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Tierney for Skipper? Ex-Rev Soares Thinks So

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

Following the Revolution’s 1-0 loss at Colorado, a face familiar to local supporters spoke out on the skipper situation in New England.

Ex-Revolution center back A.J. Soares, who played in Foxborough from 2011-2014, took to Twitter Saturday to voice his opinion on who he believes should sport the captain’s armband, which has been worn by Lee Nguyen since last summer.

Soares argument isn’t without merit. Tierney is indeed the longest-tenured player on the team, and has served as captain in the past, though never for an extended period. Earlier in his career, he served as captain of the reserve team, and was named the club’s Players Union representative after Jay Heaps retired from his playing career in 2009.

Heaps assigned the armband to Nguyen last summer after the midfielder was snubbed for selection on the U.S.’s Copa America roster. According to Heaps, Nguyen’s energy and attitude in training in the wake of the news was enough to warrant the captain’s role.

“He not a big, loud, go get ‘em, rah rah guy,” Heaps said at the time. “But, he’s having the individual conversations. He’s having real dialogue with players on an individual level and I really like seeing that and his growth overall.”

One theory that has circulated why others have worn the armband over Tierney is the veteran defender’s health. The 31-year-old defender has never started more than 30 games in his career, and has suffered early season injuries on multiple occasions during his 10-year-career.

Soares, who was selected sixth overall by New England in the 2011 SuperDraft, left the Revolution following the 2014 season to pursue playing opportunities overseas. He played at Norwegian side Viking from 2015-16 and Danish outfit AGF Aarhus in 2016 before calling it a career at age 27.

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