The Morning After: Revolution at Crew

At last.

Four years after the Revolution bowed out of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Chicago at Toyota Park, they’re finally on their way back thanks to gritty 1-0 win over the Crew on Sunday.

Here are a few facts, stats and assorted potpourri surrounding the season finale at Crew Stadium:

-How impressive was the Revolution’s October turnaround? Consider this: three weeks ago, the Revolution’s chances of making the postseason were listed at 17.7 percent. Not bad for a team that finished in third place thanks to Sunday’s 5-2 Red Bulls win over the Fire.

-The 51 points the Revolution secured this season is the highest total they’ve had since 2007, when they accumulated 50. It should be noted, though, that the 2007 MLS schedule comprised of 30 regular season games, and not the current 34-game standard.

-The 33 percent possession rate was the lowest figure the Revolution recorded in a victory since earning 40 percent in their 5-0 thrashing of the Galaxy on Jun. 2.

-Kelyn Rowe topped the passing accuracy chart for the Revolution by completing 89 percent of his passes. Following Rowe were Dimitry Imbongo (75 percent) and Diego Fagundez (71 percent). As a team, the Revolution only connected on 64 percent of their passes.

-For the Crew, Jairo Arrieta led the way by connecting on 93 percent of his passes, followed by Andy Gruenebaum (92 percent) and Bernardo Anor (91 percent). As a team, the Crew connected on 78 percent of their passes.

-In the defensive end, Revolution center back Jose Goncalves was kept busy as he recorded a game-high 15 clearances, while Chad Marshall led the Crew defense with 10 clearances.

-Revolution coach Jay Heaps on what it means to secure a playoff spot: “I think that we had our ups and downs this season, but I really think that we are coming together as a group. We are getting our young guys big minutes, big games, and they are winning games. They are finding results. I think that is really important for the development of players. You can talk about developing players and put them in tough situations and I think when you put them in tough situations they do well that learning curve is expedited.”

-Crew interim coach Brian Bliss summed up his tenure in this way: “It’s not easy to turn a ship in eight weeks, but I think the guys adapted well in a short amount of time and were flexible enough in their mindset and willingness to work and I applauded them for that.”

-Tweet of the day (with a possible unintentional Slyde reference):

What does the fox say.. “Hmm 3rd in the East baby.. Playoffsssssssss!!” #NERevs #Started #Nguyenning #lovethisteam pic.twitter.com/Xo2sNKPgKB

— Lee Nguyen (@LeeNguyen24) October 27, 2013

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