The New England Revolution continued their unusually hectic off-season today as they said so long to forward Pat Noonan who will now play his games with Norwegian club Aalesund. Noonan has been a large part of the Revolutions great run over the last few years, scoring 42 goals in 136 matches, but the team decided not to exercise their option on him.

1. New England Revolution Introduce two U-20 Gambian players and succeed? Sure. Steve Nicol certainly knows what he's doing and his opener - without the services of Twellman - truly pays homage to his ability to man manage and bring along young talent. Let's not forget Adam Cristman who worked well with Nyassi and Mansally.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Jozy Altidore left. So did Brad Guzan. Juan Toja could be leaving soon too, as could Kenny Cooper.

As the list of MLS players set to make moves to Europe continues to grow, one name not on that list is Taylor Twellman, the New England Revolution striker who had his bid for a multi-million dollar move to Preston North End rejected last winter.

Happy Monday to all here as we are a hours away from the international summer transfer window opening back up for all clubs to trade parts, find new and exciting and whatever else those clubs do with the transfer window. But before an influx of new talent comes into Major League Soccer I wanted to spend [.

Like Laurie over on the LA Galaxy Offside, I really, really want to dig into whole upcoming Superdraft explosion, but....well, here I am some considerable yet unknown number of days after Buzz Carrick posted the first of his Superdraft scouting series for ESPN (goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders; forwards are pending) and I've still got nuthin'.

Adam Cristman scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season to help lead the first place Revs to a 2-1 victory over the Western Conference leading Los Angeles Galaxy on Friday night. After taking a 2-0 first half lead, the Revolution survived a late offensive push by the Galaxy, and a lucky goal by David Beckham, to escape Los Angeles with three points and further extend their lead at the top of the standings.

As mentioned earlier in the day, week 11 in Major League Soccer was a weird and wacky week that probably surprised most of us all. From a washed out game to some crazy final moments, this week had plenty of drama to offer MLS fans everywhere. As for the weekly award of player of the week [...]

Top XI
G: Kevin Hartman Brad Guzan
D: Hunter Freeman Tony Beltran
D: Claudio Suarez
D: Gonzalo Martinez
M: Carlos Mendes
M: Clyde Simms
M: Sacha Kljestan
M: Marcelo Gallardo
M: Guillermo Barros Schelotto
F: Ante Razov
F: Landon Donovan Edson Buddle
Coach: Sigi Schmid.

So the news now is that Kansas City could be bringing back in former Wizard, Josh Wolff to try and help cure their scoring woes. Those woes include only scoring 10 goals this season, 1 less then Landon Donovan has himself. They also include a current scoreless streak of 320 minutes, and been shut out a total of 5 times, which is as many times they've shut out a team.

The Eastern Conference (and MLS) leading Revolution (9-4-3) visit the Western Conference leading Galaxy (6-5-3) tonight seeking to extend their undefeated streak over L.A. to eight regular season games, a record that dates back to April 2004.

The Galaxy haven't lost an Independence Day game since 2001, however, so it appears something has to give.

New England Coach Steve Nichol believed his team deserved to win, Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit said L.A. deserved at least a draw tonight.

Coaches always say stuff like that of course, but who do you believe?

Gullit said midfield was the biggest problem for the Galaxy tonight:

"People panic under a little bit of pressure and give the ball away to the opposition," he said.

The leaders of the Western Conference, LA Galaxy, played the leaders of the Eastern Conference, New England Revolution, yesterday. Galaxy dominated the second half but, this time they couldn't overturn the two-goal deficit from the first half.
Adam Cristman scored twice for the visitors in quick succession in the first 45 minutes, and could have got a hat trick just before the half-time whistle but hit the post with an empty net in front of him.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The Revs just keep on rolling.

New England maintained its grip on the top spot in the SBI MLS Power Rankings, something not many teams have been able to do this year. Beating Los Angeles cemented their place while also causing the Galaxy to slide further after three matches without a win.

Is Michael Orozco the new Jeff Agoos?
~and~
Kasey Keller has signed with Seattle Sounders FC for next spring. See MLS Expansion section for details.
~and~
New England showed that the US Open Cup is DEFINITELY NOT a priority for them this season as they rested nearly all of their regulars in DC last night (only Shalrie Joseph & Adam Cristman played) and got whooped for it.

The second leg of matches in the CONCACAF Champions League kicks off tonight, with the headline being two MLS teams fighting for their tournament lives against lesser-known opponents.
The New England Revolution welcome Joe Public FC, the Jamaican side that advanced to the tournament by way of their runner-up finish in the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship in 2007.

In a curious move to free up its second-leading scorer, the Revolution traded forward Adam Cristman to Kansas City for allocation money and KC's natural third-round selection. In other words, the Wizards bought Cristman before Seattle could swipe him for free in today's expansion draft. Makes sense..

Josh Wolff poses for a picture with some fans. Josh signed some autographs for about an hour during the day's event.
Adam Cristman does an interview for kcwizards.com. Adam wanted to take time out of his day hunting for a new place to live to stop by and meet some of his new fans. Thanks for coming Adam!

So much for another quiet offseason in Revolution Land.
Less than a month after Andy Dorman handed the gate attendant at Logan International Airport his one-way ticket to Scotland, Pat Noonan punched his own ticket abroad by signing with Norwegian club Aalesunds FK on Thursday, thus proving that the barn door in front of Gillette Stadium is indeed still swinging wide open.

There's no place like home. At least not for Toronto FC, which has yet to lose an MLS match at BMO Field. Their record away from home is another story as the Canadians continue struggling when they make their way south.

New England's home form has left something to be desired this season.

The first place New England Revolution are headed to Los Angeles to face the David Beckham led Galaxy on July 4th. The Galaxy, who failed the make the playoffs last season, currently lead the Western Conference, thanks to Beckham, Landon Donovan, and Edson Buddle, who have led their offense to a league leading 32 goals.

After going half the season without anyone earning Player of the Week honors or anyone scoring more than a goal in a game, the Revs have done both in back to back weeks. Adam Cristman scored twice in the Revs 2-1 victory over Los Angeles and was named Player of the Week for his performance. Steve Ralston won the award last week for a two goal performance of his own against Toronto.

Former New England Revolution forward Pat Noonan may be on his way back to the United States sooner than later, as several recent reports have alluded to an imminent return from Norwegian side Aalesunds Fotballklubb.New England offered Noonan a new contact after the end of last season, but were not willing to substantially increase his salary, speeding up his move to Europe.

Shoot.

The team departs early tomorrow morning to head back to the District and will turn focus towards the visiting Colorado Rapids on Saturday. The guys were - not surprisingly - disappointed with the result tonight. A number of players commented on what they thought was a poorly officiated match - it certainly looked like Fred got pulled down in the box in the second half - but most thought the team could have played better.

New England Revolution forward Adam Cristman has opted for toe surgery and will miss the remainder of the MLS season, team officials announced on Wednesday.
Cristman, 23, sprained his right big toe late last season and re-aggravated the injury in January while playing for the U.S. U-23 team. Despite being in pain for much of the season, he is tied for the team lead in goals with six in 18 appearances.

New England v Chivas USA It's already Thursday, and that means another sparsely watched game on ESPN2. I'll hopefully be tuning in to catch the Revs taking on Chivas USA at Foxborough, although it may not be worth it. Check out the injury list from the MLSnet preview: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION - OUT: FW Adam Cristman (R [.

First of all, let us wish all of our Jewish readers a very happy Hanukkah. It starts today (sunset last night) and runs through sunset on Dec. 29. If you're looking for last-minute Hanukkah gifts, some of these might strike your fancy. For those of you observing Christmas, Festivus or Kwanzaa (Dec. 26 through Jan.

Esteemed Readership,
I have failed you the past fortnight. Instead of delivering the regular articles, features, and random thoughts ready for semi-daily chastisement (sp?), I have been remiss in updating this little blog o' mine. Surely, your soccer landscape has become like desert as a result.

The New England Revolution came out flat and fell to an early 2-0 deficit against a surprisingly impressive D.C. United side before rallying for two strikes in the second half to salvage a 2-2 tie.

D.C., currently last place in the Eastern Conference, saw their offense ignite early and pounded the Revs goal with shots.

June 1st's show is available now as an MP3 archive at RevolutionRecap.com and on iTunes.
The show featured Dave Akman (recently returned from England and the US vs. England match) in studio and post-match interviews with Steve Nicol, Kheli Dube, Adam Cristman, Matt Reis, Jay Heaps, Chris Albright, and Shalrie Joseph.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Adam Cristman and Steve Ralston gave New England an early two-goal lead and Matt Reis kept the Revs afloat during a second half onslaught from FC Dallas to help the home team escape with a 2-1 victory Friday night.

The win makes the Revs the first team in MLS to get to seven wins and extends their unbeaten streak to five games.

The New England Revolution entered the match a perfect 8-0-0 when scoring the first goal and Adam Cristman put them on top in just the 8th minute. Salt Lake, however, came back thanks to an own goal by Jay Heaps and a second half strike by rookie Tino Nunez to get a 2-1 victory and remain unbeaten at home.

The Euro 08 Semifinals are set - Germany v Turkey on Wednesday and Russia v Spain on Thursday. See details in Euro 2008 Schedule section below.
MLS Scoreboard
Week 13
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 18
New England 1-1 New York - NER goal by Steve Ralston.

Wow, the past eight weeks just kind of flew by, now didn't they? Sheesh. Eight weeks being the last time I posted here, there's been so much that's transpired since that I've failed to comment on that I could write a multi-volume encyclopedia on. But I won't. I'm lazy.
Let's touch up on a few things, though, that are worth a mention:
1.

There's no place like home. At least not for Toronto FC, which has yet to lose an MLS match at BMO Field. Their record away from home is another story as the Canadians continue struggling when they make their way south.

New England's home form has left something to be desired this season.

Top XI
G: Nick Rimando
D: Bobby Burling
D: Michael Parkhurst
D: Facundo Erpen
D: Chris Wingert
M: Colin Clark
M: Emmanuel Ekpe
M: Guillermo Barros Schelotto
F: Chris Rolfe
F: Ante Razov
F: Adam Cristman
Coach: Sigi Schmid and Schellas Hyndman each went to the right player off the bench as Steven Lenhart and Abe Thompson rewarded their respective coaches' faith with late equalizers as Columbus and FC Dallas rescued home points.

We're about two-thirds complete with the MLS season and we still haven't figured much out. One week, New England is the best team in the league, the next thing you know they are dropping their second straight game. San Jose meanwhile was given up for dead but now they are legitimately chasing a playoff spot.

An anemic New England offense rarely threatened Trinidad's Joe Public F.C. and the Revolution fell 2-1 in the away leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round series.

Injuries decimated the Revs offensive options and only a late penalty kick converted by Mauricio Castro allowed them to escape the island nation in a decent position heading into the home leg.

cue Queen and David Bowie, with Vanilla Ice somewhere in the background still trying to prove Ice Ice Baby had a different bass line...
New England and Chivas USA are down to the wire tonight to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League group stage. They were unable to get results on the road, and are now left to prove their strength at home.

The New England Revolution fell 4-0 to Joe Public F.C. on Tuesday completing a 6-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of their Trinidadian opponents.
The loss marks the first time an MLS team has been eliminated from CONCACAF competition by a Caribbean opponent and it is also the first time an MLS team has give up three or more goals to Caribbean opposition.

Chivas USA 1, Tauro FC (Panama) 1 - Tauro advance 3-1 on aggregate

That score from last night is an attention-grabber, isn't it? MLS has invested a lot of effort in playing up a rivalry with Mexico as the best league in this part of the world, so a loss to a team from Panama -- which ranks somewhere below Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador in terms of international achievement -- isn't at all what the league would want.