Revolution's defensive corps have been key in this 11-game unbeaten run

FOXBOROUGH — One of the things that have been a point of contention with Revolution fans over the years has been the state of the club’s defending corps. From being rather leaky in the back to the point that certain people didn’t reload after the departure of certain players — hello, that’s A.J. Soares on line one — the backline has seen its share of vitriol headed its way.

And through the first two-plus months of the 2019 season, it was fair to slag the defending. After all, New England had given up 30 goals in the first 12 matches.

But that's only fair to a point. Michael Mancienne, as we found out last week, was playing hurt since preseason, pretty much by necessity. Antonio Delamea, too, had a few knocks. Because of all the injuries, it was pretty hard to pinpoint who would be playing where, in the back line: Brad Friedel had to use five different center back pairings, including moving Andrew Farrell from right back — the position he had played since the Revs drafted him — into that central role.

Not only that, through the first 12, the Revolution defending gave up 11 late goals — almost one per match — in the final 15-plus minutes of games. It got to the point where Revs fans had to cover their eyes in the final quarter-hour.

Yet since Friedel was fired on Thursday, May 9, the New England defensive unit has been a critical force in its turnaround. An 11-game unbeaten streak, extended by Saturday night’s 4-1 win over Orlando City. The goals allowed are certainly down: nine goals allowed, and with Tesho Akindele scoring in the 77th minute for the Lions Saturday night, six of them have come in that final quarter of an hour.

“We have breakdowns during the game, and that's what happened,” Edgar Castillo told BostonSportsJournal.com Saturday night. “But I mean, overall, we had a good game, and you got to keep going on that winning streak. We gotta fix errors because it wasn't a perfect game. At 4-0, we switched off.”

Old habits do die hard.

The goal ended a 261-minute scoreless streak, one that has come primarily with the same four players in the back: Castillo at left back, Delamea and Farrell at the center back positions, and Brandon Bye at right back. Matt Turner has reclaimed the goalkeeper’s spot, and it doesn’t look like he’s relinquishing that any time soon. DeJuan Jones has also been out there at left back on occasion.

As they say, familiarity breeds consistency, and that has been key.

“I think we've done a better job defending,” Farrell said Saturday night. “Guys have stepped up. We've definitely made less mistakes than we used to make before this run started. But I think when those moments were happening, no one was stepping up to make the plays. Now someone does that. A lot of defending isn't just the back line and the goalkeeper, but the midfield has been doing great, too; Luis (Caicedo), when he plays, and Wilfried (Zahibo) and Juan (Agudelo) in that role.”

For Farrell, the move to center back hasn’t been tough for him, for he played that position for most of his intercollegiate career at the University of Louisville. He also played right back and defensive midfield.

“I want to be a part of the team and whatever I can do to help,” he continued. “I like playing center back; if you're outside, you're restricted to that. At center back, I can cut out stuff, I can cover for Tony, Jalil (Anibaba), whoever's playing right there and just help out. I think now that the tandem that we have with me and Jalil and Tony, these are guys who like to step up and win the headers, and then I can just be in behind and cover for them.

“Being back there right now and having the success that we've had, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Delamea noted the work that the backline has been putting in — but it goes even further than that, too.

“Every player in the field has been working hard, and a little luck, of course; need to have some luck to keep the streak going,” Delamea said. “But I just think we really work hard. Someone was going to score on us sooner or later, and that happened (Saturday). But the most important thing was after the goal, we went back on good tracks and just kept pushing.”

Orlando would end up with 57.5 percent of the ball, and pressed for a second goal in the final quarter hour, but nothing dropped.

“We've been playing as a team. You’ve seen it. Inside the field, we're all one. And that's all we've been told. We got just got keep going,” said Castillo.

And now, New England must defend against the top team in the league, Los Angeles Football Club, this Saturday night in an attempt to extended the unbeaten streak to 12, which would be a club record for a single season. LAFC has scored an immense 59 goals so far this year, with Mexican international Carlos Vela leading the way with 22 goals, tops in Major League Soccer this season. LAFC also has Diego Rossi, who has scored 12 goals.

The Black and Gold are coming off a 4-3 win over Atlanta United FC this past Friday night.

Farrell said he watched the whole thing.

“They have the best attack in the league,” he said, “other than ours; I’d like to take ours because I like our guys. It’s going to be fun. I’ve watched LAFC all year, and they’re fun to watch. But we’ll watch (film) this week and we’ll have four good days of training to get ready for them.

“As much as you watch them, it’s different when you get on the field and you have to go against Vela: you can watch tape on him and know he goes to his left — everyone knows he goes to his left, and he still scores. You just have to bear down and help.”