{"id":26849,"date":"2014-07-26T23:42:31","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T03:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=26849"},"modified":"2014-07-27T13:42:28","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T17:42:28","slug":"parkhurst-victorious-in-new-england-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=26849","title":{"rendered":"Parkhurst Victorious in New England Return"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – From 2005 till 2008, Michael Parkhurst was a rock in the New England Revolution\u2019s back line, earning Rookie of the Year, Defender of the Year, and MLS Best XI honors while leading the team to three straight MLS Cup appearances and a U.S. Open Cup title in 2007. On Saturday night, Parkhurst made his return to Gillette Stadium, where he had so many memorable moments early in his career, but this time in opposition colors, guiding the Columbus Crew to a 2-1 victory over his former club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be back,\u201d said Parkhurst. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of family and friends here and a lot of good memories here for four good years, so it was nice to get back and see some people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parkhurst left MLS for Europe in 2008, at the age of 24, first joining FC Nordsj\u00e6lland in Denmark where he played nearly five seasons, leading the club to its first ever Danish Superliga trophy in 2012 and two Danish Cups, while playing in both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Parkhurst then moved to Germany to join Bundesliga club FC Augsburg in December 2012, but after finding playing time limited there, returned to MLS in 2014.<\/p>\n

The Revolution still held Parkhurst\u2019s MLS rights since the Cranston, R.I., had left on a free transfer, but the club opted to trade his rights to the Crew in exchange for their first round 2014 SuperDraft pick \u2013 which the Revolution used to take Steve Neumann \u2013 and allocation money. The trade meant the now 30-year-old Parkhurst would not return the club he grew up a fan of. Instead his homecoming came as part of the opposition and meant a stay in some unfamiliar territory: the visitor\u2019s locker room.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:

Photo: Chris Aduama\/aduamaphotography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI came in here and I didn\u2019t even know where the bathroom was,\u201d said Parkhurst. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot different, but such is life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Parkhurst was a large part of the Crew\u2019s victory. The U.S. National Team defender \u2013 who was part of the 30 man preliminary 2014 World Cup roster, but didn\u2019t make the final cut \u2013 led all players with 92% passing accuracy, while also leading the Crew\u2019s defense with three interceptions, and a blocked shot. The cerebral center back did all of that without committing a foul, a familiar stat-line to Revolution fans who saw Parkhurst win two MLS Fair Play Awards while committing just 32 fouls in 115 games for New England, an insanely low total for a defender.<\/p>\n

But Parkhurst also did something that was uncommon from his Revolution days: getting forward on set pieces. He nearly set up a goal in the 65th<\/sup> minute when he redirected a corner kick towards the net that his teammate Chad Barson back heeled past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth for what at the time would\u2019ve broken a 1-1 deadlock, if not for Lee Nguyen clearing it off the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should\u2019ve expected it to get through,\u201d said Parkhurst of the play. \u201cI think two guys went up for it right in front of me and I kind of lost it for a second and then I just reacted and I think I got a knee on it. Chad did well on it to get a back heel because he was facing away from the goal, but yeah, it\u2019s unlucky I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parkhurst\u2019s play on both ends of the field surely gave his family and friends in attendance \u2013 which the defender estimated at 35 to 40 people \u2013 something to cheer about. The win also propelled the Crew over the Revolution and into a playoff spot, moving up to fourth in the Eastern Conference, at least temporarily. For his former team, it meant an eighth straight defeat and dropping out of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big game,\u201d said Parkhurst. \u201cTwo teams that have been struggling as of late, so it was an important three points for us. I feel for New England and what they\u2019re going through right now because we just went through it as well; it\u2019s tough. But for us it\u2019s great, we\u2019ve got to build some momentum and we\u2019re starting to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Parkhurst enjoyed his time back in New England and the familiar grounds, the opposition team certainly lacked familiar faces, with few regulars still remaining from his time with the club. Parkhurst noted there were just a couple players still on the team that he stays in touch with.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust [Andy] Dorman a little bit here and there, Shalrie [Joseph] a little bit, but that\u2019s about it,\u201d said Parkhurst. \u201cOf course I say \u2018hi\u2019 to Jay [Heaps] and some of the other staff, but most of the guys I still keep in touch with aren\u2019t with the Revs anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, while his former teammates have dwindled in numbers, there are a few players on New England that remember seeing Parkhurst play for the club. Scott Caldwell, 23, who got the start at defensive midfield on Saturday remembered watching Parkhurst while he grew up a fan of the team in Braintree, Mass.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a really solid player, so it\u2019s cool to be on the same field with those guys,\u201d said Caldwell. \u201cBut in the end it has got to be better from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for those hoping a return to his hometown club is in the cards for Parkhurst before his career is over, the defender made clear he didn\u2019t foresee it any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Parkhurst. \u201cI\u2019m happy with the Crew right now and the family is settled there, so I don\u2019t see anything changing for a long time, but you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rhode Island native Michael Parkhurst helps Columbus to 2-1 victory in first game back at Gillette Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26854,"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":[104,9,27],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Parky-1.png?fit=485%2C260","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26849"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26849"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26904,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26849\/revisions\/26904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}