FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 There\u2019s been no shortage of criticism when it comes to the Revolution defense in recent weeks. Not that it\u2019s entirely undeserved.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s the 10 goals allowed in their last four games, the revolving door in the middle, or the fact that nearly every error seems ripe for immediate punishment, one thing is clear: the backs have seen better days.<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s nothing left to prove for this much-maligned unit. In fact, with two games remaining in the regular season, defender Darrius Barnes believes that there\u2019s one thing the defense can do to cut down on the mistakes that have plagued them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all boils down to everybody individually making their game better,\u201d said Revolution defender Darrius Barnes. \u201cIt\u2019s all about putting the work in and getting better on your weaknesses and trying to tighten up on your strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll certainly have to put in some work with the third-place Columbus Crew in town. During their August 13th match, the Revolution escaped the first half of their match with a 1-0 lead. But holding onto that lead for the final 45 would prove to be a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty even in the first half,\u201d said Revolution right back Kevin Alston. \u201cThen, in the second half, they just kept pushing and they didn\u2019t let up. I think that made it tough for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tough, indeed. After an own goal put Columbus level with New England,\u00a0Julius James and Emlio Renteria\u00a0put the Crew on the board late to give them the 3-1 win. Needless to say, the Revolution are hoping that Saturday night\u2019s rematch isn\u2019t a reprisal of their mid-August meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have to stay focused,\u201d said Barnes. \u201cThey took advantage of a little lapse where we lost focus and tuned out, and they punished us for it. It\u2019ll be necessary for us to make sure we\u2019re all tuned in for 90 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuning in for the full 90 is a start against contender like Columbus. In addition to focus, Barnes believes that taking care of the basics will be crucial to his club\u2019s chances against an opponent they haven\u2019t beaten in Foxboro since 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can go out there and move the ball around and stay tight defensively and do all the small things well,\u201d said Barnes. \u201cWe\u2019ll have chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all the Revolution are really asking for at this point. A chance. A chance to shine amid a darkened season. A chance to celebrate an elusive win. A chance to blast the music in the locker room. A chance to silence their critics.<\/p>\n
It would be easy to lose focus and dwell on the numerous defeats. But Alston believes his teammates are far from ready to throw in the towel, even if the only thing left to play for is pride at this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to stay positive at this point,\u201d said Alston. \u201cIt\u2019s really easy to get down and negative when things aren\u2019t going well all season. We can\u2019t just give up. We have to make ourselves and our fans proud and at least put in an honest effort.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even with their season two games away from the finish line, the Revs look to close out the season strong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6623,"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":[14,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/tierney-alston.jpg?fit=620%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621"}],"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=6621"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6626,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621\/revisions\/6626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}