{"id":15326,"date":"2012-09-07T09:06:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T13:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=15326"},"modified":"2012-09-07T11:43:58","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T15:43:58","slug":"five-things-we-learned-revolution-vs-crew-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=15326","title":{"rendered":"Five Things We Learned: Revolution vs. Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dimitry Imbongo celebrates his first MLS goal with Diego Fagundez during Wednesday’s 2-0 win over the Crew. (Photo: Kari Heistad\/CapturedImages.biz)<\/p><\/div>\n

Given\u00a0the circumstances, it made perfect sense that the winless<\/span> streak would snap on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevermind<\/span> that the Revolution were missing their leading scorer. Or their high-priced poacher, for that matter. Forget that the defense was missing two of its regulars. Or that the club’s highest-salaried player was kept off the pitch. Oh,\u00a0and the fact that one of the hottest teams in the east was in town? Trivial.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nope, none of that mattered. Because somehow, the Revolution, featuring a slew of second-choice players, toppled a team that hadn’t been beaten in their last six. Google the word\u00a0“logical.”\u00a0And behold,\u00a0the boxscore from last night’s game will appear.<\/p>\n

All\u00a0sarcasm aside, no one was happier about\u00a0the win\u00a0than Jay Heaps. The reason (other than, you know, it ended the winless streak)? Without a doubt,\u00a0one of Heaps’ favorite qualities is heart.\u00a0During his playing days,\u00a0he was the\u00a0quintessential “all-heart” player.\u00a0And\u00a0if\u00a0Heaps had it his way, the fire that burns the hottest would always get what it desires. That the greater the will, the better the odds became.<\/p>\n

Yes, that hasn’t always happened for the Revolution this season. Or in the last three seasons, to be fair.\u00a0There have been countless\u00a0times where heart has been trumped by class, skill and, on occasion, sheer luck.<\/p>\n

But on Wednesday, Heaps’\u00a0makeshift squad\u00a0showed that, sometimes – not often, but sometimes – heart can be the difference between winning and losing. That heart alone can render the odds moot.<\/p>\n

With that life lesson\u00a0in mind, we move on to the five things we learned from\u00a0the\u00a0mid-week shocker.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Darrius<\/span> Barnes deserves\u00a0to\u00a0remain\u00a0among the starters\u00a0for the remainder of the season.<\/strong> Is there anyone on the squad with a bigger chip on\u00a0his shoulder than the former Blue Devil? In his first three years in the league, Barnes was an automatic start. Center back, right back or left back, it didn’t matter where – his name was likely to appear on the lineup. Then, a slew of offseason<\/span> signings\u00a0– along with the emergence of Stephen McCarthy in the back – pushed him off the first XI and onto the bench. But with A.J. Soares<\/span> hurt, Barnes has been a man on fire. He’s been strong inside the box, he’s moved the ball to his midfielders, and while he may be prone to getting beat for speed\u00a0on occasion, his positioning has been generally sound. In other words, he’s playing like he’ll never get another start. That said, Barnes, who’s helped the defense pitch back-to-back shutouts, belongs with the starters for the duration of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Wednesday’s benching all but assures that Benny Feilhaber<\/span> is as good as gone next year.<\/strong> OK, so Heaps may not be making any more drastic roster moves until winter.\u00a0\u00a0But he might as well already cut his creative midfielder lose after anchoring him to the bench on Wednesday. It’s one thing to park Feilhaber<\/span>, then bring him on later – even if he’s not exactly thrilled about it. Sure, Heaps may have simply wanted to rest him at the tail end of a concentrated three-game stretch. Yet, the fact that the midfielder didn’t see the field in a winning effort is telling. Not only does it signal that Heaps can win without his temperamental attacker –\u00a0it may also\u00a0send the message to Feilhaber<\/span> that he may be better off on another club next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Flo Lechner<\/span> should give a clinic on throw-ins to his teammates.<\/strong> Since the dawn of time – or at least 2009 – the Revolution’s throw-ins have been,\u00a0in diplomatic\u00a0terms, ineffective.\u00a0 With so many immediate turnovers born from the\u00a0throws of Barnes,\u00a0 Kevin Alston and, yes, even Chris Tierney, it was refreshing to see Lechner<\/span> get a chance –\u00a0\u00a0a chance he deserved, in retrospect. By heaving long, and – here’s the key – arcing balls into the box, Diego Fagundez<\/span> nearly found a pair of goals. Gone were the prompt clearances and needless turnovers. For one night in September, the Revolution were finding chances from throw-ins. And for that, they have Lechner<\/span> to thank.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Don’t look now, but the Revolution are finally gaining some momentum.<\/strong> The optimist will say that the end of the Revolution’s winless<\/span> streak also extended the club’s unbeaten streak to three. And you know what? The optimist is right. Recent three-game record aside (*cough*1-0-2*cough*), the Revolution are playing with something that, not long ago, was a figment of their imagination: confidence. With Chivas USA in town, they went\u00a0built a 3-0 lead.\u00a0Yes, that lead collapsed, but the energy in the locker\u00a0room wasn’t down or dreary.\u00a0They felt they could’ve won.\u00a0Against the Union, the backline<\/span> blanked the Union, who forced Matt Reis<\/span> to make seven saves, and a few pats on the back were in order. Then, of course, was the 2-0 scoreline against the Crew. Is\u00a0this the trio of games that sends the Revolution to the postseason? Of course not. But then again, a strong close to the season often fosters confidence going into the following campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Dimitry Imbongo<\/span> may not be the most polished poacher, but he could carve out a super-sub role if he works at it.<\/strong> Prior to Wednesday’s showing, Imbongo<\/span> had put together a\u00a0trio of tame performances. He was pushed off the ball, he played for the foul, and his positioning – well, let’s not go there. And because of these problems, Imbongo<\/span> essentially cast himself as the fourth-choice striker. But Bengton’s departure forced Heaps to give the French forward an extended look. And to his credit, Imbongo<\/span> did not disappoint. He overcame some early nerves and found a rhythm with Fagundez<\/span>. He pressured the backline<\/span>. He put himself in good positions. Most importantly, he did what a striker’s supposed to do: score. Yes, one game does not make a career. Heck, when Bengtson<\/span> returns, the odds are Imbongo<\/span> goes back to the bench. Even so, if he can hold onto the form seen on Wednesday and improve it, he may just be what the team needs off the bench. And then,\u00a0who knows from there?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The winless streak is over, but what did we take away from Wednesday’s upset win?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15337,"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":false,"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\/2012\/09\/Imbongo92.png?fit=479%2C281&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15326"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15346,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15326\/revisions\/15346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}