The NASL expansion San Antonio Scorpions club added four more players, including long-time MLS vet Ryan Cochrane, along with one of the top NASL attackers last season, Pablo Campos of the Carolina RailHawks, in addition to signing two young players with local ties. The RailHawks, meanwhile, will have Chris Nurse back in the fold for [.

Time for the 2011 season grades to (finally) continue! Corey, Matty, and I have looked at the four major areas of the team - goalkeeping, defense, midfield, forwards - and assigned our grades on a 4.0 scale.

Unfortunately for the New England Revolution, we don't curve based on the rest of the league.

The Revs already have their veteran leader in the back: Matt Reis. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Over the past few seasons there seemed to be a general consensus that the New England Revolution needed a veteran in the back line to help guide its relatively young defense. Admittedly, I was a part of that group.

Ho ho ho! Continuing a new tradition started last year, the writers at New England Soccer Today gathered around the fireplace, munched on gingerbread cookies and compiled this Revolution Christmas list with cheer.

A dangerous winger (Brian) The mid-season signing of Monsef Zerka gave New England the cultured winger it lacked since the retirement of Steve Ralston.

Ho ho ho! Continuing a new tradition started last year, the writers at New England Soccer Today gathered around the fireplace, munched on gingerbread cookies and compiled this Revolution Christmas list with cheer.

A dangerous winger (Brian) The mid-season signing of Monsef Zerka gave New England the cultured winger it lacked since the retirement of Steve Ralston.

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.

There was a time when I liked a couple players in the MLS Re-Entry Draft for the Seattle Sounders to pick up in Stage Two and talk into less money. First Bobby Boswell renegotiated with the Houston Dynamo and then Bobby Convey went to Sporting Kansas City at a cut rate (rumors say 200K$). Now the list of available players is absent of the really appealing names.

Today was the first stage of the MLS Re-Entry draft. Like last year it was a fairly quiet round, with most teams choosing to pass instead of taking a player at their current salary or at a bona fide offer. Only 3 players were selected in the draft. Arturo Alvarez was picked up by Chivas USA, Columbus picked up Carlos Mendes, and New England grabbed Danleigh Borman.

The Major League Soccer re-entry draft will take place on Monday and there are plenty of players available, many of whom you have probably never heard of before (a full list can be found here and our discussion to date can be found here). Selections in the 2010 edition of the re-entry draft were rare with only two players going in the first round.

MLS released the list of players that are available for the Re-Entry Draft next week. Up until Friday team's can still negotiate with their players and potentially reach a deal that would see the player stay with their current club. So fans of Luke Sassano (sorry I'm not sure Shavar Thomas has many fans in KC at this point) don't have to get worried quite yet that the midfielder will not be back.

Five days prior to the first stage of the Re-Entry draft, the Revolution announced that it has declined the contract options on veterans Ryan Cochrane, Kheli Dube and Pat Phelan.

With the moves, all three are eligible for selection in the Re-Entry Draft as each has at least four years of MLS experience and are over the age of 25.

MLS has released its list of eligible players for this year's Re-Entry Draft, and it features three New England Revolution players. Ryan Cochrane, Kheli Dube, and Pat Phelan will be available for selection by other MLS clubs after their options for the 2012 season were declined. Stage one of the draft will take place on Monday, December 5th.

Ahead of the 2012 MLS Expansion Draft, during which the Montreal Impact will be allowed to draft 10 unprotected players from MLS' 18 current teams, today the Revolution have released their list of 11 protected players of whom the Impact cannot select. The Revs' protected list is as follows:

• Kevin Alston
• Benny Feilhaber
• Shalrie Joseph
• Rajko Lekic
• Stephen McCarthy
• Sainey Nyassi
• Matt Reis
• Bobby Shuttleworth
• A.

Newly named head coach Jay Heaps and the New England Revolution made a few surprise decisions on their protected list ahead Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft where the Montreal Impact will select ten players to continue building their new club.

Several big contributors to last year's squad, among them center back Darrius Barnes, midfielder Ryan Guy and forwards Milton Caraglio, the team's first Designated Player, and Kenny Mansally.

Hello and welcome to the New England Revolution vs. Columbus Crew live game thread! With Sporting Kansas City's victory over the New York Red Bulls today, the Crew can clinch a playoff spot with a win tonight. So while the Revs may still be just playing out the season for little more than job security, this match should see Columbus come out swinging as they fight for three precious points.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Sean Donahue and Brian O'Connell contributed ratings for the New England Revolution's 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution were unable to stop their skid at home Saturday night as they fell 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes at Gillette Stadium. Both teams had been previously eliminated from playoff contention and were competing for naught but pride and jobs.

San Jose opened the scoring through Chris Wondolowski in the first half.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The opponent changed, but the match looked the same as so many others in this disastrous season for the New England Revolution. Defensive miscues and a lack of inventiveness in the final third assured the Revs (5-15-12, 27 points) would finish with a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes (7-11-14, 35 points).

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. With their postseason hopes officially over, the New England Revolution's final three games won't be just about finishing the season with pride. The final three weeks of the season are expected to be a trial period for players, especially with so much overhaul expected after a lackluster campaign.

Following the Revolution's elimination from the postseason race, fourth-year veteran Chris Tierney suggested that "jobs are on the line" going into the final three games of season.

Although that may seem drastic, Tierney's point isn't terribly off base. With the team chained to the basement, it stands to reason that more than a few Revolution players may be playing in their final games in Foxboro this month.

Saturday night in Foxboro the Revolution once again squandered an early lead and succumbed to defeat to Seattle 2-1. Sadly, it's a script all too familiar to the members of the 2011 squad, and it certainly sticks out as the team's biggest shortcoming. After surrendering two more goals on Saturday, the "goals against" tally for New England eclipsed the 50 goal milestone, as the Revs have now conceded 51 times this season, putting them behind only Toronto FC for worst in the league.

Diego Fagundez scored his second goal of the season on a night when he became the youngest player to start a game for the New England Revolution, but Fredy Montero responded with a pair of goals for Seattle Sounders FC as the visitors claimed a come-from-behind, 2-1 win at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Soccer is a game of goals. Not necessarily pretty goals, not amazing feats of beating strong defense, just goals. Saturday night as the Seattle Sounders beat the New England Revolution 2:1 the goals made were all off of defensive errors. Diego Fagundez was unmarked on a corner leaving him with just Kasey Keller to beat.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Sean Donahue and Brian O'Connell contributed ratings for the New England Revolution's 2-1 loss to Seattle on Saturday.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Teenage phenom Diego Fagundez scored in his first MLS start, but Fredy Montero's brace officially eliminated the Revs from postseason contention as the Sounders secured a 2-1 win at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Fagundez, who got the nod up top with Milton Caraglio, put the Revs (5-14-12, 27 pts.

Ha ha ha. There's no better way to put a skip in your step than to throw a bunch of second- and third-stringers into an away match and get a win anyway. We mostly got tonight's reserve heavy Sounders starting 11 right, but were off on some of the details. Roger Levesque was in the game, but as a right back.

By IAN HOLLIDAY

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Sixteen-year-old Diego Fagundez scored in his first MLS start, but it was Fredy Montero who made the difference in Seattle Sounders FC's 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium Saturday night.

The Columbian capitalized on sloppy defending from the Revs in the 36th and 47th minutes to overturn Fagundez's 35th minute opener and improve the visitors to 16-6-9 (57 points) on the season and keep the pressure on Los Angeles in the Supporters Shield race.

When the Revolution step onto the pitch on Saturday night, they'll have two objectives: avoid another embarrassment and, if successful, steal three points in the process.

Both will be easier said than done, of course. With the high-octane Seattle Sounders in town, the Revs will have their hands full against one of the most well-balanced clubs in the league.

The New England Revolution begin a three-match home stand on Saturday, October 1st against the Seattle Sounders. In addition, this weekend's clash is also the Revs' annual Breast Cancer Awareness game. Through partnerships with Making Strides for Breast Cancer, We Got Soccer and Adidas, New England will outfit players, staff and officials in a slew of pink accessories while raffling and/or auctioning game-worn or game-used gear.

Dreadfully poor defended helped gift Chicago an early 3-0 lead on Sunday evening and only poor finishing from the Fire and a stoppage time brace from Ryan Guy left the final score a somewhat respectable 3-2 loss for the New England Revolution at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.

Guy's first two MLS goals came far too late to salvage anything for the Revs (5-13-12, 27 pts.

So, last night sucked. To distract you from that, I can share with you final roster information - including salaries - for the New England Revolution. With the trade and transfer deadline having just passed, I feel this is more than appropriate.

First, a few interesting points:

• Milton Caraglio only makes $54,000 in guaranteed compensation.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Hey, we hear there's a game tonight. If you missed it, here's our preview.

Someone else outside Philadelphia has finally caught on to the fact that, gee golly whiz, maybe it would've been a good idea to play Sebastien Le Toux and Danny Mwanga together again at forward after last year's performances.

Today, at 5:00 PM EST each MLS team's roster will be officially locked. That means no trading with other MLS teams, no signing free agents. Nothing. The squad club's have after this evening will be the ones they take to the play-offs (if they make it). It's actually kind of interesting that we haven't seen more movements.

Come on now, Revs, don't go getting me all excited and optimistic again! Fool me once.. or.. err... 4 times.. shame on you, but fool me a 5th time... you get where I'm going. Needless to say, I was quite shocked to hear on Saturday night that won, against FC Dallas no less. Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the game until last night, so forgive my delay in getting this piece up.

When FC Dallas took on the New England Revolution on Saturday night it was supposed to be a mis-match. Even though they were visitors, FC Dallas were the heavy favorite, particularly against a New England side just three days removed from an embarrassing collapse that saw the Revs blow a 4-1 lead and settle for a 4-4 tie vs.

If third place FC Dallas expected an easy ride against the struggling New England Revolution, they were in for quite the surprise. The Revs (5-11-12, 27 points) grabbed – and held – an early lead through Shalrie Joseph before wrapping up a 2-0 win over the 2010 MLS Cup Finalist, Dallas (13-8-7, 46 points), with an 85th minute goal from Rajko Lekic.

Shalrie Joseph and Rajko Lekic scored either side of halftime and goalkeeper Matt Reis made eight saves to record his fifth shutout of the season as the New England Revolution snapped a seven-game winless run with a 2-0 win over FC Dallas on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

Joseph opened the scoring with his team-leading eighth goal of the season in the 14th minute, while Lekic provided an insurance strike – his sixth of the season – in the 84th minute to guarantee the Revs claimed all three points.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Sean Donahue and Brian O'Connell contributed ratings for the New England Revolution's 4-4 draw at the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.

Goals abounded in Chester, Pennsylvania tonight as the New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union drew 4-4 on a wild evening that saw a three-goal lead reduced to nothing. The Revs went into the half up 4-1 after goals from all over the field, but they appeared to lose their swagger and retreat within themselves in the second half, allowing the Union to claw back into it and eventually level the score.

Time: 8pm ET

Location: PPL Park, Chester, PA

TV: Galavision

At 4-11-11, the New England Revolution hold the worst record in the east. And they hold the ignominous honor of being the team the Union most thoroughly thrashed this season.