{"id":33180,"date":"2015-04-02T20:20:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T00:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=33180"},"modified":"2015-04-03T09:47:59","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T13:47:59","slug":"thin-air-dont-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=33180","title":{"rendered":"Thin Air Don’t Care"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 Toward the tail end of his first year with the Revolution in 2013, skipper Jose Goncalves was asked about the toughest match he\u2019d played all season. He didn\u2019t hesitate: Away at Colorado.<\/p>\n

The final score (2-1 in favor of the Rapids) didn\u2019t help matters, of course. Nor did the ball Goncalves inadvertently put into his own net to seal the win for the hosts. What truly made the match unlike any other for the skipper was how much the altitude affected him, even as one of the most physically fit players on the squad.<\/p>\n

Nearly two years after his first trip to the Rocky Mountain state, Goncalves and the Revolution return to Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday to face the Rapids. And this time, the Portuguese defender knows what he\u2019ll have to do to avoid a similar experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrink water, rest a little bit more, and try to have better concentration,\u201d Goncalves said. \u201cWe know that once we arrive there, the altitude is going to have a big effect on us with training, breathing, and running.\u201d<\/p>\n

In attempt to curb the effects of the altitude, the Revolution traveled to Colorado a day earlier than usual to get a couple of training sessions at the stadium under their belts. But getting their bodies used to the thin air is only half of the battle.<\/p>\n

Goncalves believes that the team must hone their mental sharpness, especially in the waning stages, when muscles start to cramp and lungs start to burn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will need more concentration because it\u2019s going to be more difficult, and that\u2019s why we need to prepare ourselves a little bit better than usual,\u201d Goncalves said. \u201cThey\u2019re playing at home and they are used to playing in the altitude, so we need to adapt ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

But just because the Revolution are approaching Saturday\u2019s match differently than they would any other road clash doesn\u2019t automatically mean they\u2019ll be ultra conservative on the attack.<\/p>\n

Some teams attempt to pick their spots on the Rapids’ home pitch in an attempt to conserve energy. As someone who accrued plenty of minutes playing at altitude during his playing career, Revolution coach Jay Heaps knows that\u2019s not quite the best way for a squad to manage a match at elevation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe altitude (affects you) no matter what you do, \u201c Heaps said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something you can say \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to pace myself for 60 minutes.\u2019 It\u2019s not like you\u2019re pacing yourself for a marathon – you just don\u2019t know when it\u2019s going to hit you. And it\u2019ll hit you.”<\/p>\n

Heaps should know. In his 11 years as a player, the former fullback played in no fewer than 11 matches in Colorado. He was part of the last Revolution squad to get three road points from the Rapids – which occurred back in 2002.<\/p>\n

Now, as a coach, it’s Heaps’ job to figure out a way to get the next one.<\/p>\n

“We have to be mindful,” Heaps said. “I would bet my life that we use all three subs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thin air at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park only adds to the challenge ahead of the Revs on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33183,"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":[66,891,888,892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Jose-1.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180"}],"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=33180"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33205,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180\/revisions\/33205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}