Poor New England! So Far From Boston, So Close to the Kraft Family: The Revolution 2019

Titans Bastard

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(they had 23 in 2016 whyyyy)



The 2002 offseason was a doozy, though. Three weeks after the Allocation draft you mentioned, they picked up Taylor Twellman AND Shalrie Joseph in the SuperDraft.



To be honest, the good Revs teams of the mid-00s were mostly built on getting Ralston in that Allocation Draft when Miami and Tampa Bay were contracted, and a stupendous run in the college draft.

2002: Taylor Twellman, Shalrie Joseph
2003: Pat Noonan
2004: Clint Dempsey, Andy Dorman
2005: Michael Parkhurst, James Riley, Jeff Larentowicz

They got basically nobody from '06 and '07 and mostly just Chris Tierney from '08 and Kevin Alston from '09. As the league expanded, it was harder and harder to hit big with draft picks. And as clubs started to significantly expand their technical staff, the Revs' international scouting methodology of "let's check out these DVDs that some random agent sent us" started to hurt them more and more.

But throw in Ralston and trades for Jay Heaps in '01 and Matt Reis in '03 and you have the whole Revs almost-dynasty right there.



I'm definitely feeling more bullish about the Revs in 2020 than I have in a long, long time. Like you, I don't expect them to be true top-tier contenders, but the player recruitment process has clearly been upgraded and I'm looking forward to seeing what Arena can do now that he has had more of a chance to shape the roster to his liking.
 

Titans Bastard

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The Revs have also signed eight players to USL League One contracts so far:

- Ryo Shimazaki, 22 year old Japanese fullback who played at VCU
- Collin Verfurth, 23 year old American CB who played his first year as a pro at Loudoun United in 2019
- Nick Woodruff, 21 year old American CB from Michigan State and, originally, the Revs academy (native of Attleboro).
- Maciel, 20 year old Brazilian CM from Botafogo's system
- Ryan Spaulding, 21 year old American winger who left college early and had stops at a low-level French team and North Carolina FC
- Connor Presley, 21 year old American winger with stops at San Antonio FC from 2017-2018 and Loudoun United in 2019
- Mayele Malango, 22 year old DR Congolese attacker who spent some of his childhood in Lowell and played for UMass-Lowell
- Orlando Sinclair, 21 year old Costa Rican forward from Deportivo Saprissa who spent time on loan at Loudoun United last season.


Three guys from Loudoun United (DC's reserve team) isn't a huge surprise given that one of Arena's assistants, Richie Williams, managed Loudoun for part of last season and therefore knows the players.

The Revs have said they plan to sign 4-8 more players to USL contracts and spread the rest of the minutes among MLS-contract players and unsigned academy players. There are four young academy products on the senior roster that will likely feature heavily: Isaac Angking, Damian Rivera, Nico Firmino, and Justin Rennicks.

I don't have a good sense of who the top unsigned prospects are because few academy players are getting called into YNTs. That said, I've heard good things about GK Eliot Jones '03 of New Britain, CT (who may be injured though) and MF Colby Quinones '03 of Bedford, NH.
 

tmracht

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Think we should expect Keegan Meyer to get a ton of USL time based on his mid second round slot and the Revs having 3 keepers on MLS deals already (Turner, Knighton, Caldwell)?
 

Senator Donut

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The Revs SB Nation blog reported Camara served a brief prison sentence in 2015, so it seems reasonable to speculate that his crime prevented him from obtaining a visa.

https://www.thebentmusket.com/revolution-transfer-news-rumors/2019/12/27/21038931/revolution-transfers-2020-bruce-arena-bob-bradley-samba-camara
From an on-field perspective, I had doubts that a player struggling for playing time in Ligue 2 could have a big impact on this roster, so this frees up some resources (allocation money and an international slot) to add another player. They still probably need another center back, despite drafting Kessler, so it’s definitely a negative in the short term.
 

Senator Donut

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Revolution II have signed a 17-year old player out of their academy.

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/post/2020/01/21/revolution-ii-signs-revolution-academy-forward-meny-silva
An academy player signing with a USL-1 side isn't huge news, but consider that Silva is from Roxbury and is part of the Revolution's brand new residency program (It's a long drive from Roxbury to Foxboro in the afternoon as many are well aware) and he's signing with a brand new B team, it's a huge indication of the progress the club has made under Arena.
 

Titans Bastard

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We'll start with the good news for the Chicago Fire...they signed a backup keeper, Connor Sparrow from Nashville SC. He's only 25, so there's hope he might continue to develop into a starter. But considering the backup had been a 15 yr-old local kid, this was a very necessary upgrade. This brings the roster up to 19!

The Fire also have 5 academy players in camp with them. Their academy doesn't have 5 players ready to make the gameday squad, but they needed a few live bodies just to train properly. I think it also reflects Heitz and Wicky's desire to improve the quality of the academy, which will be a process. But Chicago has more than enough local talent to keep a squad rounded out with homegrowns, contribute a few regulars, and offer up the occasional star.

The bad news..looks like 21yr-old Polish international winger Jozwiak is headed to Derby County instead of Chicago. Hopefully Heitz can use his UEFA network to consistently find young, undervalued talent like this, though convincing them to leave Europe for MLS will be a hurdle if competing offers come in.

And there's rumblings that Pizzaro's agents have rejected a second offer from the Fire. It reads like they are delaying in order to drum up a Spanish offer, which is Pizzaro's preferred destination. Mansueto has been personally involved in these talks, but as a brand new owner, it's hard to project how that bodes.
Get yer stinkin' Fire updates out of the Revs thread!

Revolution II have signed a 17-year old player out of their academy.

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/post/2020/01/21/revolution-ii-signs-revolution-academy-forward-meny-silva
An academy player signing with a USL-1 side isn't huge news, but consider that Silva is from Roxbury and is part of the Revolution's brand new residency program (It's a long drive from Roxbury to Foxboro in the afternoon as many are well aware) and he's signing with a brand new B team, it's a huge indication of the progress the club has made under Arena.
He's certainly an example of a player who would not be paid to play professional soccer in 2020 if not for this USL League One team.
 

Titans Bastard

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I thought it was okay when I just saw the shirt, but I like it more with the shirt and socks:

 

dirtynine

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The navy-red-navy shirt-shorts-socks combo is timeless. Still having trouble adjusting to the paint stripe.
 

Senator Donut

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Ian at American Soccer Analysis has a great statistical preview of 2020 Revolution. I think it’s worth reading in full, but I’ll summarize his main points.

1. The 2019 Revs were a historically awful xGA team and didn’t even improve when Brad was canned

2. Bruce adding the MLS’s best goalkeeper to his XI covered up a lot of the back line’s deficiencies

3. The attack should look even better next year (I forgot how much JF Caciedo actually played) but the defense does not seem to have improved much

https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2020/2/29/2020-season-preview-new-england-revolution
I agree with most of it. I think the back line will be improved next year, but I’m not sure if it’s just my optimism and “in Bruce we trust” mindset. It’s hard to extrapolate out how MLS newcomers Büttner and Kessler will fare coming from Europe and the NCAA respectively, but I’m very optimistic considering the reports out of the preseason. I also think DeJuan Jones will smoothly transition to right back. I would really like to see them use the resources intended for Samba Camara (international spot and allocation money) on another center back.