{"id":19973,"date":"2013-06-15T12:40:24","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T16:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=19973"},"modified":"2013-06-18T10:33:35","modified_gmt":"2013-06-18T14:33:35","slug":"five-questions-revolution-at-whitecaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=19973","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions: Revolution at Whitecaps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Revolution<\/a>

Revolution defender A.J. Soares<\/span><\/span> battles with Whitecaps forward Omar Salgado<\/span><\/span> in last year’s clash, which Soares<\/span><\/span> and his teammates won 4-1. (Photo: Tony Biscaia<\/span><\/span>\/Revsnet<\/span><\/span>.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jerry Bengtson<\/span><\/span>…International Man of Mystery?<\/p>\n

On Friday, news leaked that the Revolution forward had abandoned\u00a0the Honduras National Team in the midst of World Cup Qualifying. The reported reason for his departure was his unhappiness with the decision\u00a0of Luis Fernando Su\u00e1rez<\/span><\/span> to drop him from the starting XI.<\/p>\n

Of course, we haven’t learned many of the facts just yet. The story is still relatively fresh, and that pesky language barrier is still there.<\/p>\n

But that hasn’t stemmed\u00a0some pretty\u00a0strong opinions voiced in response to the news. Some\u00a0have said that Bengtson<\/span><\/span>‘s departure is the hallmark of a primadonna<\/span><\/span>. A crybaby. A player who puts himself before his teammates. A player who abandons his National Team – his country – in the midst of its campaign to qualify for the greatest tournament on the planet. “Traitor” is probably the nicest thing he’s been called in the last 48 hours.<\/p>\n

That being said, it’s hard to gauge where Bengtson<\/span><\/span>‘s mind and heart were when he abruptly left the team hotel. We do not know what led to him being dropped, nor do we know why he felt justified in making such a drastic decision.<\/p>\n

But what we do know is this: Bengtson<\/span><\/span> is back with the Revolution. He re-joined them on Thursday, and trained with the club during the morning session.<\/p>\n

What we can also gather from the past 48 hours is this: He\u00a0no longer has the\u00a0National Team\u00a0forum to\u00a0rediscover\u00a0his\u00a0goalscoring prowess. He no longer has\u00a0World Cup Qualifying to\u00a0routinely duck out of\u00a0spotlight when he struggles. He no longer has\u00a0an alternative forum\u00a0to boost his stock on the transfer market. In short, he\u00a0has to\u00a0figure it all out right here, in New England.<\/p>\n

The safety net is gone. His premature return to the Revolution only signals one thing: right now, his only hope for redemption lies\u00a0with his club, for his country is no longer an option.\u00a0If he wants to return to the form that netted him a pair of Honduran\u00a0league scoring titles, reclaiming that form in Foxborough<\/span><\/span> might be his last recourse.<\/p>\n

While Bengtson<\/span><\/span>‘s sudden departure is bad news for Honduras, it might just be the best news for the Revolution, who now have a player on their hands\u00a0who doesn’t want to be defined by the decision he made three days ago. A player who, for the first time since his arrival last July, might need them more than they need him.<\/p>\n

With or without Bengston, the Revolution have a game to play against the Whitecaps on Saturday.<\/a>\u00a0And because of that, we’ve got five questions for you, our loyal readers, whom we would never abandon, whether it be World Cup Qualifying or mid-season league action.<\/p>\n

1. Can the attack put last Saturday’s embarrassing performance behind them?<\/strong> They’ll have no choice. The way that the worst defense in the league kept one of the hottest was hard to swallow. Heaps credited D.C. as a good team, though we all know the truth. Agudelo<\/span><\/span> said he was “pissed,” and he should’ve been after he was held to zero shots. <\/span>Fagundez<\/span><\/span> was a bit more diplomatic after the game, yet he couldn’t have been happy with the way D.C. laid the lumber down when he took it toward net.\u00a0Fortunately for the named parties, Wednesday’s 4-2 Open Cup win put to rest many fears that the attack had been figured out. Granted, a number of the players on the field at Harvard weren’t\u00a0getting bossed around by the D.C. defense four days earlier. But the fact that a second-choice front four outperformed their first-choice counterparts should motivate the latter to pick up their game against the Whitecaps. For, if Heaps is known for anything, it’s that he isn’t afraid to switch things up when something’s broken.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Which player from Wednesday’s Open Cup game is likely to earn a start?<\/strong>\u00a0I’ll take Kelyn<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Rowe for a thousand, Alex.\u00a0Unlike\u00a0his first two-goal effort against the Rhinos on\u00a0May 28, his latest came against what was essentially a first-team Red Bulls, and a player who’s found his scoring touch is a dangerous weapon. It wasn’t just goalscoring that was impressive. It was the way he took on a defenders, and the way he found space in the middle of the park and near the edge of the attack third. It was almost enough for Jay Heaps to negotiate a number change between him and Agudelo<\/span><\/span>. Yes, Rowe looked like a true number 10 on Wednesday. He’s playing some of the best soccer of his short MLS career. And with a team that just coughed up three goals to the Sounders on tap, this could be the perfect time to unchain the dynamic Rowe.<\/p>\n

3. If the attack finds\u00a0itself in a rut, will\u00a0it be smart enough to make the necessary adjustments?<\/strong> Agudelo<\/span><\/span> didn’t hold back after the scoreless draw to D.C. last week, saying that a switch in\u00a0style (going\u00a0from a short, possession-style passing to\u00a0playing direct)\u00a0should’ve been employed.\u00a0Given what the lowly United\u00a0did to them, with that back line and a goalkeeper who’d been struggling all season,\u00a0<\/span>Agudelo<\/span><\/span> might have been right. The fact is\u00a0few teams can will themselves a goal if nothing is working, and at last check, the Revolution weren’t Bayern<\/span><\/span> Munich. Interchanging spots is cute, and many times, it’s also been effective for the Revolution. But when\u00a0the opposition\u00a0is bumrushing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0your two primary attackers off the ball, and forcing your third option into a jump-in circle like he’s\u00a0about to\u00a0face a gang initiation, it might\u00a0just be a good idea to try another idea or two. Like United, the Whitecaps defense isn’t anything special. Their\u00a0documentary star center back\u00a0remains shelved, and\u00a0another defender – Andy O’Brien – is listed\u00a0as out.\u00a0 The Revolution must be ready to adapt and adjust. After all, they won’t have Ilija<\/span><\/span> Stolica<\/span><\/span> to bail them out this time around.<\/p>\n

4. Is the Revolution’s shutout streak about to come to an end?<\/strong> As impressive as this 395-minute run has been, Saturday night could be the night in which it meets its demise. The Whitecaps come into the contest with nine goals in their last four, and have put up multiple-goal performances against the Galaxy, Red Bulls and Sounders. Camilo’s collected three in his last three, and Russell <\/span>Teibert<\/span><\/span> has done well to steer the attack north. Then, of course, there’s\u00a0Nigel Reo<\/span><\/span>–Coker<\/span><\/span>, Kenny Miller and Lee Young-Pyo<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0In short, this isn’t the six-goal D.C. attack, the Robbie Keane-less Galaxy, the one-dimensional Toronto offense, nor the\u00a0emotional mess that was\u00a0Dynamo. No, this is a club that, for all intents and purposes, has the guile and veteran\u00a0savvy to\u00a0punish a team more than once. They do it coldly, without second thoughts given to their opponents’ current\u00a0form, nor feelings.<\/p>\n

5. Conversely, can the Revolution snap the Whitecaps home unbeaten streak?<\/strong> Wednesday’s performance was an indication that, at any given moment, the Revolution attack can explode and make an opposing goalkeeper reconsider his profession. Yes,\u00a0Open Cup play\u00a0isn’t the same as league action, and BC Place isn’t Harvard.\u00a0But go back four weeks ago, to a rainy Saturday night in Houston, and behold what this team did to an opponent that had won 36 of its last 37 at home. Yes, the Whitecaps aren’t the Dynamo, but they share\u00a0one important thing in common: they don’t make it a habit of letting their guests leave with three points. To that end, the Revolution attack must match the efforts of their defense, and finish its chances. They cannot be like D.C. was in front of the net last week, especially with the chances that the Whitecaps are prone to concede. Should Fagundez<\/span><\/span> and Agudelo<\/span><\/span> find space, and Sene<\/span><\/span> and Rowe get open looks, the only unbeaten streak that survives beyond Saturday night might be the Revolution’s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revolution are back in Vancouver for the first time in two years. Not unexpectedly, we’ve got some questions before tonight’s late-game kickoff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[121,49,1274,407,263],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Revs-Caps-1.png?fit=494%2C255","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19973"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19973"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19983,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19973\/revisions\/19983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}