{"id":29522,"date":"2014-11-28T21:33:29","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T02:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=29522"},"modified":"2014-11-28T22:12:43","modified_gmt":"2014-11-29T03:12:43","slug":"caldwell-key-to-revs-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=29522","title":{"rendered":"Caldwell Key to Revs Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 Jay Heaps has showered plenty of his players with praise during the Revolution\u2019s postseason run, but his assessment of Scott Caldwell on Wednesday wasn\u2019t your typical sound bite.<\/p>\n

While Jermaine Jones and Lee Nguyen have gotten plenty of\u00a0press in recent months, Caldwell has quietly done the dirty work, often with very little fanfare and attention paid to him in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a coach\u2019s dream, really,\u201d Heaps said, \u201cbecause he is one of the most selfless players I\u2019ve ever been around, as both a coach and a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSelfless\u201d is the operative word when it comes to the sophomore midfielder\u2019s work ethic. Once an attacking engine in an NCAA Championship-winning Akron side, the 23-year-old has changed his game and become a reliable, if not integral, defensive cog in the midfield as a pro.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true this year, with Jones and Nguyen taking the reins offensively. Although\u00a0neither have completely\u00a0shirked their defensive responsibilities, it\u2019s Caldwell who\u2019s provided the cover time after time whenever the opposition wins the ball back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s kind of the anchor in the midfield for us,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cI think he loves it, as well, because it lets Jermaine roam a little bit more so he can go find the ball, and it also frees me up to attack a bit more, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That willingness to allow others to shine is, perhaps, the biggest reason why Heaps is one of Caldwell\u2019s biggest fans. After all, somebody has to stay back when the attack pushes forward, and more often than not, it\u2019s none other than the Homegrown Player himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s willing to follow the game plan to a T, and it\u2019s completely selfless,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cHe wants to do it for the group and I think having a guy like him is \u2013 it really kind of \u2013 it also embodies what I\u2019ve always thought of as a little bit of New England.\u201d<\/p>\n

But just because he\u2019s done everything asked of him by Heaps, doesn\u2019t mean the baby-faced Caldwell is a choir boy by any means.<\/p>\n

\u201cScotty looks like a nice guy, but he\u2019s really tough to play against,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think he (undertakes) a lot of work for both of us, and we have the freedom to go in front. We both love to play with him and he\u2019s a small pit bull.\u201d<\/p>\n

He may be listed at 5-8, 150lbs., but the sense around the Revolution locker room is that Caldwell plays much bigger than his actual stature. Part of it is his ability to read the game, which allows him to expertly plug the channels and passing lanes. Another part is, well, pure grit, and a willingness to stand his ground in the face of players both faster and stronger than him.<\/p>\n

That toughness\u00a0has not only allowed him to remain a key member of a midfield that\u2019s been overhauled since First Kick,\u00a0but become\u00a0a crucial, albeit unheralded,\u00a0contributor\u00a0to the club’s postseason success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a practice or a game,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to give everything he has down to the last ounce of energy because he has to play that way, that\u2019s how he gets by is by giving everything he has.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s no debate that Scott Caldwell has been the unsung hero behind the Revs’ postseason success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29526,"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":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Caldwell-2.png?fit=484%2C258","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29522"}],"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=29522"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29532,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29522\/revisions\/29532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}