning point in the Revolution’s currently dismal season? It would be folly to say so after their recent performances, and after continuing their trend of losing the possession battle. (They held the ball for only 39% of the game against D.C.) But this was the first time in what feels like (and may actually be) months that I felt something like hope while watching the Revolution. In the second half, New England actually looked pretty good. Let me repeat that: New England actually looked pretty good in the second half. Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally came on as substitutes (for Zak Boggs and Zack Schilawski, respectively) and added some speed and life to the offense. The defense tightened up, even though Darrius Barnes had to fill in at center back for Ryan Cochrane, who came off injured in the 22^nd minute. After getting barraged in the first half, and leaving runners wide open, the Revolution limited the United to only a few shots on goal in the second. And at the end of the game, the Revolution seemed to be the fresher team, another pleasant surprise. The announcers frequently mentioned the sweltering heat on the field, and I would have thought that those conditions, and the fairly raucous D.C. crowd, would have greatly favored the home team but that wasn’t the case.

While D.C. isn’t the best team in the east, they aren’t a terrible team either. De Rosario looked really good against the Revolution, and I have to wonder if New York is kicking themselves for the Dax McCarty trade. D.C. also has a good young goalkeeper in Bill Hamid and a good young center back in Brandon McDonald. Combine those players with Najar, Davies, Josh Wolff, and Chris Pontius (not to mention the injured Branko Boskovic), and you have the makings of a respectable MLS side. It’s also an improving team that was fighting for a playoff spot at home.

So the Revolution can take heart from this performance and look to build confidence and (dare we say it?) string together some wins. Let’s also hope they continue to use a 4-3-3 formation, as they did today. The key to this formation—really the key to any formation used by New England—is captain Shalrie Joseph. It was great to have him back in the lineup after the suspension. True, he very occasionally loses balls at midfield these days, and sometimes isn’t shy about making ridiculously dangerous passes back to defenders and his goalie in traffic (remember the pass to Didier Domi against Chivas? he made a similar pass back to Reis today), but he’s clearly the player around which the whole team revolves. His teammates all look to work the ball through him, as they should. Against D.C., he was working hard until the end as usual, nearly springing Nyassi for a game-clinching goal in the 86^th minute with a beauty of a through ball. Unfortunately, Hamid broke up the play and eventually collected the ball.

This may be way off base, but I wonder sometimes if Joseph’s eventual successor at midfield might be rookie Stephen McCarthy. I’m not putting McCarthy on a level with Joseph, but both are big and have games that can look unspectacular but are actually deceptively strong and effective. Sometimes Joseph looks like he’s running at half speed, and then you realize that he’s beaten his man and has headed in a goal, or that he’s shed his defender and is making a killer pass up the sideline, his ponytail flapping. As for McCarthy, I’ve noticed that he looks to hold the ball and make short passes in favor of the long ball, and this team needs a whole lot more of that kind of thing. Against D.C., he also happened to head in the game’s only goal, which came off a Chris Tierney corner kick. (The last time the Revolution actually scored in the run of play was over a month ago, but let’s not dwell on that now.) McCarthy’s header was textbook—he ran towards the ball and snapped it down to the ground and just inside the far post. The Revolution could use a whole lot more of that kind of thing too.

Revolution v. Vancouver Whitecaps, 5.14.11

 This marks the third straight game in which the Revolution have failed to score a goal in the run of play. The team looked out of sorts during the first half, particularly Darrius Barnes at left back, who was the victim of a couple of dangerous runs by Shea Salinas, the Whitecaps’ impressive young winger from Texas. The Revs’ flabby first-half performance can probably again be attributed to their ever-shifting lineups. Barnes was in for an injured Didier Domi, and Ousmane Dabo and Marko Perovic were also out. Zak Boggs was back from injury, and he started at right wing with Chris Tierney at left. They each had good games, Boggs hustling as usual and Tierney frequently and dangerously crossing the ball during the run of play and off set pieces. It must be hard to keep a guy like Tierney off the field; crosses like his make up for a multitude of deficiencies. Keeper Matt Reis also had a solid game, and the defensive line, led by Ryan Cochran and A.J. Soares in the middle, notched its second straight clean sheet despite those few shaky moments involving Barnes.

The Revs elevated their quality of play considerably in the second half, notably in the first fifteen minutes. Benny Feilhaber drew a penalty kick with a skilled trap and quick lateral move at the top of the box. Shalrie Joseph scored one of the more flawless penalty kicks you’ll ever see, striking the side netting hard and low. The goalie guessed correctly and got a good jump but still he had no chance.

The PK could not have been granted to a more deserving player. Joseph ran hard the entire game, hustling until the final whistle. He bounced back quickly from hitting his face on another player’s head in the 20^th minute when challenging for a Tierney cross. He also later recovered from a nasty ball to the groin at close range. The guy may wear a man-ponytail (defensible only on one of African descent who wears dreads, as Joseph is and does), and even occasionally man-pigtails (utterly indefensible), but he’s as tough as they come, plays hard, is good in the air, generally makes good passes, wins close challenges, and has good foot skills. I’d be surprised if he weren’t selected to his eighth MLS all-star team this year, though he is getting older and the league better.

Where would Joseph stand in the pantheon of Boston sports icons if the Revolution were widely followed? Given his accomplishments, he’d probably be up there with guys like Paul Pierce, Dustin Pedroia, Tedy Bruschi, and Ray Bourque. Some sympathetic deli ought to name a sandwich after Joseph, filling it with ingredients found in the cuisine of his native Grenada, otherwise known as the “Island of Spice.”

Let me end by saying that I miss Serbian striker Ilija Stolica, who brought skill and a touch of grizzled elegance to the Revolution roster. Stolica is on loan to some minor-league club called FC New York. That sounds like a dreadful place to be for a 32-year old with a family who once played at the highest levels with his national team.