Contrary to the preseason hype, the New England Revolution don’t look like a team that’s on the path to winning their first Supporters’ Shield.
But that may change, especially since the squad laid the foundation for a strong run this season in Sunday’s comeback 3-3 draw against the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium in the season opener.
Revs coach Jay Heaps was critical of his side’s lack of sharpness as they fell behind twice against the hosts, but lauded their fighting spirit as they hung in and stole a point in final moments of the game through Daigo Kobayashi’s last-ditch headed goal off a Diego Fagundez cross.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t at our best, and at times I thought Houston did a good job of punishing us,” Heaps told the media in Houston.
“In the end, I liked our belief – we fought to the last whistle and got a point.”
Sunday’s performance—and the team’s reaction to it—was eerily similar to another season opening, comeback tie: a 2-2 result away at the San Jose Earthquakes on April 2, 2005.
On that day, the Revolution also played sloppy and fell behind, but rallied through two second half goals to win their first point of the season.
That match was the start of the Revs’ best season in franchise history and turned into a point of reference for the entire team.
New England maintained an 11-game unbeaten streak to begin the season, then concluded the campaign at 17-7-8 (59 points); they won the Eastern Conference, but were runners-up for the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup.
And while 2005 remains the gold standard for the Revolution as far as season’s go, the team at the time could and should have achieved much more.
That said, it’s important to understand how rare success was for the Revolution until the 2005 season. Prior to that year, the Revs were a dreadfully inconsistent regular season team. They either limped into the post-season, or were streaky enough to clinch a late layoff berth.
When asked to reflect on what the x-factor was in 2005, the Revolution’s players often looked back at their come-from-behind result in the season opener against San Jose.
Former Revolution captain Steve Ralston, who is coincidentally now an assistant coach for the Earthquakes, told Frank Dell’Apa of the Boston Globe on May 22, 2005: “It takes depth and talent to win in this league. We are obviously proud of the fact we didn’t give up…we are finding ways to win. In the first game [the 2-2 tie in San Jose], we were awful in the first half and very good in the second half.”
Consider that the Houston Dynamo—who were known as the Earthquakes from 1998-05—forced the Revolution to mount a similar comeback on Sunday.
Back in the 2005 opener, the Revolution didn’t look like a team that would go on to win the Eastern Conference, play in the MLS Cup, and conclude the season with the second-most goals and the third-fewest goals conceded. But all of that changed in the weeks and months that followed, culminating in the franchise’s best-ever season.
Fast-forward to the present: the Revolution didn’t look like Supporters’ Shield contenders against Houston this weekend.
But the current squad nevertheless has something worthwhile from which to build, just like the group from 2005.
The blue print is there, born from a gutsy tie in San Jose over a decade ago and now, reborn, in the form of Sunday’s 3-3 comeback.
Julian Cardillo can be reached at julianccardillo@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
