Revs Vets Ready for New Season

Revs captain Shalrie Joseph believes an improved squad will lead to more exciting soccer in 2012 season. (Photo Credit: Joshua Pearson)

Entering the 2012 season, goalkeeper Matt Reis and midfielder/captain Shalrie Joseph are clearly the veteran leaders of the New England Revolution. The two are about to begin their 10th year on a young squad in which no one else has been with the club for even six seasons.

Yet the two are experiencing something new just like everyone else – their first season under head coach Jay Heaps. Heaps was a teammate of both players for their first seven years with the club.

“It is strange [being coached by a former teammate],” said Reis. “But at the same time Jay’s done a great job of being prepared and having a clear sense of where he wants us to be and where he’s taking us. It’s refreshing; it’s nice to have a new voice in here and hopefully it pays off.”

While Joseph doesn’t completely share Reis’ view of it being strange to play under a former teammate, he did agree that Heaps has had a positive impact on the team.

“It’s not so weird,” said Joseph. “[Heaps] is a good guy. I’ve known him as a player. He was always a good player. He came in, he worked hard, he pushed himself and he was probably one of the most emotional players I’ve been around.

“Every day I learned from him,” he continued. “That’s translated for him as a coach. He comes in here and we know what he’s about. He pushes us every day to work hard, to play together, to stay as a team and just be ready to work for each other.”

Both players have been impressed with how Heaps has brought in new creative players to help the team keep possession. As the starting goalkeeper on a team that gave up 58 goals last season, Reis is excited about how improved possession, along with an improved defense, could make his and the defense’s jobs easier.

“I think not only is our defense getting better, it’s also the fact that we’re trying to keep the ball a little bit more,” said Reis. “It’s kind of helping us out that we are not having to defend for most of the game.

Joseph, meanwhile, believes the added creativity will help the team score more goals and make it more exciting to watch.

“If we can get it together we’re definitely going to be a team to watch,” said Joseph. “We have a lot of good players, a lot of creative guys and if we can get these guys the ball in the attacking third we’re going to score a lot of goals this season.

“It’s definitely a different style,” he added. “The players are definitely different. We’ve got a more possession oriented team. All the guys here are very good with the ball.”

The Revs captain also feels the team is further along in preseason than they were at the same time last season and that starts with having a better squad.

“I think we’re a lot more advanced,” said Joseph. “Definitely a lot of different players and a lot of better players with the ball and in the locker room we all get along. That is going to translate onto the field. If we can get a good start on Saturday in San Jose that’s going to be really good for our confidence.”

Those changes have left Reis hopefully that the team can improve over a disastrous 2011 season.

“I think we definitely have a lot of good players,” said Reis. “We’ve added quite a bit and changed quite a bit. Hopefully we’ll get a few more in and win more than five games this year.”

But the Revs leaders know even with all the new talent the team has onboard, the onus is still on them to bring the team together and make sure everyone’s ready on opening day.

“It all comes from this locker room with the veteran guys like me and Matt and even Benny [Feilhaber] and Kevin [Alston],” Joseph said. “If we can get that starting eleven working together we’re going to be one of the teams that everybody wants to talk about.”