Sweeney: The time has come to play the kids on the Revs bench

With the Revolution practically on the verge of falling out of playoff contention for the third-straight year — a non-win at home against Orlando City SC would effectively eliminate New England, no matter what DC United does against FC Dallas that night; Montreal is idle until the 21st — I have a teensy weensy request to make of Brad Friedel and his staff.

I know you guys only use the training pitch in order to decide the starting XI as well as the rest of the squad, and I know that’s your system and it’s how you want to do things. That’s fantastic. I have no argument against it. I love the philosophy of not letting complacency seep into the club.

But I need to be honest: I understand that the team is in its infancy, yes, but … a majority of the crew that you’ve put out there week-in and week-out have just not been up to the task of getting points.

Since we switched the calendar to July and opened the second half of the season, this team has been purely dreadful. One win in the last 14 is unsatisfactory in these parts — so is not signing a left back or a genuine goal-scorer at the transfer deadline, but hey, who am I? — and if it goes 1 of the last 15, this party’s over.

And should that 1 of 15 happen and with nothing to play for in the last two-plus weeks of the season, it should be time to play the kids.

That’s right. Play. The. Kids.

You know them. There’s Isaac Angking, and there's Zach Herivaux. Two Homegrown players who have seen minimal time for various reasons (non-soccer injury, others on the depth chart ahead of him).

There’s Nico Samayoa and Mark Segbers, two 2018 SuperDraft picks from January who have not yet stepped on the pitch in a Major League Soccer match. Sure, they both played in the US Open Cup loss to Louisville City — Segbers scored, and Samayoa had a short run-out before an injury pulled him off; both also had loan spells to USL — and Segbers made the bench in Toronto, but in a league match? Nope.

Why not now? You drafted them, and to let them stagnate without first-team minutes might just be criminal.

And there’s Brian Wright, another SuperDraft selection (2017) who had some good play against NYCFC, and gave the club its only win in the last three-plus months.

Five players, all who have received minimal playing time — Angking obviously had to recover — because of other players who are allegedly better than they are. And look where that’s gotten us. The fit players, the perceived better players, haven’t gotten the job done.

So why not? Once there’s nothing to play for, insert the kids. Insert those five into the XI. Angking can play in Juan Agudelo’s place, or in Diego Fagundez’s place. Wright or Segbers can play in Agudelo’s or Teal Bunbury’s. Herivaux can play in Wilfried Zahibo’s place, or in Luis Caicedo’s, or in Scott Caldwell’s as a holding midfielder. It doesn't matter who you replace at this point.

And Samayoa, of course, can play along with Michael Mancienne at center back, along with fellow '18 SuperDraft selection Brandon Bye, the only young player who has received quality minutes in 2018.

After all, with nothing to play for, now would be the time to see if these young players are the future of the Revolution — or if they're just another set of wasted draft picks and development.

And honestly... they couldn’t do any worse. Could they?