{"id":9756,"date":"2012-02-29T04:11:01","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T09:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=9756"},"modified":"2012-02-29T00:22:39","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T05:22:39","slug":"mixing-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=9756","title":{"rendered":"Mixing It Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Revs trialist\u00a0Bj\u00f6rn Runstr\u00f6m could see more action on Wednesday. (Photo:\u00a0Joshua Pearson<\/a><\/span>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Winning the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup was never really a goal for the New England Revolution, but they could just end up doing so anyways. With one game remaining, the Revs, at 2-0-0, are in great shape to clinch a spot in the final.<\/p>\n

But if there was any thought the allure of a potential preseason trophy would cause new head coach Jay Heaps to veer from his plans in preparation for the MLS regular season, don\u2019t bet on it.<\/p>\n

Heaps\u2019 thus far heavy use of key players such as Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber and Kelyn Rowe was planned to help get the players ready for the grind of the MLS season. Of course rest and health is important too, so those three, and others that have featured heavily, are unlikely to play Wednesday, according to Heaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been designed from the beginning,\u201d said Heaps on Sunday. \u201cWe wanted to get a lot of guys minutes Wednesday because it was our first time out, and [Saturday] was really what we were going for, 90 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Wednesday \u2026 those guys who got 90 this past Saturday will not play,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to go into Saturday so we want to get onto that Saturday\/Saturday schedule that the season presents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tournament has provided Heaps a chance to get his likely starters 90 minutes match fit, while also slowly building fitness for guys who may be a bit behind in training, such as new French striker Sa\u00ebr S\u00e8ne. For positions in the starting eleven that are not yet set in stone, Heaps has had a chance to test out players and trialists with liberal substitutions.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, while Heaps rests some of his key players, the rest of the roster and trialists will benefit with a chance to not only gain more match fitness, but also potentially impress the coaching staff and move up the depth chart with longer appearances. In the case of the trialists, like striker Bj\u00f6rn Runstr\u00f6m, who was originally scheduled to end his trial on Sunday<\/a><\/span>, but extended his stay through Thursday, it\u2019s another chance to earn a contract.<\/p>\n

Of course implementing such a strategy on Wednesday isn\u2019t ideal to winning against 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions League Finalists Real Salt Lake. But, a few months from now, who cares what a team won in the preseason?<\/p>\n

If the Revs care about preseason winns, it\u2019s only as a means to build positive habits heading into the season, not to win an essentially meaningless preseason cup. Despite that, the Revs may well find themselves in the championship match on Saturday. At 2-0-0 in the Desert Diamond Cup, the Revs sit atop group play and even with a loss to Salt Lake could likely make the final.<\/p>\n

And should they face a chance at a trophy on Saturday, they’ll be in good shape to win it. Heaps rested starters should see a return to action on Saturday, though it\u2019s to build preparation for the game a week grind of MLS, not to give his team the best chance of winning \u2013 that\u2019s just a side effect.<\/p>\n

So if the Revs, resting some key players in Wednesday\u2019s 8 p.m. match-up with Real Salt Lake, find themselves with their first defeat of the preseason, it\u2019s not the end of the world. If Heaps learns which trialists to sign, or that a reserve player is ready for first team action, that\u2019s far more import that the scoreline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expect line-up changes against Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9757,"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":[24,14,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/runstromfeature2.jpg?fit=490%2C240&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9756"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9756"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10264,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9756\/revisions\/10264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}