{"id":29761,"date":"2014-12-07T19:48:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T00:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=29761"},"modified":"2014-12-07T19:49:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T00:49:48","slug":"the-silver-lining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=29761","title":{"rendered":"The Silver Lining"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

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

It\u2019s a feeling all too familiar at this point.<\/p>\n

On Sunday afternoon, the New England Revolution played in the MLS Cup for the fifth time, and for the fifth time they walked off in defeat after the final whistle. They fell short to the LA Galaxy for the third time in the MLS Cup Final, and for the third time, they lost by a single goal in extra time. While the Galaxy are celebrating being the \u201cFirst to Five,\u201d the Revolution will travel back home \u201coh-for-five.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Revolution maintained their reputation as the Chicago Cubs or Buffalo Bills of Major League Soccer, as the 2014 season will be lumped together with their previous MLS Cup losses as another promising season that fell short in Foxboro. But it really shouldn’t.<\/p>\n

While this loss will be billed as just another chapter for the Revs, Sunday\u2019s loss can be viewed differently from their previous losses. While the first four MLS cup defeats had heavy lineups full of Taylor Twellmans, Sharlie Joesphs, Steve Ralstons, and Michael Parkhursts, this team came into this game pitched as underdogs without much of a chance. The Galaxy lineup consisted of eight players who had played in an MLS Cup, while no one on the Revolution XI had any MLS Cup experience. Alexi Lalas of ESPN said during the pregame that \u201ca lot would need to go wrong for the Galaxy for them to lose this game.\u201d And he was right.<\/p>\n

The Revolution held their ground, and showed why they ended the season as one of the best teams in the league following the acquisition of Jermaine Jones. The Revolution limited the Galaxy\u2019s chances in the first half with 57 percent possession in the opening 45 minutes, and took the home crowd out of the game for most of the afternoon. Even without much impact from MVP candidate Lee Nguyen, the difference between the Galaxy and Revolution was less than what was advertised.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Galaxy won the Cup on a Robbie Keane goal. But the Revolution can hold their heads up high knowing they\u00a0exceeded nearly\u00a0everyone\u2019s expectations.\u00a0The Revolution walked into the StubHub Center, where the Galaxy held a 14-1-2 record in 2014, and proved that they belong in the discussion with the league\u2019s elite teams.<\/p>\n

So while the fifth MLS Cup loss will be associated with New England\u2019s past, it really should signify what is to come from this team in the future.<\/p>\n

What does today\u2019s MLS Cup mean?\u00a0It means the\u00a0Revolution have what it takes to make a return trip in 2015.<\/p>\n

Jermaine Jones is signed through next season and since his arrival, has made the team stronger around him. Scott Caldwell, Andrew Farrell, Kelyn Rowe, and Teal Bunbury all made their first appearance in the MLS Cup all at the age of 23 or 24. Lee Nguyen will look to build off his MVP-caliber season after a break-out 2014 campaign. Considering how this team caught fire towards the end of the season, the Revolution look like the team to beat in the Eastern Conference for 2015.<\/p>\n

It is easy to call this d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu<\/em> for the Revolution and how it is another version of them coming up just short on the biggest stage. But this strong showing in the MLS Cup could signify something else \u2013 the arrival of a new era for the Revolution.<\/p>\n

An era in which Jay Heaps finally gets to lift the MLS Cup trophy. An era in which the team’s young, but talented core exorcises the demons of past Cup failures. Perhaps more importantly, an era in which the Revolution finally author a memorable chapter in Boston’s sports lore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revs may have fallen in another MLS Cup final, but the future is bright for Jay Heaps’ group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29763,"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\/12\/Revs-01.png?fit=486%2C259","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29761"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29761"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29768,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29761\/revisions\/29768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}