The New England Revolution are going to the MLS Cup final, and it's because they are very good. Well, it's actually because they beat the New York Red Bulls, 4-3 on aggregate, but it's mainly because they are very good.
New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls, 2014 MLS Playoffs: Revs are heading to the final
The Revs are flawed. They’re finalists, but they’re flawed, and we saw that in the Eastern Conference final.
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But they aren’t great. They aren’t unbeatable. They aren’t perfect.
In MLS, no team is. The salary cap restraints make it impossible for an MLS team to be flawless. They’ll have to make the best out of a bad fullback situation, don’t have a reliable striker, are short on athleticism or lack dependable depth. There is always something, even for the best of teams.
It bears reminding that all teams can be had because, for months, it looked like the Revs couldn't be. Ever since signing Jermaine Jones, they were nearly perfect. They went 11-1-1, and their only loss came in a match that Jones didn't even start. They midfield was dominant, they had an MVP candidate in Lee Nguyen and they did what any team has to do to succeed in MLS -- they turned some journeymen and other teams' discards into solid contributors. They looked unbeatable.
The second leg of the Eastern Conference final wiped that all away, though. They didn’t beat the Revs, but they showed them to be beatable, because they so easily could have beaten then. A better team does beat them. The Revs are not unbeatable.
New England's defense was routinely exposed. The Red Bulls scored one of their goals simply by waiting for Jose Goncalves and Andrew Farrell to put the ball on a tee for them, which they did. And they scored their other goal because Tim Cahill simply outworked and outmuscled Goncalves. That doesn't even take into account the slew of unmarked runners, the way the Red Bulls exposed Farrell all match or Bobby Shuttleworth's late punch to keep Thierry Henry from winning the tie from 10 yards while completely unmarked.
As good as the Revolution are, and as many matches as they have won, they're flawed. Their flaws are at the back, and they set up for either the LA Galaxy or Seattle Sounders to take advantage of. Those two teams happen to have the two best attacks in the league.
And just in case the defense didn't concern the Revolution enough, Jay Heaps might with his curious decision to bench Kelyn Rowe or the lack of adjustments to a Red Bulls team exposing his defense. Maybe Jones' constant verging on a red card does it.
The Revolution are very good. Jones was phenomenal again, and they got excellent play from Charlie Davies, who scored twice. Teal Bunbury continued his transformation into a solid two-way winger and they were even able to overcome a relatively anonymous match by Nguyen. There is so much good that they almost fooled us into believing that they were invincible.
There are a lot of reasons to feel really good about the Revolution, but feeling good and feel invincible are two very different things. In MLS, invincible is nearly impossible, and New England showed that even in booking their spot in the final.
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