When Jay Heaps was playing as a defender for the Revolution, the team developed a reputation for making spectacular late-season rallies on the way to qualifying for the postseason. And the Revolution have continued that pattern with Heaps as coach.
Last season, though, the Revolution’s hot streak began too late. The Revolution went 5-2-0 (15 points) over the last seven games, tying the Philadelphia Union for the sixth and last Eastern Conference playoff spot, but losing out on goal differential.
It was the first time in the last four seasons the Revolution failed to advance to the postseason, raising questions about the team’s slow-start, fast-finish habit. Since MLS has expanded (to 22 teams this season) and the competition level has improved, starting slowly has become an increasingly risky proposition, as the Revolution learned last year. Also, gaining home-field advantage via a strong regular-season record has become important in the playoffs, as the MLS Cup is contested on the home field of the team with the better record.
“Big picture, we’re definitely a playoff team if we follow what we want to do every day,’’ said Heaps this week as his team prepares for its season opener at the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. “And that is build the week the right way and focus one game at a time and keep that consistency. If we don’t have consistency, anything happens. I think, for us, we want to control our own season this year, and it’s really important we do that starting in Colorado.’’
Last year, the Revolution’s late-season success coincided with a change in formation, Heaps switching from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 alignment following a 2-0 loss at Columbus on Aug. 20 that extended the team’s losing streak to four games. US national teamer Juan Agudelo moved into a playmaking role, with Kei Kamara and Lee Nguyen up front. It took two games for the attack to click, then the Revolution scored 15 goals in the final seven matches (after totaling 29 goals in the first 27 matches).
“No question, we feel last year was a disappointment,’’ Heaps said. “And this year, we talk about end-of-the-year runs, but, for me, the reality is focusing one game at a time.’’
The Revolution have also become noted for falling at the final hurdle. The Revolution have lost five times in the MLS Cup final, and three times in other tournament championship games. Last year, the Revolution reached the US Open Cup final for the third time, falling, 4-2, to FC Dallas. There have been successes — the Revolution won the 2007 US Open Cup and ’08 SuperLiga — but their overall record in all title games is 2-8 since 2001 (0-3 since ’08).
“I think the old-timers, maybe, [but] I don’t think it hangs over our guys,’’ Heaps said. “The reality is, we wanted to win the Open Cup and put forth a strong team to do so. And, unfortunately, we fell a little short and picked up two substantial injuries [Gershon Koffie and Je-Vaughn Watson]. That hurt us a little bit, going for it so hard in the middle of year. But, at the same time, it was a goal for us. We came up a little short but I’m proud of how we went about trying to win that.’’
The Revolution have been attempting to revamp the central defense after losing A.J. Soares following the 2014 season, then Jose Gonçalves after last year. Benjamin Angoua, a former Ivory Coast international who has been playing for Guingamp in France since 2014, and Slovenian Antonio Mlinar Delamea have been brought in as replacements.
The Revolution traded Bobby Shuttleworth, their starting goalkeeper the last four years, to Minnesota United, bringing in US U-23 national team goalkeeper Cody Cropper to challenge Brad Knighton for the position.
The other major loss was Koffie, acquired to replace Jermaine Jones, then leaving after one season on a free transfer to Hammarby IF in Sweden. Zach Herivaux and Xavier Kouassi are candidates to replace Koffie, pairing with Scott Caldwell in central midfield. Projected backup Daigo Kobayashi could be in the starting lineup while Herivaux (knee sprain) and Kouassi (knee surgery) recover.
Andrew Farrell and Chris Tierney return at outside backs. Teal Bunbury, Diego Fagundez, and Kelyn Rowe will alternate on the wings. Watson and London Woodberry are defensive reserves. Femi Hollinger-Janzen and first-round draft choice Brian Wright (University of Vermont) add bench strength up front.
Revolution players are attempting to use previous failures as motivation.
“Sure, as a New England sports fan, as a kid from Boston, that’s something that weighs heavy on me,’’ Tierney said. “But it’s something I work on day to day and game to game. You just have to realize you’re putting yourselves in position to win championships, and that’s what every team strives to do. Plenty of teams have been to zero finals. It’s not easy to accomplish, and you can think of it as a negative thing, because we haven’t taken it to the next level and won that championship. But another way to look at it — we’ve had some strong teams with chances to win championships and that’s what every team tries to do. Our mind-set’s no different. We’re going into this season trying to make the playoffs and then you take it from there.’’
Tierney was in the starting lineup when the Revolution took a penalty-kicks win over the Houston Dynamo in the 2008 SuperLiga final. Kamara, acquired from the Columbus Crew last season, played for the Dynamo in that game.
“You can’t really say it’s a curse,’’ Kamara said of the Revolution’s title game defeats. “Hopefully, we do make our way to playoffs this year and it will be a different story.
“It makes me hungry, personally, because I’ve been in this league so long and haven’t won a championship. And going into the final with Columbus [in 2015], it was something that was my drive and I wanted that. I feel like I’m at the point, I still need a championship under my belt, so I play to put myself in a position to get there.’’
