New England Revolution

In a bold trade with Toronto FC, the New England Revolution have attained the No. 1 overall selection in the the MLS SuperDraft. 

The official website for the Revolution reported the news, and added that the Revolution gave up the fourth overall selection and an amount of cash that was not identified. 

It is a nice coup for the Revolution to make this kind of jump in the draft order without having to give up extra picks. 

The draft is on Thursday at the Indiana Convention Center. ESPN's SportsCenter will televise the first pick at 12 p.m. ET. 

This is the first time in the 18-year history of the draft that the Revolution will make the first selection, and they will undoubtedly be hoping for the kind of success they found when they made their previous highest selection. 

That came in the 2002 draft, when they selected second overall and took Taylor Twellman, who went on to become the club's all-time leading scorer. 

With the No. 1 selection, the Revolution can't afford to do anything but take the best player available. 

In this case, Andrew Farrell, a defender from Louisville, appears to be the smart choice. 

The Revolution have had good success drafting defenders, and Farrell appears to be a can't-miss prospect. 

He is athletically gifted, able to play multiple positions and reportedly has a great attitude. SI.com's Tanner Ives reports that Farrell has done nothing but impress at the MLS combine. 

He is not only shining with his ability—in a scrimmage he drilled a 40-yard pass through defenders and right to the foot of his teammate for an easy goal—but also with his attitude.

Ives reports that his "humility and coachability" are also catching everyone's attention.  

At this point, it would be a surprise if the Revolution went anywhere else with this selection. 

With two games down in the Olympic group play, there are a few subplots that have dominated news so far.

None is more striking than the demise of Spain.

With its emphatic 4-0 win in the final of Euro 2012, Spain had gone from strength to strength, winning three major international tournaments in a row.

And while its Olympic squad was mostly a 23-and-under roster, it still shocked the soccer world that one of the favorites will make an ignominious first-round departure.

The Man Who Fired the Shot Heard Around the Soccer World

Spain’s demise came at the hands of a Honduran team that proved equal parts tough and resilient, characteristic attributes of a team pulling an upset.

One man was of particular note, though, embodying the lonely nature of his underdog team, written off as it was surely was by the experts.

Jerry Bengtson, recently signed by the New England Revolution, took up the solemn duty as the lone striker in Honduras’ lineup.

And though a majority of his afternoon was spent in the thankless role of the sole player Honduran defenders and midfielders hoofed it to downfield, he had one very bright moment.

Seizing a driven cross, Bengtson hopped in front of his distinguished Spanish counterparts and headed the ball in, giving the Central Americans a shocking lead.

He continued his work rate until eventually being subbed, his job done.

Flying Under the Radar

Bengtson was not heralded much when he signed with the Revs. Certainly, most fans took notice, but with Saer Sene doing well, the Honduran wasn’t given much attention.

Of course, on his debut, Bengtson got a goal against New York, helping the team to a 2-0 win.

Even at the Olympics, he (much like his team) wasn’t really given that much attention before the Spain result.

And yet now, looking at the individual scoring statistics, it is not Giovani Dos Santos, nor Neymar or Oscar who are the leading the field.

It’s Jerry Bengtson. Tied with Moussa Konate of Senegal with three goals, Bengtson has been efficient in his finishing and relentless in his work for the team.

Going Forward

Following the Olympics (however they turn out for Honduras), Bengtson will return to New England for the lead-up to the playoffs.

Adding a striker with the quality of Bengtson could be the addition that manager Jay Heaps has been looking for.

Whether or not Bengtson and Sene can form an effective partnership remains to be seen. They’re both powerful forwards, so it could be a case of redundancy.

Also, will Heaps want to use two strikers or will he want to deploy more of a 4-2-3-1 with Sene or Bengtson working as the focal point of attacking midfielders?

In any event, it’s a refreshingly “good” problem for Revs fans to confront, as they seem to have quite the weapon waiting in the wings for post-Olympic play.

Starved for goals against Colorado on Wednesday, the Revolution turned once again to their cast of new faces.

And in Saer Sene and Fernando Cardenas, they have found two very promising signings.

Add in players like Jose Moreno, Kelyn Rowe and Lee Nguyen, and the Revolution have found a strategy to overhaul their struggling attack: strength in numbers.

So far, only flashes of potential have risen to the surface (since New England still sits with two more losses than wins at 3-5), but last night’s 2-1 win against the Rapids was particularly representative of what this team is capable of when they're firing on all cylinders.

That they were down 1-0 early was also significant. Gauging a team’s capability is best done when they’re losing.

And watching Jay Heaps’ squad respond was heartening for New England fans.

Rather than panicking, players like Benny Feilhaber, Shalrie Joseph and Clyde Simms simply settled down. They began grinding down Colorado’s passing game and winning the ball higher and higher up the field.

And when possession was regained, almost every Revs player on the field avoided the panicky, rushed passes straight up field that soccer teams so often resort to when they’re trailing.

Instead, they calmly worked good passing moves. This slowly sucked in Colorado’s defense, who grew frustrated at constantly having to chase down the Revs.

And accordingly, long balls resulted in both goals.

The two Revolution goals also had excellent finishes. Sene’s no-doubter into the heart of the goal was clinical. Cardenas’ lob over Matt Pickens was a masterful showing of skill and creativity.

That said, the win stemmed less from free-flowing soccer and more from timely defense and solid goalkeeping from Matt Reis. The Rapids actually had nearly 60% possession and out-shot the Revolution (19-16).

With a solid win under their belts, the team moves back towards an even record. They have a short turnaround with only two days to travel to Salt Lake City and prepare for one of the league’s best teams.

It will be a stiff test, yet if the Revolution can finally achieve a measure of consistency, there’s no reason why they can’t come away with a good result.

The New England Revolution haven’t had a coaching vacancy since promoting Steve Nicol to head coach in 2002, but the choice of whom to replace the longest tenured coach in history is, at the very least, one of the most intriguing decisions the team could’ve made—and could certainly pay off.

Continuing with a new trend in hiring ex-MLS players to coach their former teams—think Jason Kreis at Real Salt Lake and Ben Olsen at D.C. United—the Revolution ownership has chosen retired defender Jay Heaps to be the organization’s new head coach heading into the 2012 season.

Some fans may worry that Heaps doesn’t have any previous coaching experience. What he lacks in soccer coaching experience he makes up for in other areas.

For starters, Heaps who enjoyed a fine 10-year playing career (eight with New England), is one of the most popular and productive players in Revolution history. He’s first in the team’s record books in games played (243) and minutes played (21,619). He was the 1999 MLS Rookie of the Year with the Miami Fusion and he has been capped by the United States Men’s National team four times. He was a successful player at every level and knows what the players are going through.

He also has championship experience. He was a member of the U.S Open Cup champion team in 2007 and the SuperLiga champions in 2008. He was on the USMNT that finished second in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup and played for the Revs all four times the team made it to the MLS Cup final. He knows what it takes to be a champion, especially in the MLS, and that can go a long way in guys buying into what he has to tell them.

While he played for Nicol, who was a fine coach, he’s also been exposed to legendary coaching. While at Duke, Heaps was spotted by basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski—who tied an NCAA Division I record with 902 career wins on Saturday—and was given a spot on the team’s roster.

In four years he only played in 30 basketball games and scored eight points (compare that to 45 goals for the soccer team), but Heaps picked up a few valuable lessons from his time with the team.

Heaps acknowledged in an interview in 2008 that being one of the bottom guys on the bench helped him fully understand the true concept of what a team is.

“On the soccer field at Duke, I was the guy that played every minute of every game and was a player looked at to lead the team from a playing standpoint,” Heaps said. “Then I went to basketball, where I was probably the smallest guy on the team, one of the last guys off the bench, and I saw how you can still impact the greater good of the team no matter what your role might be.”

His time as a bench warmer makes him not only relatable to his lower-end players, but he knows how to get the most out of every player and keep everyone engaged in practice.

Heaps’ relationship with Coach K can also help guide him as he begins his own coaching career. During some of his offseasons, Heaps returned to Durham to spend time with Krzyzewski and his staff, observing the legend at work. While Krzyzewski coaches basketball and not soccer, and won’t be able to help Heaps with tactics, you don’t win 902 games (and counting) without having great leadership skills that transcend your sport.

It also should be mentioned that, for the past couple of seasons, Heaps has been the color commentator for Revolution games on television and radio. He has observed every game, seen not only the talent and flaws of the Revolution players but also witnessed first-hand the same qualities in every team in the league. He has stayed familiar with MLS and the Revolution and that should keep him sharp as well as allowing him to figure out what would be good player-acquisitions for his team.

Don’t take the notion that he’s a Revolution-lifer for nothing, either. The fact that he has played and worked for the organization shows a dedication to the team. He’s going to want this team to perform well for beyond just personal ones.

Some fans worry that hiring such a popular figure with little actual experience is just to make the fans forget about bigger issues inside the organization’s framework, but that isn’t Heaps fault. As far as being a leader and a coach, he should be up for the opportunity.

The Revolution team is a shell of its former self and Heaps doesn’t have a whole lot to work with, currently. It may be a rocky road to begin with, but there’s plenty of potential to turn this franchise around, and fans could very well be pleased with the results.

Apparently some New England Revolution fans were chucked out of their stadium on Saturday night in the match against Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium for the most heinous of crimes - shouting at the opponent's goalkeeper!

The fans sit in a section known as "The Fort", where most of the noise comes from during a match. They staged a mass walkout after some arrests were made by the local constabulary on bequest of the stadiums 'TeamOps' and security. Several altercations have taken place between the security staff and supporters over the alleged overuse of the chant 'You Suck A**hole', which was directed at the Chicago Fire's goalkeeper.

Not exactly a death threat, and I must admit, rather tame compared to most chants your hear at football stadiums, but Gillette Stadium apparently has a zero tolerance on this form of chanting, and the security acted—in their eyes—in a manner accordingly befit the crime.

The perpetrators of the heinous act were immediately ejected from the stadium, with two arrests being made by the police after consultation with the over-enthusiastic security staff.

With the mass ejection of the fans from the 'Fort', so went the atmosphere in the stadium, with the players on the field looking bewildered at the sudden lack of fans and atmospheric chanting.

'Mountain out of a molehill' springs to mind in this instance, with no common sense being portrayed by the security staff.

Marc Roseblade is a Contributor for Bleacher Report as well as Not Just Scottish Football and youth development reporter for Ayr United Football Academy. All quotes are obtained first-hand unless otherwise stated.

“Twice blessed is help unlooked for.”

Tolkien always understood this. If Michael Burns and Steve Nicol didn’t previously, it’s a fair bet they both do now.

The New England Revolution’s surprise acquisition of Benny Feilhaber on April 21 certainly falls into the category of help unlooked for. The Revolution (1-3-2) have looked mostly mediocre this year, save for the opener against the LA Galaxy, and are mid-table with six points from a possible 18.

“Speaking frankly,” said Burns, the Revs VP of Player Personnel, to GOAL.com’s Alex Labidou. “There’s no way we thought he was going to be available.”

Feilhaber, a Brazilian-born midfielder who has been capped 38 times with the US National Team, was twice passed over in the allocation draft before he fell into the laps of Burns and Nicol.

Both Chivas USA and the Philadelphia Union declined to claim the former Hamburg SV player, reportedly because of his high salary, rumored to be in the neighborhood of $400,000 per year.

Chivas needs help putting the ball in the net, and as Feilhaber is more of a creator than finisher, it is likely Chivas wanted to retain right of first refusal should a more attack-minded player come along. Think Herculez Gomez or Eddie Johnson.

Major League Soccer, in all its convoluted glory, uses the allocation process to give struggling clubs first crack at repatriating US internationals entering (or re-entering) the league. 

While not a Designated Player, according to league sources, Feilhaber’s salary will count the maximum of $335,000 against the salary cap. The remainder of the player’s wages will be paid in allocation funds, held by individual clubs and awarded for missing the postseason. 

Feilhaber spent time with Hamburg in the Bundesliga and Derby County—during their brief stint in the EPL in 2007/08—before joining Danish side AGF Aarhus, where he made 54 appearances, tallying five goals. AGF was relegated to the Danish second tier after last season. 

The signing is especially welcome for the Revolution, as it will allow Nicol the freedom to utilize MLS All-Star Shalrie Joseph in his more natural role as a holding midfielder, taking some of the burden of creativity and ball winning off his shoulders.

If Nicol elects to continue with his preferred 4-3-3 formation, Feilhaber will be a welcome sight playing in front of Joseph and Ousmane Dabo, among others. If the ex-Liverpool man decides to go with a 4-4-2, the former UCLA Bruin could work as a wide midfielder or in tandem with Joseph in the middle.

Feilhaber joins Rajko Lekic, a Danish striker, as new a face around the Gillette Stadium clubhouse, and his arrival looks especially appealing when cast against the backdrop of Lekic’s goal-scoring record in Denmark and recent vows to produce goals if provided service.

Feilhaber adds experience, creativity and technical ability to the attacking third. The pair certainly seem to have the potential for an explosive partnership. 

"He's a technical midfielder; he's good with the ball," Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, who coached Feilhaber while at UCLA, told The Seattle Times. "He's a good passer of the ball. Over the years, he's played a little more outside midfield now than inside midfield. He's certainly a quality player, and it's good to see him come back to the league."

Lekic made his Revs debut on April 17 during a 0-1 loss to Houston Dynamo, while Feilhaber could suit up against Sporting KC on April 23.

As far as Lekic goes, his pedigree speaks for itself. The Dane returned 76 goals in 121 appearances, all told, while at FC Silkeborg.

The Revs, by contrast, managed just 32 goals in 30 games last season, and despite some early promise, have fared little better this year, returning five goals in six games. 

After signing a contract with MLS in mid April, the US international was made available to every team through the allocation draft. 

Many, Nicol and Burns perhaps amongst them, considered it to be a foregone conclusion that Feilhaber would be snapped up by the club with the top spot in the allocation pecking order: Chivas USA.

“This was a really difficult decision because we had to look at a number of factors, first and foremost being if we take him and accommodate his salary within our salary cap, how much is that going to limit us going forward,” said Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser in a statement on the team’s website.

“Certainly, we’re looking to address some needs on the team, and having Benny would’ve been great in our midfield because he’s a very, very good player. But the fact of the matter is his salary would’ve been so high that we wouldn’t have been able to make any adjustments going forward.”

The Rojiblancos’ boss indicated that the focus will be on future acquisitions during the summer transfer window.

“In the last 36 hours, it’s been looking at every possible scenario that we thought would benefit us, and as unbelievable as it may sound, it seemed like (declining Feilhaber) was the best move for the long-term benefit of the club,” said Fraser.

“The summer window coming up is an important time for us and we’d like to position ourselves to make some moves that we think are going to further improve our team.”

Even with Chivas passing, Nicol and Burns still didn’t think the World Cup veteran midfielder would get past the Philadelphia Union.

There’s no way that at (number) three, he was going to be available,” said Burns on the team’s website of his thoughts ahead of the 5 p.m., April 19 deadline.

“And the five o’clock deadline came and went and we didn’t get anything and all of a sudden I got a call from the League saying both Chivas and Philly had passed. We were quite surprised, to say the least.”

“We figured if he wasn’t going to Chivas, he was going to Philly,” reiterated Nicol on revolutionsoccer.com.

“So, when they didn’t (select him), it was pretty straightforward for us … particularly the last year we’ve lacked experience and we obviously have wanted to do better with the ball, so it was pretty straightforward.”

For Philly and head coach Peter Nowak, the decision was about quantity before quality. The ex-Poland international explained his reasoning at his weekly news conference at PPL Park on April 20.

“There were a couple of factors we have to take into consideration,” Nowak said. “First of all, we didn’t negotiate the deal in the first place; the league did.

"Second of all, it was almost at the end of the transfer window period, which made it difficult to adjust because we already made plans for the summer (transfer window). And the most important thing is the financial stuff.”

“We don’t have a $5 million salary cap where we can make such a decision,” Nowak said. “You do the math. I’d rather have three guys than one guy. I’ve never questioned Benny’s quality. But if you combine Roger Torres, Keon Daniel and Brian Carroll, those are three players that are pretty good and have some future.”

Well, one man’s overpriced midfielder is another’s saving grace perhaps. 

“Some of the problems we had last year were a lack of experience and passing the ball,” Nicol told GOAL.com. “He’s a guy who, without a shadow of a doubt, brings loads and loads of both. It makes sense.”

As far as the player himself is concerned, Feilhaber is pleased to finally know where he will play and eager to help strengthen what he sees as a talented, yet, underachieving Revolution side.

“I feel I’m a good passer of the ball, I’m pretty calm on the ball and I can spring the team into the attack,” Feilhaber said on the Revolution’s website. “That’s definitely what I’m going to try to bring to the team.

“I think the team is stronger so far than the points we’ve got,” he said of New England’s record. “I’m excited to come in and meet the guys, be part of the whole team and try to help the team. I think we’ve got a good group of guys, and I see me fitting in well with the style of play.”

During my first season covering the New England Revolution, one of my initial observations was that the Kraft family would do well to move the club into a soccer specific facility in the near future.

That was back in 2001. A decade later, and the Revs continue to play in a football stadium. Anyone who has attended a match at Gillette Stadium will readily testify that the sight of 12-14 thousand fans rattling around the cavernous expanse of the Big Razor is slightly absurd, and not likely to inspire the players on the pitch all that much. 

The idea to build the team a new home closer to Boston is not a new one. It has been something that has been in the works for several years now, but the major obstacle has been where exactly to put a new 20-25 thousand seat soccer specific facility in a city where viable tracts of land for such an undertaking are few and far between, and often carry prohibitive price tags.

Team owner Robert Kraft and his Kraft Group have their hearts set on moving closer to the city, as they believe a move into a more urban setting would put the team within easy reach of the teeming multitudes of immigrants, many of whom originated in ultra-passionate soccer nations. The plan would also provide an accessible entertainment option for the area’s large sports-mad college age population, while also being close enough to public transportation to still allow suburban fans easy access to home games.

The question has always been: Where to build?

Back in 2007, the Kraft family began exploring the possibility of constructing the Revs new home on a parcel of land located near Sullivan Square Station on the MBTA’s Orange Line, but squabbling over the land at the state and municipal levels appeared to jettison the idea before it really got off the ground.

In an industrial corner of East Somerville, tucked in behind railroad tracks, the elevated portion of Interstate 93 and a massive MBTA maintenance facility, lies the area known as The Inner Belt. Home to little more than warehouses at present, the state and the city have been arguing over this land for almost two years now, as they try and decide where to build an 11 acre, 24 hour maintenance facility needed to service trains that will run on the expanded Green Line, which is slated to begin serving Somerville and West Medford in 2015—a $1 billion expansion project.

The uncertainty over the project put plans for an Inner Belt stadium on hold.

The area, originally created in the 1950s to serve an interstate highway that never came to fruition, the purely hypothetical interstate 695, presents an opportunity for the city of Somerville to add housing, offices and retail space to a city where space is at a premium. 

In May of 2010, events conspired to bring the Inner Belt area back into the fold for the Kraft Group, and may ultimately lead to the construction of a new stadium after all. A compromise between city and state officials to place the T facility on the eastern edge of the Inner Belt, as opposed to smack dab in the middle, has allowed Kraft and company to revisit the site as potential new home.

A brand new 20 thousand seat stadium, in an intimate urban setting, would also double as a concert venue.

The Case for Brickbottom

The Inner Belt area is adjacent to another barren neighborhood know as Brickbottom. With little to offer other than the odd artists’ loft and a plethora of warehouses and other industrial structures, the combined Inner Belt-Brickbottom area, all 200 acres, presents a tremendous potential for redevelopment. With the Green Line expansion project coming soon, it’s almost like a perfect storm of circumstances.

Financing, as anyone who recalls the on-time and under budget construction of Gillette Stadium just a few years ago, will not be an issue, according the statements made by Kraft. 

Consider the appearance of more and more soccer-specific stadia in recent years. Red Bull Arena and PPL Park, home of Red Bull New York and the the Philadelphia Union respectively, each seat around 20 thousand fans and cost in excess of $100 million to construct. Each are located in proximity to rail links in urban settings. Both of those teams are among the league’s top draws, while the Revs languish squarely near the bottom of the list.

The Inner Belt area presents a golden opportunity for the team to cash in on teeming population full of passionate soccer fans, while not alienating suburban supporters in the process. The game of soccer, from a fan standpoint, is all about atmosphere. It’s tough to cultivate a proper atmosphere when you’re a mile away from the field and surrounded by the solid blue swathes of empty seats that inevitably dot the Gillette Stadium landscape on game day. That being said, Revs’ games are not without a certain ambience already, thanks largely to the vocal denizens of “The Fort,” as the sections where supporters’ groups are generally seated is known and the prospect of such a vocal and energetic bunch occupying prime seats in a brand new intimate stadium is infinitely palatable.

Boston isn’t a baseball town. Boston isn’t a basketball town. Boston is a sports town. If there is one thing I will state with unequivocal certainty, it’s this: Professional soccer will find a permanent place in the sports pantheon of the United States, and Boston will embrace the Revolution (wait, that sounds vaguely familiar...).

It’s not going to happen because MLS suddenly evolves into a top-tier league from an international standpoint, and there are enough NASL alums still involved with the league that, even if the Cosmos end up with an expansion franchise, nobody is going to allow the DP rule to drag MLS down the same ruinous path to crippling disparity. When America finally takes the beautiful game into its heart, it will be largely because the league has been able to recreate the European atmosphere on match day to some extent. Intimate stadiums, built to house a pitch, not the gridiron, are the way to move towards this goal.

At least that’s the way I see it.

The Somerville proposal is not the only site under consideration, but it’s clearly the front-runner, and presumably for many of the reasons outlined above. It benefits the team, it benefits the city of Somerville and it benefits the fans. It’s a classic win-win.

MLS commissioner Don Garber has been quoted in the Boston media lately as being heavily in favor of the Revs new stadium plan, naturally. He spoke about the potential of Greater Boston, and the opportunity the Inner Belt area would provide. Kraft had invested some $1 million already in analyzing the site by 2010, according to New England Revolution Chief Financial Officer Brian Bilello, making it clear that he also recognizes the possibilities there.

Honestly, that should be all you need to hear.

I know the fashionable thing to do among many Boston fans is to bash Kraft at times, but look at the facts: All he’s done since taking over the NFL’s Patriots in 1994 is build a state-of-the-art stadium and revitalize what was an infinitely stagnant franchise. With very few exceptions, every step he has taken with the Pats has been an erudite one. He  has proven himself to be one of the shrewdest owners in the business. That’s why my belief is that the stadium project in Somerville will happen. It’s just a matter of when.

Kraft and the Revs are under no deadline to get anything done, and the owner has made it clear that he is going to wait for the right deal. My sense is that Inner Belt is the site, has always been the site, that is option number one. Now it’s just a matter of greasing enough hack palm to get the corroded wheels of Bay State government in motion. Simply put: Kraft will hold out for the most incentives he can from Somerville and Massachusetts to build on that site. In the end, I think it will happen. However, it may be a noisy process.

Remember back in 1999? Everyone thought the Pats were packed and ready to move to Hartford. There arose such a hue and cry from Patriots’ nation that you would have thought the sky was falling. Turns out Kraft was just negotiating; it was through this process that he was able to secure a deal he liked for a new stadium in Foxborough.

That’s what I think is about to happen in Somerville. My feeling is that a new stadium will happen, and most likely begin operations around the same time as the Green Line expansion, if not sooner.

It just makes too much sense not to happen, and Kraft is too shrewd a businessman to pass up the opportunity.