FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It was a surprise to many when Scott Caldwell’s name wasn’t penciled into the starting lineup for Saturday night’s meeting with the Montreal Impact. After all, he’d gone 90 minutes in each game of the New England Revolution’s eight-match unbeaten run (7-0-1) and has been one of the team’s most consistent players through a rollercoaster season.
But that’s precisely why Caldwell was given a breather at Stade Saputo, limited to a 29-minute appearance off the bench. Not only had he already played 180 minutes in a four-day span between Sunday and Wednesday, but he also leads the Revs with 2,548 minutes played this season.
That’s a minutes-played figure that’s good for fourth in all of Major League Soccer amongst field players, and with four regular-season games remaining and – presumably – the playoffs, it’s important to make sure Caldwell doesn’t burn out ahead of the year’s most critical stretch.
“This week we have a full week now,” Caldwell said on Tuesday morning as the Revs returned to training following an off day. “We know we had three games last week, so it’s going to be good.”
A rested and refreshed Caldwell is vital to New England’s playoff hopes. While players like Lee Nguyen (three goals, seven assists in the past 10 games), Diego Fagundez (four goals, one assist in the last five games) and Jermaine Jones nab most of the headlines, Caldwell quietly does the dirty work.
In fact, it’s Caldwell’s precision through midfield – both in his passing ability and his anticipation to snuff out potential threats – that allows a player like Jones to roam freely, as he prefers to do.
“He’s ahead of the play, and I think that’s where his genius comes out,” head coach Jay Heaps said of Caldwell. “I think Scotty will tell you he’s just playing what’s in front of him, but I think his intuition of the game is really good.
“It’s his awareness. It’s when to do the things he does, and when not to. He does it pretty seamlessly and the work he puts in is all in fluid movement. It’s not reactive.”
Caldwell, asked how his contributions aid his fellow midfielders, simply praised Jones.
“He’s shown he can hold, as well,” Caldwell said. “There’ve been a few times where I’ve had to go forward or step out of the middle and he does a great job of holding the midfield and staying there.”
But while Caldwell is loath to speak of his own accomplishments, his teammates are all too willing to applaud the unheralded midfielder with the unassuming demeanor.
“He’s just this quiet guy who works for the team,” said Jones. “He does a lot of dirty work. Sometimes people don’t really see it, but he’s so important for the team. He not only showed it last season, he’s shown it this season, too.”
