FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s Under-16 team travelled to Philadelphia on Tuesday ahead of their U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs Quarterfinal against the Union on Wednesday evening.
The Revolution are one of five MLS Academy teams that remain in the competition, while Connecticut-based club Beachside SC join the Revs as the two representatives from the New England region. The Revolution, who posted a 12-5-9 record in their regular-season to finish third in the Northeast Division, advanced to the Quarterfinals as one of eight group-winners after finishing in first place in Group A in the preliminary stage of the playoffs two weeks ago in Westfield, Indiana.
They will face a tough test in the Philadelphia Union, who finished in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 21-3-2 record and entered the playoffs as the second seed in the nation before winning all three of their games to top Group F.
“We’ve played Philly twice – they know us pretty well, we know them pretty well – I think it’ll be a good matchup,” Revolution director of youth development and U-16 head coach Bryan Scales said.
The Revs faced Philadelphia in league play on September 21, 2014, a game that the Union won 2-0. New England exacted their revenge on Philadelphia the following month in the Generation adidas Cup, earning a 4-3 penalty shootout victory on October 10, 2014 after the game had finished goalless.
Wednesday’s game will be the first time that the sides have met since that October game, and Scales thinks that his side are “a different team now than they were at the beginning of the season, which is typically what happens throughout the course of a 10-month season, but they’ve made a ton of progress.”
Backed by the goals of Tiger Graham and Justin McMaster, the Union finished the regular-season with an impressive +54 goal difference and the Philadelphia offense certainly poses a threat for Revolution goalkeeper Trey Miller, who was named to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Eastern Conference XI recently, and his backline.
“I’m not really going to worry about Philly’s goalscoring record, I’m just going to focus on doing my job to the best of my ability, and that starts with hard preparation,” Miller said. “We’ve had success against Philly in the past so I would say the confidence is there.”
Conversely, the Revolution have relied on their stingy defense this season, with Miller recording more shutouts (12) than goals conceded (11), while the Monson, Mass. native also posted a 0.52 goals against average in league play.
“It was a team effort, absolutely,” Miller said when asked about his success. “Our back four was tremendous; they actually made my job extremely easy. I would just say putting in the work in practice definitely helped in game situations.”
One player who is also tasked with shutting down Philadelphia’s offense is Daniel Jones, who joined Miller in the Eastern Conference XI, which honors the best players in the region over the course of the season. Jones, a defender from West Hartford, Conn., has been a constant figure in the U.S. U-16 squad since November 2014, being called in to four consecutive camps and tournaments – though he was forced to miss the 2015 Aegan Cup International Youth Tournament in Turkey due to injury.
“(Being on the National Team has) helped me a lot in terms of playing fast, it’s really technical which helps me – beating defenders, playing out the back and stuff,” Jones said. “Being around those top notch players helps my game elevate, that’s what I like about it.”
Another player who has seen considerable time with the U.S. U-16s, as well as the Revolution’s first team, is forward Justin Rennicks. The South Hamilton, Mass. native was called in to the last three U.S. U-16 camps and tournaments, and he spent a week with the first team during the preseason in Tucson, Arizona. Rennicks even made a late substitute appearance against the Colorado Rapids in the Desert Diamond Cup – coming before his 16th birthday.
“It’s helped me develop a lot, because it shows me what it’s like to play with the pros – the speed difference and everything,” Rennicks said of training with the first team. “It transfers on to playing with the Academy players, and it’s just much more intense and (the game) makes more sense to me.”
Jones and Rennicks shared the same belief in how to shut down Philadelphia’s offense while finding the back of the net themselves at the other end. “For us, we need to get behind their defense, because our frontline is real athletic so I feel like if we get behind, keep compact, we’ll be fine,” Jones said before stating that the best form of defense is a strong offense.
Rennicks portrayed a similar sentiment when asked about breaking down the Union’s defense, stating that he’s focused on “getting behind the lines, making diagonal runs, keeping the ball, not losing it and just being clean on the ball and playing my best.”
Follow the Revolution Academy’s Twitter account, @NERevsAcademy, for all the action from PPL Park’s Training Grounds, where kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
