BSJ Season Recap: Revolution's 2019 season, once on life support, received a jolt in May

With the 2019 Revolution season now complete, here’s a look back at the highlights and lowlights in quickie form, complete with BSJ insight and analysis.

HEADLINES

Revolution make MLS Cup playoffs for the first time since 2015: Thanks to a 2-0 win over eventual Eastern Conference champion New York City FC on Sunday, Sept. 29, the Revolution clinched the seventh and final spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs, ending a postseason drought for the Route 1 outfit that had lasted three years. The Soccer Sons of Robert Kraft headed to Atlanta United FC and its House of Horrors on Saturday, Oct. 19, where they lost, 1-0, to the reigning MLS Cup holders thanks to Franco Escobar’s 70th-minute tally, ending the season. The Revs were 11-11-12 in the regular season, good enough for 45 points.

Friedel, Burns out, Arena in sparks Summer Surge: Following a 2-8-2 start to the 2019 campaign with wins over Minnesota United and New York Red Bulls, draws with FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City, and losses to Columbus, Toronto, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Chicago, the Krafts had seen enough. 18 months to the day he was hired to succeed Jay Heaps, Brad Friedel was fired on May 9, replaced — temporarily — by Mike Lapper for the balance of May. General manager Michael Burns was relieved of his duties the evening of May 13, and former US national team coach Bruce Arena stepped into the void left by the two of them on May 14, helping to stabilize the S.S. Revolution. At one point, the Revs were unbeaten in 11 straight in the league, including five wins in six outings between June 29 (a 2-1 win over Houston) and July 27 (a 4-1 win over Orlando City).

Gil, Bou signings give New England a lift: While the Revolution were in Marbella, Spain for preseason training, the club announced it had signed Carles Gil from Deportivo de la Coruña as a designated player. There was trepidation through the Colony, as Gil hadn’t scored in 18 appearances for the La Liga side. But he put those fears to rest as his impact was felt right away, and he wound up winning the club’s Golden Boot with 10 goals and 14 assists, was the JetBlue Team MVP and Midnight Riders’ Man of the Year, and was also the league’s Newcomer of the Year award winner. But that’s not all: As the Secondary Transfer Window opened, rumors swirled rather quickly that the Revs were looking into 29-year-old Argentinian striker Gustavo Bou who, at the time, was in the offseason with Liga MX side Xolos Tijuana. He signed a designated player contract on July 10, met the Boston soccer media for the first time on July 16, and made his introduction to Major League Soccer the next night, scoring a cracker in the process. His off-the-ball runs were sublime, and he ended his abbreviated campaign with 9 goals and 2 assists. He scored a match-winning goal against Chicago, and a match-lever against Toronto, and helped guide New England toward the playoffs.

Road form continues to improve, slightly: In 2018, the Revolution took 12 points — two wins, six draws — from the 17 road matches. In 2019, the road form was better at 3-6-8, good enough for 17 points taken. Still, New England’s road woes continued in a way, as the Revs blew a couple of leads — at Orlando City, at Sporting Kansas City, at DC United — which would have given them an additional nine points, and would have solidified their playoff position much earlier than they did.

Injuries a-plenty: Andrew Farrell suffered a preseason eye injury and missed the first month of the season. Isaac Angking had knee surgery, and Justin Rennicks had a hamstring issue while on international duty with the US U20s; that was all during the first month of the season. Michael Mancienne spent plenty of time in the trainer’s room; he was a late scratch from the season opener against FC Dallas, and told us in July that he tried to play through his plantar fasciitis injury out of necessity. He returned Aug. 10. Antonio Delamea was in the concussion protocol for most of April, and also suffered a hamstring injury; Teal Bunbury, too, had a hamstring issue in August. Edgar Castillo missed most of August and all of September with a rib injury.

Revs, Chelsea FC play Final Whistle On Hate match in May: During the tumultuous week surrounding Friedel’s firing and Arena’s hiring, the Revolution hosted English giants Chelsea FC at Gillette for the Final Whistle On Hate friendly match on Wednesday night, May 15 — the day before Arena was introduced to the media. Chelsea won, 3-0, and lost Ruben Loftus-Cheek due to an Achilles rupture on the patchwork quilt installed over the plastic pasture — that really didn’t go over well with Chelsea supporters, seeing as RLC was an important part of the Blues getting to the Europa League Final against Arsenal — but the real winners were 15 entities that combat anti-semitism, as the two clubs raised $4 million.

Revs to start USL League One outfit in 2020: Whispers and fomentation started pouring out of the Revolution board room in the summer about the potential addition of a lower league side, something we had mentioned as being a pivotal part of the team having ambition when we jumped on the beat in April 2018. The new development club became a reality on Oct. 9, as the club announced its Revolution II outfit would join the third division USL League One in March 2020. More information on the club will be released in the coming months.

Tierney returns: Chris Tierney, who retired following the 2018 season after tearing his ACL in late May, was announced as a member of the re-built front office in late August. He’ll be working on recruiting, helping to bring players to Foxborough. Tierney, the Wellesley Warhorse, had an 11-year playing career, all with the Revolution.

TURNING POINT OF THE SEASON

Between 2:16 p.m. on May 9 and shortly after 8 a.m. on May 14. At 2:16 p.m. on May 9, the club announced it had sacked Friedel and made Lapper the interim manager following a 2-8-2 start. At 7:02 p.m. on May 13, the club announced that Burns no longer had a job. And a few minutes after 8 a.m. the next morning, Arena was named the new coach and sporting director. From there, New England went on to accrue 34 points, with only three matches lost — as well as a cameo appearance in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

TRANSFERS IN/OUT/PLAYERS SIGNED SINCE THE END OF 2018

IN: Juan Fernando Caicedo, Edgar Castillo, Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou

OUT: Kelyn Rowe (traded to Sporting Kansas City via Colorado, now with RSL), Claude Dielna (MLS rights sold to Portland), Gabriel Somi (released)

SIGNED: Cristian Penilla (loan option bought), Luis Caicedo (loan option bought), Nicolas Firmino (Homegrown), Justin Rennicks (Homegrown), Tajon Buchanan (SuperDraft), DeJuan Jones (SuperDraft), Juan Agudelo (new contract), Scott Caldwell (extension), Matt Turner (extension)

SEASON THREE UP

Carles Gil: This goes without saying. The Spaniard came in and, after adjusting to the rough-and-tumble nature of MLS, went on to be an absolute magician. 10 goals with 14 assists is nothing to shake a stick at in his first season in Foxborough, and that — as we said — came after scoring no goals for La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña in the 18 matches he played in his home country during the 2018-19 campaign. We’re looking forward to his sophomore season here in the States.

Matt Turner: After spending the first two-plus months of the season in a head-scratching reserve role behind Brad Knighton and Cody Cropper, the latter shipped down the street to Hartford in August, the New Jersey native stepped back in front of the onion bag on May 8, and outside of a two-match suspension after he plowed through Wayne Rooney on May 25, he was The Man for both Mike Lapper and Bruce Arena the rest of the way. Two 9-save games, his career high, were highlights for him in the second half of 2019; following the regular-season finale, we wondered where this club would have been had it not been for Turner’s performances.

Andrew Farrell: The club’s Defender of the Year for the second year running, Farrell came back from a preseason eye injury and moved from right back to center back, a position he hadn’t played since college. It was a move that helped strengthen the back line in the wake of Michael Mancienne’s plantar fasciitis injury in May, which in turn got the Summer Surge underway. His play was, for the most part, rather stout, his decision-making so much better than in past years.

SEASON THREE DOWN

Cristian Penilla: Following a 12-goal performance in 2018, the buy clause in his loan agreement was triggered a week after the season… and for most of 2019, underwhelmed. We had asked him in the preseason if he would change anything in his game, given that he was the unknown entity last year and that MLS clubs would adjust to him; he said he plays the way he plays, and that might have been his downfall.

Edgar Castillo: Suffice it to say, the Revolution got a warm body in exchange for Kelyn Rowe, because that’s all Castillo was. He wasn’t a solid defender, and other clubs attacked his side with impunity. He showed some verve in June, had a couple of assists in July, but a rib injury sidelined him during the last two months of the season.

Brad Friedel: As April turned to May, Friedel was a Dead Man Walking, and it was only a matter of time before the Buckeye State native was out of a job.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Gustavo Bou, Juan Agudelo, Wilfried Zahibo, Luis Caicedo, DeJuan Jones, Mike Lapper

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

Michael Burns, Juan Fernando Caicedo

SCORING LEADERS

Carles Gil — 10 goals, 14 assists
Gustavo Bou — 9 goals, 2 assists
Teal Bunbury — 6 goals, 2 assists, plus 2 goals in the US Open Cup
Cristian Penilla — 6 goals, 8 assists
Juan Fernando Caicedo — 5 goals, 3 assists

THREE END OF SEASON TAKES THAT SWEENS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Bruce Arena has been known for going into situations with foundering teams, evaluating, and finally jettisoning a solid number of players (see also: LA Galaxy, 2008). He’s gone through more than half a season with these Revolution players, has evaluated them, and now the time has come: Bruce, take a hatchet to this roster. If you have to say adiós to many of them, including fan favorites, we have absolutely no issue with that. No single player is bigger than the club itself, and the era of mediocrity needs to finally vanish this offseason.

Will he, though? Look, one can make the argument that he took the dead weight that failed to make the 2018 Playoffs and did what Friedel and Burns couldn’t do — bring in a quality asset, a game-changer, in Bou, and brought them to the postseason. Maybe not necessarily take a hatchet to the team. Say thanks to some players, thank them for their time, and replace them with quality talent. There’s some talent in that changing room that really came together since May, and there’s the chance that with a third DP, that pushes New England over the top and in contention for MLS Cup, as well as the other trophies.

We also don’t know what salary/spending restrictions there will be with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring in a couple of months. It could be more; it could be less than now. Who knows. So how about we just take a deep breath, calm ourselves for a few minutes, and just freaking relax?

WHAT’S NEXT?

What’s next, indeed! With their season now complete, we’re expecting the club to make its roster decisions before the expansion draft in mid-November, when Inter Miami FC and Nashville SC start building their teams. Then it’s the long wait until SuperDraft, and the start of the 2020 season.

Thanks for following the Revolution this season on BostonSportsJournal.com.