Alright, so it's been a while. My latest post is from December 26, 2016. As you may know, I'm studying abroad in London, little city in England, you might have heard of it. As a result, I haven't been on top of Revs content (or any content) as I normally would. Hand up, that's on me. Preseason has been taking place and I have yet to post anything about it. So this is my update. I won;t go too into things since there has been a bit more activity than in years past it seems like.
First things first, the latest news...
FEMI BYKE!!!!!
After being selected by Minnesota United in the Expansion Draft, Femi has returned to the Revs in a trade that sent goalie Bobby Shuttleworth to Minny in a straight swap. I am so excited to have this kid back. He showed great flashes of offensive skill and brought a ton of energy as a sub in his rookie campaign last season, and I was gutted when he get taken in the Expansion Draft. We bring back a great offensive asset to strengthen what is perhaps the deepest attack in MLS.
Bobby served the Revs for seven years and made 127 appearances for the club. He played sparingly his first few years before becoming the first-choice keeper in 2013. He started 32 games and made 94 saves in the Revs 2014 MLS Cup Finals run. But last year was clearly a hiccup. His play seemed to decline and only started 20 games out of his 21 appearances, and was replaced by Brad Knighton as the year reached its final third. The arrival of USMNT prospect Cody Cropper and seeing the #1 shirt go to Cropper meant one thing: someone was getting shipped out of town. And frankly it was always going to be Bobby. He's a good MLS goalie, but Knighton earned the right to compete for the starting spot this season. At 24, Cropper is the young stud. And you have 22-year-old Matt Turner as your third keeper and prospect. There was no room for the 29-year-old Shuttleworth. He deserves to play first team football, which he may get at Minnesota. Thank you Bobby, you were a good Rev.
Next up...
With Jose Goncalves gone, the Revs front office decided to mess around and sign not one but TWO (2) center backs. The guy up top (white guy) is Antonio Delamea, a 25-year-old Slovenian who got his first cap for Slovenia back in November 2016. Based on what I've read, this kid thinks he has something to prove. He actually wants to be here, not just as a prank or something. He thinks being an animal with the Revs is his best shot at getting a more prominent role with the Slovenian national team, and has said the national team coach will be watching him closely here. I get the sense he wants to be a pitbull controlling the Revs defense. His teammates have been high on him as well. He also served as captain of his last club, so he's a leader.
The next guy (the black guy) is Benjamin Angoua. 30 years young, Ivory Coast international with 17 caps for his country since 2008. He last played for Ligue 1 (French top-tier) side EA Guingamp. Whereas Delamea was a full signing, Angoua is here on loan with an option to buy. There hasn't been a lot on Angoua so far, and while Delamea will be wearing #19, Angoua dies not have a number yet, as I believe he is still working out some visa issues, and also apparently got injured while still playing in France after the deal was official. He should be good to go soon though (I have nothing to back this up).
So we have FINALLY addressed the center back issue that has plagued the team since AJ Soares left after 2014. Two new guys with experience and hunger. And they allow us to play Tierney on the left as always, and keep Andrew Farrell at right back where he truly thrives. Then you have London Woodberry as a backup/prospect and Je-Vaughn Watson as someone who can fill in at right back, center back and defensive midfield.
More roster news...
Last years mystery signing Xavier Kouassi is nearly 100% back from an ACL tear that postponed his rookie season last year. He's been training with the team all preseason and got his first run as a Rev in a planned 15-minute spell against Houston. He's got a goofy personality and gets on well with his teammates, but on the field he makes aggressive tackles and has some good passing skills. He was supposed to replace Jermaine Jones as the midfield general. Obviously as a result of injury that plan got pushed back and we had to go get Gershon Koffie last year (Koffie has since moved on to Europe as we all speculated/knew he would). As Arsenal fans have heard too many times about players coming back form injury... It's like a new signing!
Some of the rookies look promising but I really haven't watched them enough too actually write about them. Stay tuned, maybe.
Last but not least...
Look good, feel good, play good.
New secondary kits up in this! Truth be told, I like the previous ones better...
but these new ones are really growing on me. They're so unique in MLS. I like that we've gone majority red for the secondaries in the past two incarnations. Wish there was a little more green in the new ones, but you can;'t have everything. I think another way these could be better is if they did it in a diagonal pattern like Monaco...
Keeping the red on the left (so bottom in this case) and the red shorts would look super nice, and also keep the new tradition we have of honoring other professional soccer teams...
Regular season kicks off on the road at Colorado on Saturday, March 4th at 6 PM EST. #TAILGATESZN has a possible 8 matches this year, with the last one being August 12, so a lot earlier than the past two years. And look, real quick on this. I know last year was a bit of a disappointment. Only got to two games. That's not good, I'll be the first to admit that. We had scheduling conflicts all over the board, Copa America cutting into Gillette time, just an off year. A sophomore slump if I may. But this will be a bounce back year, I can feel it. There's one person who didn't get to a single game last season (Nick you little bitcc), two guys who made it to one (Andrew and Ben, thank you for your efforts lads), and two who made it to both alongside myself (Scott and Cam, real team guys, Salt of the Earth types). I'm getting the whole gang back together this year. It's all about redemption. It's all about the comeback. Imagine last year was up 28-3. Well this year is about to be the 4th quarter.
