New England Revolution advancing to MLS Cup demands recognition

by Dakota Antelman

They got their trophy and they would not give it back.

After a thrilling game that served as a thrilling climax to a thrilling season, the Revolution swiped their Eastern Conference Championship Trophy before the official presentation could be made. As NBC Sports Network camera came back from their commercial break and calls were made from the makeshift stage for the trophy to be returned for the ceremony, there was no answer.

Instead one MLS official stood off to the side and spoke briefly into the camera as a mob of sweaty Revolution players and falling confetti completely enveloped the trophy and the monumental win it represented.

For the first time since 2007, this team, omnipresent in the history of soccer in the United States but deprived of a championship, was back in the title game, just one win away from reversing that negative mark against them.

And after a season and an Eastern Conference Finals like the one concluded on the cold and windy night that Saturday November 29^thpresented, that reversal, that next, new, chance was even more holy to the team. It elevated the game they had just played and the cold silver trophy they had just won to a level of desire and euphoric joy bestowed upon its possessor that was previously unknown to many local soccer fans.

Seven years removed from their last bandwagon passenger soliciting season, the Revolution played out this year with limited recognition or coverage. Their stands were often less than half full for much of the year while the results of their games were rarely cast a second thought in the media.

Even so, New England was soon a superior team in the MLS in terms of standings and statistical prows. By the end of the regular season in October, the team had put up a record of 17-4-13 and had the second best record in the Eastern Conference.

Very few paid attention when they qualified for the playoffs in October. As a result very few even paid attention to their first round series against Columbus. Only after the Revolution took out the Columbus Crew and proceeded to beat up on the New York Red Bulls two weeks later in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Finals did the sports world finally begin to take notice. What many within the MLS had known all season was finally recognized by Boston sports fans ahead of Saturday’s final leg of the Conference Finals; the Revolution are a really good team.

But who was complaining. The Revolution had a fan base; there was assuredly room on the bandwagon.

And so, with record attendance, they brought the conference finals home for the second leg of their series with New York.

But things did not get off on the right foot for the Revolution who soon found themselves trailing 1-0 in the game and tied in the series’ aggregate scoring. Australian native, Tim Cahill punched in a shot early in the game that seemed to give the Red Bulls life.

New England turned things around soon after though when forward Charley Davis headed in a screaming shot off a set piece play.

"I liked that we were able to get a set-piece goal. It was something that we worked on all week on that exact play," Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. "It was actually a very similar play we ran in New York, [and] we missed that chance, so we knew there was going to be some space in that area, and we were able to hit on it."

The Red Bulls eventually managed to get the lead back with a second half strike by Peguy Luyindula. Needless to say, with things suddenly getting a little hairy in Foxboro, the Revs buckled down and began to once again turn the tide of the game in their favor.

Young goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth took ownership of the goal area and finished the night with two saves and the memory of several aggressive plays that broke up potential shots.

Beyond Shuttleworth, things got physical as the game wound down with two yellow cards being handed out and several huge challenges being made. In the 70^th minute however, it was Davis again who seized the moment and reminded Revs fans why he was the hero of the night. His shot from 15 feet out, gave the Revolution back their 4-3 lead on aggregate scoring.

The Revolution and their fan base were more than grateful.

"Today, from the opening whistle, the number of times he got behind their back line early -- and then the two chances -- you know Charlie Davies can score," Heaps said. "And I think that when he gets into those areas, he's going to put them away."

After seven years without an MLS Cup appearance, the New England Revolution are back in the big game. And after over two decades of seasons ending without a championship victory for this team, New England will take the field next Saturday ready to put it all aside and just win one more game.

This team has the mentality to get that one more win. After all, they did not even wait for the MLS to 

give them their Eastern Conference Finals trophy; no, they went up on that stage and got it for themselves. The same mantra, the same we-win-our-own-battles mentality could make this 2014 Revs team the first ever to return to Foxboro in the second week of December as MLS Cup victors. 

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Jermaine Jones signs with New England Revolution: World Cup alum huge boost for Revs midfield

32 year old German/American midfielder, Jermaine Jones signed a deal with the New England Revolution earlier this week that bought out his services to the team for the next one and a half years. The former US men's soccer team starter will bring a brutal shot from set pieces to the Revolution midfield that as of now is really just the Lee Nugyn show and a kind of weathered leadership that even coach Jay Heaps may not be capable of administering. All and all, it is blatantly apparent why New England soccer fans are rejoicing this week.

Born to an US military family stationed in 1982 West Germany, Jones developed a keen love for Germany and its national pastime- soccer- at a very young age. At age 12 he was playing for a club team by the name of SV Bonames before, just days after his 13th birthday, young Jones made the jump so semiprofessional ball when he signed with FV Bad Vipel in 1994. Following the '94 season, Jermaine Jones enrolled at Eintracht Frankfurt, a soccer oriented private high school where he played in excess of 70 games on the schools primary and secondary squads. Following his senior season at Frankfurt, Jones, sporting a greatly refined defensive game and a growing left footed shot was bought out by Bayer Leverkusen of Bundesliga, Germany's elite soccer league. In Bayer, Jones added 15 starts in the secondary league and 5 caps in the actual Bundesliga before he was loaned back to Frankfurt. 

Over the next 7+ seasons, Jermaein Jones bounced around Germany not because of any lack of talent but rather due to the whopping salaries he was suddenly commanding. His 30 goals from the defensive portion of the field up through 2010, caught the eye of then USMT coach, Bob Bradley and as that year's World Cup in South Africa rolled around, Jones was given his big break- a starting spot on the US roster. However after injuring himself prior to the cup, he did not make the trip to South Africa. 

Four years later when FIFA took its ultimate tournament to Brazil, he was displaying his brutal skill in its greatest form. With what could possibly go down as the iconic goal of the US run to the Round of 16 in 2014, Jones took a shot from 25 yards out that eventually curled into the net and equalized a pivotal US game with Portugal. 

However since the US eventually lost to Belgium last month, Jones has not played for any professional team and had been searching ridiculously for a team who could help him change that. He found that in the MLS who in turn found another international superstar that they could sign and boost their global profile. For the Revs in particular though, Jones is more than just a big name. 

After Andy Dorman tore his MCL last month, the Revolution who, at one point, held the best record in the conference have fallen from grace. Excluding the efforts of superstar midfielder Lee Nugyn, the Revolution middies have managed to net just 3 goals and have also left vast holes wide open for opposing strikers to capitalize on. Jones, a midfielder known best for gritty challenges and physical battles in the corners and on the outer portions of the field could help shove attackers away from the prime scoring areas in the Revs end.

Jones is excited to do just that and hopefully help the Revs make it to the playoffs for the second time this decade.

“I’m very excited to come to MLS and join the Revolution,” Jones said earlier this week. “New England is an exciting team on the rise, and I believe I can come in and help the team make a push toward MLS Cup. Playing with the U.S. National Team has given me a great connection with the American fans and I’m looking forward to playing in front of them every weekend. I’m ready to get started with the Revs." 

All and all, Jermaine Jones brings both name recognition and a perceived boost in ticket sales as well as some immense midfield skill to a team right on the fringe of playoff success. If Jones can perform in the blue and red uniform than the Revolution could not only make the playoffs but contend for the title they have never won, the MLS cup. 

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One Year Later: Matt Reis makes his greatest save

For those who know the name John Odom, you know what he went through, how close he came to death and the story of the heroic man who saved his life.

But if you have not heard this story, I summarize it by saying that once again, in that sole moment there was exhibited that nearly impulsive instance where when the worst of humanity strikes the best of it emerges. 

John Odom was a man just weeks away from his official retirement. He was 63 and father and law to famous New England Revolution goaltender Matt Reis and was in Boston to watch his biological daughter and wife to Reis, Nicole, experience the realization of her dream to run the fabled Boston Marathon. Her family, both legal and biological were intent on supporting her in her athletic triumph.

But as reported by the Boston Globe back in July, an eerie series of events surrounding watching that race and the grizzly happenings that would interrupt it were discretely responsible for the saving of Odom’s life.

As all of Nicole’s cheering squad members made their way to their spot to cheer at the 13 mile mark, they realized they had forgotten their encouraging signs back home and so they were forced to go back there before settling down and waiting for Nicole to reach their cheering point. There they retrieved a sign and Reis remembered that he had forgotten to put on a belt that morning. He remedied that and then left with the family.

Knowing that Nicole had already passed the 13 mile mark originally marked as a viewing point, the family moved to the highly populated finish line where they arrived mere minutes before the first of two bombs went off.

“It was perfect weather for the runners,” said John Odom. “It was a wonderful feeling being there, seeing all the runners coming in, everyone cheering."

According to his account, Reis took his small daughter up on his shoulders and moved a few feet away from Odom. That move very well might have saved their daughter’s life.

As they waited for Nicole, the bomb suddenly went off knocking both of the Odom parents to the ground and brutally injuring John. According to Reis’ descriptions, he and John’s wife Karen immediately jumped into action tying Reis’ belt tight around Odom’s leg as they worked to keep the damage caused by a 4 inch slice of metal from killing John. Odom “turned grey” and solicited panicked screams on the part of Reis and Karen for their patient to stay awake.

Long story short, he did and though John Odom received enough blood transfusions to equal the amount of blood in the bodies of 2 people, a series of 11 surgeries and 2 and a half weeks of life in a medically induced coma helped save John Odom. And yet we know, the doctors who saved John and the entire soccer world knows that none of that would have been possible without those seconds of cool headedness and heroic knowledge of human health and emergency care exhibited by Matt Reis. 

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