Let's win some trophies this year

This is the week for them to bust out.

 

Note: the USOC is cancelled this year. Going to be hard to win a trophy there

 

It has been postponed, but not officially cancelled (yet).

2021 US Open Cup postponed leaving tournament’s 107th edition in doubt

 

I'm not dead yet

 

Just wanted to note that Seattle was only able to turn that game in hand into ONE POINT in a scoreless draw with Austin last night.

Diego and Kelyn both looked good at times.

 

Some of the wins haven't been that convincing, but they're wins. One thing that is different about this team is that we are seriously dangerous on the attack. Other than against incompetent Miami, we haven't really busted out - but it feels like we are a threat to do just that on any given matchday.

 

2005 was easily the one year where we've been in the Shield chase for the majority of the season. They started the year 7-0-4. By the end of July, they were 10-3-6, tied with Chicago for first place in the east and the most points in the league at 36. Winners of three of five league games in August, the Revs raised their record to 13-5-6. With 45 points, they had a four-point cushion in first place of the Eastern Conference and a one-point lead in the race for the Shield. Then with six games to play, the Revs had a 15-5-6 record with 51 points. They had a seven-point lead over D.C. United for first place in the conference. They had a one-point lead in the Supporters’ Shield chase.

The next few games determined the race. Against the MetroStars at Giants Stadium on September 17, the Revs lost a bizarre one 5-4 and ended up two points behind San Jose. Against Columbus on September 21, a 1-1 draw. September 24 at home vs. Metros, a 1-0 victory that clinched a spot in the 2005 MLS Cup playoffs. Then the Revs hosted San Jose at Gillette on October 1, their first match against the Earthquakes since opening day. The 16-6-7 Revolution were two points behind the 16-4-9 Quakes. They weren't wearing orange yet, but in a sign of heartbreaks to come, Brian Ching and Dwayne DeRosario scored second half goals to give the Earthquakes a 2-0 win. This gave the Quakes a five point lead in the race for the Shield with two games to play, effectively ending the race. The Revs ended the year with a draw and a win to finish 17-7-8 with 59 points, five points back of SJ.

There have been other years where the Shield was within reach, in theory at least. In 2007 after winning the Open Cup, with three league games to play, New England had the second-most points in the league and were just four points shy of Shield-leading D.C. United. But they went 0-2-1 in the final 3 games. After winning the SuperLiga in 2008, the Revs were in the Open Cup semifinals (taking on DC with the winner guaranteed to face a lower level side in the final as the other semi was USL sides Charleston and Seattle), they had the best record in the league at 10-4-3 with 33 points, and they hadn't yet played Joe Public in the Champions League. But the wheels fell off, they pissed away a chance at back to back Open Cups, they embarrassed themselves in the Champions League, Twellman's career trajectory was forever changed, and they limped to an early playoff exit.

Even in 2015, after a September 16 win over the New York Red Bulls, the Revs were 13-9-7 with 46 points. They had a one-point lead in first place of the Eastern Conference and were only two points behind the Western Conference leading Vancouver Whitecaps in the Supporters’ Shield race. But the Revs stumbled in their last five, going 1-3-1 and tumbling to fifth in the east ahead of losing to DC in the playoffs (Jermaine's final Revs game with his epic meltdown at the end of the game).

It is a long season and a lot of drama is still to come. But the Revs have rarely been Shield contenders so this is an exciting time to be a fan of the team.

 

I know plenty will disagree, but in retrospect I don't think that in 2008 they pissed away a chance or embarrassed themselves. That was a classic case of a team that lacked depth and didn't use what bench they had and totally burned out in midsummer. We tend to think that everything comes down to effort, but with that team it seems apparent to me they were totally drained and, if anything, trying harder (i.e., trying to do too much) made things worse.

 

Yeah, gonna have to respectfully disagree, at least on the language usage - pissing away and embarrassing are exactly the words to describe some of the events that occurred in the post-Superliga 2008 season. They played a second choice lineup in the 08 Open Cup Semi as Steve Nicol chose to rest the majority of his top players while most of D.C.’s regulars played. It was their second game after the SuperLiga final and D.C. was a struggling side that was 8-9-1 at that point on the season. A lower level team awaited in the final. The title was there for the taking, despite their limitations as a side. They took a pass instead. And the home game against Joe Public was humiliating, as they were missing a ton of players, finished the game with 9 guys on the field and got pummeled by a CONCACAF minnow at home. Yes, that 2008 team lacked depth and that is a big contributing factor to the slide - maybe they should have kept Pat Noonan when he came back to the league midseason instead of trading his rights to the Crew. Their bench was small and it was full of players that weren't good enough. That was the biggest weakness of the roster in the 2000s glory years and it killed them in 2008.

 

A coach has to take the measure of his squad and decide when players need to be rested. Nicol rested key guys in the USOC and took a lot of heat for it, but the subsequent games did in fact show that his key players were worn out.

 

We are in total agreement there. They were. Problem was not enough support for the key players because the bench was useless beyond 1 to 3 guys. The organization deserved criticism for all of that because they didn't get more help to an aging core that had seen several key performers walk for nothing. In any case, the nice thing about the current regime is it appears to have created a team with a good starting 11 and depth in almost every position. It is a welcome change.

 

I'll 2nd this and go even further - they've created a complete player development program, with a consistent philosophy, from the Academy straight through to the first team.

This probably isn't too much different that most successful MLS franchises, but not only are we not behind the curve, we're probably, with our new training center and revamped coaching/administration, among the best now.

 

Not sure if this belongs in here or the off topic thread, but man, having been a fly on the wall for a lot of bad years on this forum, it's so refreshing to visit these boards now. Sure there's still a few KADs that might be a little bit punch drunk, but you can tell that shit lookin tasty to a LOT of the NNN's this board has been accustomed to.

Everything seems to be coming together at the right times. Kaptoum was looking like a non factor, and he's come back and contributed. Arnor was looking like he might not be the real deal, then he hangs two on Miami with an assist on either side.

If we can get Caicedo healthy, confident, and in form, maybe we don't see any moves made, if that's not the case, I'd like to see us go and sign a CDM that can be that guy.

Defensive depth is at a bit of a premium right now, with Kessler and Turner away with the US, and Bell going down last game. Having watched Verfurth and Cayette in a few Revito's games, I'm fairly confident in their abilities to deputize for the first team. Wondering if we see one of them get the call up Saturday.

 

I think with it looking more and more likely that we'll be losing a couple of our stars this offseason, it really seems like this is a year we have to go all in.

Arena lately has been tamping down talk of adding someone before the international deadline - I'm hoping that's just a mis-direction. I agree with the 'I like what we've got', but there are clearly some areas that could be improved - and I feel we've been a bit lucky in doing as well as we have while having some pretty glaring issues (IMO).

 

There has been so much heartbreak in the past, that I've tried not to get over-excited about hardware. But now they are so close I can taste it.

Come on you Revs, let's lock this up in Orlando on Sunday!

 

Would be amazing to have this (SS, and the points-record) locked in the cabinet, regardless of what happens in the playoffs.