The Revolution midfield has shown so far this season that it is one of the most dynamic and
dangerous in all of Major League Soccer. With a seemingly endless number of combinations, the Revs
have a real dominance in the center of the pitch that can rarely be matched. But their own worst
enemy can sometimes be themselves, with the occasional uncertainty as to which midfield will show
up on game day.
The MLS July 1st guaranteed contract deadline is right around the corner, and teams are making
their moves to clear players off their roster. KC made their move today, waiving midfielder, Luke
Sassano. Sassano had been picked up by KC after the Re-Entry draft in a trade with the LA Galaxy
that sent the rights to Frankie Hejduk to LA.
It's going to be a beautiful, sunny day in Foxboro this afternoon (high of 67°, no less) as the
New England Revolution face off against bitter I-95 rivals D.C. United at Gillette Stadium. The
Revs are hoping to banish the demons of a heart-breaking last-minute 1-0 loss to Dallas last week,
while United will look to build on an encouraging performance in a 0-0 draw against Seattle.
Veteran defender Cory Gibbs underwent successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right
knee today at Glenbrook Hospital. The surgery was performed by team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jason
Koh from the NorthShore Medical Group. Gibbs suffered the injury during training on April 4. He is
expected to be out until at least July but his recovery might extend into the fall.
The Bent Musket has learned today that former USA international forward Nate Jaqua, who was
selected by the New England Revolution in the Re-Entry Draft this offseason, is currently
evaluating his options for the next stage of his career, according to team sources. Those options
include retirement.
The Philadelphia Union announced on Monday the signing of defender Chris Albright.
The Philadelphia native, a product of Penn Charter and FC Delco, has played in MLS for 13 years,
beginning with DC United where he started his career as a forward.
This is a bit delayed, but in case you missed it, earlier this week the Revolution welcomed 5
new trialists to training camp. Three of them are relatively unknown: Patrick Otte, Gabe Mercier,
and Brandin McClay. Otte, a midfielder, currently plays for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the
NASL.
Personnel wise it's been a disastrous couple of days for the New England Revolution. Rajko Lekic
is off in Denmark, Monsef Zerka has signed in India, Milton Caraglio is off in Chile, Re-entry
Draft pick Danleigh Borman is in South Africa, and now news out of Columbia has told us that one of
the Revs "big" offseason signings has changed his mind and will not suit up for Jay Heaps in
Foxborough.
Two months after he was taken by the Revolution in the first stage of the Re-entry Draft, it
appears that left back Danleigh Borman won't be in Foxboro in 2012.
According to a report, the 27-year-old is close to returning to his native South Africa to play
for Pretoria-based SuperSport United.
The Fire have made official the signing of Kheli Dube, their lone pick in the 2011 MLS re-entry
draft. This builds on the busy offseason the Fire have had, with Dube becoming their fifth player
added to the Fire roster this offseason. Follow me after the break for a couple of comments and
some info on Dube.
The New England Revolution selected defender Tyler Polak from Creighton with the 22nd overall
pick of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. (Photo Credit: Andy Mead / MLSsoccer.com)
Seeking to address its defensive shortcomings, the Revolution turned its attention to the rear
by selecting Tyler Polak with the 22nd overall pick in the SuperDraft.
ALSO FILE UNDER: This thing might just go away in 5 or 6 years
As player acquisition tools evolve in Major League Soccer, January's annual SuperDraft seems
destined to shrink in relevance. Even this year the process already is shrinking, literally,
reduced to just two rounds. That's down from four rounds just two years ago.
Coming off its worst season on record, there's no doubt that the Revolution will have to
maximize every available opportunity to help them get back to respectability. After selecting
three established MLS players during last month's Re-entry Draft, their next chance to bolster the
roster arrives on Thursday with the SuperDraft.
The holidays are upon us and I'm beginning to think that I won't be getting anything from my
Revs Christmas wishlist this year. While other teams are signing international players and brand
new soccer stadiums are being built, Revs fans are settling for some stocking stuffers this
year--and I guess a little coal, too.
Nearly two weeks after selecting him in Stage 2 of the Re-entry Draft, the Revolution and
former D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms came to terms on a contract for 2012.
The addition of Simms, a 29-year-old center half who started 147 of his 182 games in D.C. from
2005-2011, gives the Revolution some veteran experience in the middle of the park.
An anemic New England Revolution offense started to turn around towards the end of the 2011
season thanks to some late additions, but new head coach Jay Heaps might not get the chance to
build upon that improvement in 2012.
Jay Heaps may have to replace Rajko Lekic and other key players from the 2011 squad.
Revolution right back Kevin Alston keeps a close eye on Galaxy midfielder Miguel Lopez (Photo:
Chris Aduama/aduama.com).
Heads down. Hands on hips. That was the unofficial pose of the Revolution defense in 2011.
After giving away goals at a philanthropic rate (58, the second-most in MLS last season) it's
not a stretch to say that the biggest task head coach Jay Heaps faces this offseason is improving
his team's porous D.
It's always funny how rumors come out of no where and are really based off of nothing. The Birahim
Diop to Colombia rumors started out of nothing but a running joke that Diop would look to continue
to follow Ocatvio Zambrano as he had quite a few times in his career. Today another rumor really
based off of nothing has come up.
It's been rumored and speculated on since he pulled out of the re-entry draft, but today, Sporting
KC finally made it official. Luke Sassano has signed a new contract with Sporting KC. Sassano had
played in 9 league games last year in a season that was cut short by some injuries. Sassano had not
had his contract picked up and had gone into the re-entry draft.
Player news is starting to pick up a little bit for Sporting KC. The team today made two
announcements on player news, and a new rumor has cropped up on another player.
First, after the announcement yesterday of the trade for Michael Thomas' rights, the team today
announced that they had signed the Olathe native to a contract.
Lost in all the hullabaloo surrounding the MLS Re-Entry Draft was the news that not only did
midfielder Danny Cruz graduate from Generation adidas, his contract option was not picked up.
According to MLS Insider, Cruz will be out of contract at the end of the year and is generating
interest from a couple European clubs.
Hammarby IF head coach Gregg Berhalter won't be the only one at the club with MLS experience
next season.
Hammarby signed midfielder Baggio Husidic on Friday morning, the club announced on its website.
Husidic, who has spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Fire, agreed to a two-year deal with
the Swedish club.
Record overall vs DC in MLS - 16-18-9 (W-L-T)
Record at RFK vs DC - 5-12-4
Last meeting, 10/22/11, 1-0 (Besler 54)
Sporting KC kick off the 2012 season tomorrow night at RFK Stadium against DC United, the same team
KC ended the regular season against last year. This is the 7th time that these two teams have met
with in the first game of the season.
Yesterday's rumors about KC announcing the signing of Jacob Peterson turned from rumor to fact
today as Sporting KC announced the signing of the 6 year MLS veteran. Peterson had been without a
team since he was allowed to entry the re-entry draft by the San Jose Earthquakes. Peterson becomes
the third player with a fairly long MLS career to join Kansas City this offseason, joining Bobby
Convey and Pablo Nagamura.
The New York Red Bulls have had an awfully quiet offseason, which has been used more to deflect
rumors and links to star players as opposed to making improvements to a team that vastly
underachieved by its own expectations in 2011.
With the MLS Eastern Conference as wide open as it was down the stretch last season, a roster
tweak in the right direction could be all it takes to separate certain clubs from the pack. Â
In the opening month of the offseason, no teams did more to augment their rosters than the
Philadelphia Union and Sporting Kansas City, two clubs that felt they had what it took to win the
conference crown last season before ultimately losing out to the Houston Dynamo.
With the signing of Porfirio Lopez yesterday, the Philadelphia Union continued a busy offseason
that has already addressed many glaring needs.
Since the 2011 season ended in defeat at Houston, the Union have parted ways with Justin Mapp,
purchased the rights to a Costa Rican striker, a Costa Rican fullback, and a Panamanian utilityman,
signed a Tanzanian winger through the re-entry draft, and added a homegrown player.
Sporting KC has done well so far this offseason. (Getty Images)
Well, it is mid-December. The Christmas trees are up and the snow is falling in some places
around the country. The Re-Entry Drafts have come and gone for the 19 MLS clubs. Teams are
constantly making moves this offseason at times more moves than it seems like ever before.
Also, the Insider has learned the club is planning to look at a left back, where United
lacks depth.
Christ! "Planning" to look? Now that the regular season is less than a month away?
Left back was one of the weakest spots on the roster as far as incumbent starters, had its depth
removed in December (Burch gone via Re-Entry draft), and has been consistently identified by United
punditry writ large as one of the two gaping holes in the roster for months.
Finally another addition hits the roster with United's acquisition of Maicon Santos. In another
time, with a different club, I might be pleased with this pickup. As it stands, I'm just left
feeling suspicious.
Why?
While Santos has a reasonable history with the league (and so will not have to suffer through a
period of adapting to the style of play), his mediocre goal tally (14 goals in 2.
This actually happened before Christmas but I haven't gotten a chance to mention it. Baggio
Husidic, who's rights the Rapids acquired in the Re-Entry Draft, has decided to decline Colorado's
contract offer and instead sign with Hammarby IF in Sweden. Former U.S. Nats player Gregg Berhalter
was recently named manager of the AEG-owned club and this will probably be the first of multiple
signings from MLS for the team.
The Union confirmed on Wednesday through the team's Twitter account that Zac MacMath is joined
in preseason training by Chase Harrison, who had temporarily joined the club late last season when
Faryd Mondragon and Thorne Holder were both out with injuries before the club declined the option
to sign him in November to make him available for the Re-Entry Draft.
As it turns out, Arturo Alvarez won't be suiting up for Chivas USA heading into the 2012 MLS
season after all.
Alvarez, who was selected by Chivas in the first stage of the MLS Re-Entry Draft but never came
to terms with the club as he sought opportunities overseas, has reportedly signed with Portuguese
top-flight club Pacos de Ferreira on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
Ream Just Looked at the EPL TableIf reports in multiple British tabloids are to be believed,
English Premier League relegation favorites Bolton Wanderers will be signing New York Red Bulls
defender Tim Ream once the January transfer window opens, for a transfer fee of somewhere close to
£2 million, or approximately $3.
One of the factors in yesterday's trade that got little notice was that the Seattle Sounders
shipped out two more American players in Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle. Of course they got an
American in return in Eddie Johnson, but, in addition to that transaction, the list of Americans
the Sounders have lost this offseason is substantial.
The Dynamo announced today that midfielder/winger Danny Cruz has been traded to DC United for
allocation money. The trade was announced around 2:45pm CT.
Cruz graduated from Generation adidias in the off-season and the Dynamo declined his contract
option. The team had made attempts to re-sign Cruz but apparently a deal could not be reached.
With four selections in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft the Chicago Fire Soccer Club acquired
forward Evans Frimpong (9th overall), goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski (15th overall) midfielder Tony
Walls (47th overall) and defender Justin Chavez (66th overall). They will join SuperDraft
selections Lucky Mkosana and Hunter Jumper, Open Tryout winner Fabrizio Pittaluga and Re-Entry
Draft selection Kheli Dube in attempting to win a roster spot with the Chicago Fire for the 2012
season.
