Sweeney: Despite prior assurances to the contrary, the 2019 Revolution turned things around

FOXBOROUGH — It’s really hard to believe. It’s hard to believe what has transpired in most of the last half-calendar year when it comes to New England’s soccer sons.

Some five months ago, I had written the 2019 edition of the New England Revolution off as has-beens, a team that wouldn’t go to the playoffs regardless of what happened in the second half of the season.

And to be honest, I had solid reasoning for that.

Nineteen players from a really, really, really lousy team had returned to Gillette Stadium on January 21. It was supposed to be a fresh start in minus-17 weather — I’m still not properly warm, even through the broiler of a summer we just experienced — and the former regime had said over and over again that these players were committed. They also had the funds to get two designated players.

And then it started. Two wins against Minnesota United and the Red Bulls, 8 points taken out of 36. When that happens, you have every right to think that it’s OK to write a team off when they start 2-8-2 in the first two-plus months. Seriously … I felt justified.

And with that start came so many problems: One of the low points came on April 24, two weeks before the end came for Brad Friedel. Montreal — sorry, the late-arriving Montreal Impact, their Tuesday flight from Dorval to Hanscom pushed back to 1:28 p.m. the day of game — had thumped a flat Revolution squad, 3-0. A month before, they lost to the newboys, FC Cincinnati, a club that had made five changes from its previous match. That loss led to a 13-minute press conference, where Friedel promised a designated player who “wanted to play here, wanted to live here.”

At the end of the transfer window, that designated player didn’t come. The season felt over, for some reason, one that didn’t truly feel rectified when the club announced Friedel had been fired shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. A pall hung over the fan base; diehards had walked out an hour into one early match. Against San Jose, two days after Friedel was out of a job, the Midnight Riders and The Rebellion chanted “Burns Out.”

Two days later, they got their wish.

The next morning, Bruce Arena was announced as holding two jobs within the Revolution organization: head coach, and sporting director.

And with what he has done since he took over in the technical area — and we are not breezing over the job done by Mike Lapper during the three matches in the interim, because that would be simply rude and unappreciative — the Revs have gone from the basement, a team that couldn’t break through a wet paper towel, to a team that in the last 18 matches has only lost twice and has claimed 32 points out of 54.

Yup, it’s hard to believe. It’s hard to believe what has all transpired.

But it has.

It has happened, and with the way the stands rumbled and thundered post-match Sunday evening, not a quarter of an hour after the Revs clinched their spot in the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs, the Revolution fandom was in dreamland. A place they had wanted to be in the last three dreary seasons, they have returned to with a glorious 2-0 win over the Bronx upstarts.

And as a team from Boston, to get into the playoffs — and do so against a team from that place — makes it just too sweet.

So on this Monday morning, I offer a mea culpa. I was wrong. The Revs did make the playoffs. They did something memorable.

They made everyone believe again.

Enjoy the ride, for however long it lasts.