{"id":20223,"date":"2013-06-29T11:09:14","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T15:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=20223"},"modified":"2013-07-22T16:32:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T20:32:05","slug":"five-questions-revolution-at-chivas-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=20223","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions: Revolution at Chivas USA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Diego<\/a>

Diego Fagundez, seen here against Chivas USA last August, will need to help the attack spear through a porous Rojiblancos back four. (Photo: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz)<\/p><\/div>\n

Earlier this week, revolutionsoccer.net writer Jeff Lemieux gave us an excellent, statistically-sound argument for Jose Goncalves<\/a>\u00a0earning a spot\u00a0on the\u00a0All-Star roster. It was the kind of column you don’t often see in the soccersphere:\u00a0A column\u00a0that uses the hard\u00a0numbers, rather than the eyeball test and a handful of semi-relevant stats, to outline a player’s value.<\/p>\n

In his piece, Lemieux\u00a0takes a look at\u00a0some\u00a0pretty insightful statistics that\u00a0make the case for\u00a0the\u00a0central defender’s inclusion\u00a0on the\u00a0All-Star team.\u00a0Among them:<\/p>\n

– Goncalves’\u00a0 65.9 percent overall duel winning percentage, good for third in MLS, and a stat that makes him only one of three defenders\u00a0inside of\u00a0the top 10 in both aerial and ground duel winning percentage.<\/p>\n

-His 88.9 percent successful tackle percentage,\u00a0putting him at\u00a0eighth in the league in that category.<\/p>\n

-Goncalves has collected 112 recoveries (tied for first), 169 combined clearances\/blocks\/interceptions (third) and nine clean sheets (first). <\/em><\/p>\n

Impressed? You’re not the only one. These aren’t just great numbers. They’re\u00a0enlightening.\u00a0They give us\u00a0a great deal of insight into just how good Goncalves has been this year. However, they’re also a\u00a0collection of numbers\u00a0that,\u00a0without Lemieux’s article, you probably wouldn’t have known anything about.<\/p>\n

Think about that for second. MLS and OPTA are collecting relevant and discussion-worthy stats and data, and for the most part, they are withholding them from you, the fan. The fan who is counted upon annually to\u00a0participate in all-star voting.<\/p>\n

If we want smart voting, and more\u00a0intelligent articles like Jeff Lemiuex’s, then MLS and OPTA need\u00a0to disclose all relevant statistics. If it’s proprietary information, then\u00a0MLS should find\u00a0a sponsor. Or\u00a0perhaps the league could\u00a0use some of the $100 million that\u00a0Manchester City\u00a0and the New York\u00a0Yankees paid\u00a0on NYC FC’s franchise fee. Heck, ask Red Bull to bankroll it.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0keep such valuable\u00a0information in secrecy\u00a0is, putting it diplomatically, a huge\u00a0disservice. Not\u00a0only\u00a0its fans and the media, but as we’ve seen with Goncalves, who hasn’t cracked the top 7 in voting among defenders, to its own players.<\/p>\n

Actually, when it comes to players, who rely upon awards and honors at the negotiating table, it’s more than a disservice.\u00a0It’s a travesty.<\/p>\n

We never hide or conceal anything when it\u00a0comes to our weekly list of\u00a0five questions, which are fully revealed below.<\/p>\n

1. Will the Revolution attack bother to show up against a weaker opponent?<\/strong> Three weeks ago, the Revolution,\u00a0fresh off a five-goal thumping of\u00a0the Galaxy,\u00a0laid an ostrich\u00a0egg against the lowly D.C. United. Incredibly, the offense sputtered once again pitted against D.C. earlier this week,\u00a0and the Revolution needed the help of a\u00a0fortuitous\u00a0Joe Willis\u00a0deflection to\u00a0avoid another\u00a0zero against the worst defense in the conference.\u00a0\u00a0With\u00a0D.C.’s\u00a0western counterpart on tap, the Revolution must be careful not to make the same mistakes. Because the\u00a0stream\u00a0of Wednesday’s contest was\u00a0essentially visual waterboarding,\u00a0most of us\u00a0don’t know what exactly transpired.\u00a0We\u00a0don’t know if the ideas were lacking or purely unlucky. What we do know is this: Recent history has shown that the Revolution haven’t played to their attacking potential against bottomfeeding opposition. If the Revolution\u00a0have learned the lessons of their two\u00a0performances against D.C., and channel the form see in Vancouver two weeks ago, they’ll be fine. If not, you might need\u00a0a strong cup of coffee\u00a0– for each half –\u00a0to make it to the end of Saturday’s late-night clash.<\/p>\n

2. Can the defense resume its form from two weeks ago?<\/strong> Going into Vancouver two weeks ago, New England’s back four was riding a franchise-high 395 minute clean sheet streak. That run went to 420 minutes before an unfortunate Andrew Farrell red card set in motion a four-goal scorching by the Whitecaps, then a three-goal, WTH?<\/em>\u00a0against an anemic\u00a0D.C. attack. For those keeping score, that’s seven goals in their last 180 minutes. Of course, it’s worth noting that the four\u00a0scores given up at BC\u00a0Place were all conceded by a shorthanded Revolution\u00a0side. Then again,\u00a0getting lit up for three goals\u00a0by the worst offense in the league\u00a0is a front-page tabloid embarrassment. Granted, we know the clean sheet streak wasn’t going to last forever. We all know that line about what happens to all good things. That’s life. However, against a Chivas team that’s only scored two goals in its last seven games, the Revolution defense might just be ready to resume its stingy ways. Or, as history has shown,\u00a0give up a slew of goals.<\/p>\n

3. Will the travel catch up to the Revolution?<\/strong> It has not been a relaxing week for the Revolution. On paper, they may appear to be well-rested and refreshed, with their last league game coming two weeks ago. But a hectic week that saw them in Foxborough on Monday, D.C. on Tuesday, play an Open Cup tilt on Wednesday,\u00a0then fly LA on Thursday may have them a bit more weary than expected. Yes, Jay Heaps rested a number of regulars during the\u00a0Open Cup\u00a0match, and arrived in\u00a0SoCal early to get everyone acclimated. At the same time, the travel and jetlag can’t help. Even well-conditioned athletes\u00a0can’t completely dodge the effects of\u00a0a three-day, Boston-to-D.C.-to-L.A. travel itinerary.\u00a0In light of that, Heaps will have to carefully manage minutes, and his players\u00a0will have to smart with the ball, especially on a pitch as big as the one at the StubHub Center.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0What can we expect from\u00a0Juan Agudelo against his former teammates?<\/strong> True, the 20-year-old wasn’t in a Rojiblancos<\/em> kit very long. In fact, he only lasted in L.A.\u00a0 for 11 months before he was sent to New England last month. However, while few athletes ever admit to having extra motivation against a former club, the fact is that it’s hard\u00a0to believe\u00a0that\u00a0Agudelo’s emotions\u00a0won’t be\u00a0heightened for Saturday’s contest. In 26 games with Chivas USA, he scored five goals and added four assists, and\u00a0played briefly with ex-Revolution skipper Shalrie Joseph. The end of his tenure can best be summed up by\u00a0one word: “Chelis.” Although Joseph and Chelis are no longer there, you have to think that the memories are still fresh.\u00a0It’s unknown whether he harbors any animosity against the club for trading him. If he does, he isn’t showing it. But even if there isn’t any bad blood, expect Agudelo, who’s scored three times in his last five games, to put in a performance similar to the one Joseph recorded as a Goat against his old club last August.<\/p>\n

5. Is Chivas USA really as good as the Revolution are playing them up to be?<\/strong> No, they’re not. It’s a front in every sense. Yes, of course, they respect the Goats, and after disappointing games against D.C., they have every right to be on guard. But let’s be real: they’re a team in such utter disarray on so many levels, they make the the Kardashians look like the First Family. From top to bottom, this is a club that\u00a0has successfully\u00a0drafted the blueprint for how not<\/em> to run an MLS club. When there’s not controversy in the technical area, there’s controversy in the courts. Yes, the Revolution may have been fibbing when the extolled the strength of D.C. United. Heck, at least\u00a0D.C. still had their head coach, even if many\u00a0other things in the Nation’s Capital still remain unsettled. When it comes to the Goats, there really is no reason why the Revolution shouldn’t dispose of them in the same fashion as\u00a0they did to their\u00a0StubHub Center\u00a0roomies earlier this month. Anything less\u00a0should only call into question what kind of Revolution club we’ve been watching this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After last week’s bye, the Revolution are back, and against a club that gives a new meaning to the word “bad.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20224,"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":[524,523,69,427,190,49,1274],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Diego-Chivas-1.png?fit=494%2C257","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20223"}],"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=20223"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20812,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20223\/revisions\/20812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}