With MLSsoccer.com’s annual “24 Under 24” list to be revealed on Thursday, Jeff Lemieux sat down with General Manager Michael Burns to discuss the Revolution’s young core of players
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – When the New England Revolution brass set out to overhaul the club’s roster following a difficult 2011 season, they did so with a long-term plan in mind. Stocked with a bevy of high draft picks and equipped with a burgeoning academy, the Revs made the decision to rebuild from the ground up with a core of young, talented players.
Now almost three years after head coach Jay Heaps was installed and the rebuild began, the Revs are seeing the benefits of their continued focus on youth. Five players who would be considered regular starters for the Revs are under the age of 25, and that doesn’t include a pair of first-round draft picks from this season – Steve Neumann and Patrick Mullins – who’ve also been consistent contributors.
Kelyn Rowe (third overall in 2012) and Andrew Farrell (first overall in 2013) came to New England through the SuperDraft. Local products Diego Fagundez (Leominster, Mass.) and Scott Caldwell (Braintree, Mass.) were signed through the Homegrown program. And this past preseason, Teal Bunbury – the veteran of the youngsters at the tender age of 24 – was acquired via trade.
“That was a conscious effort,” said General Manager Michael Burns. “There was certainly an onus to try to add some younger players. Having said that, it’s one thing to just draft players and sign players as Homegrown players, but these guys have all made major contributions for us in the last couple years.”
In this particular case, the statistics are hard to ignore. Four of New England’s top five goal scorers this season are 24 or younger, and three of those four are 22 or younger. The club’s leader in minutes played is 22-year-old Farrell. The leader in assists, 22-year-old Rowe.
But what’s most impressive is what those contributions have meant to the greater cause. Led in part by their young core, the Revs returned to the MLS Cup Playoffs last year for the first time since 2009 and pushed eventual MLS Cup champion Sporting Kansas City to the brink of extra time.
On Friday night the Revs will visit that same Sporting KC side with a chance to climb into second place in the Eastern Conference standings with only a handful of games remaining. Not only are the Revs on the verge of a second straight postseason appearance, but they’re earning national praise as one of the most dangerous teams in the league down the stretch run.
“I think the experience that our young players got last year, if you look at the whole season and then kind of coming down the stretch, it was a real battle to get into the playoffs,” said Burns. “So that experience we think will only help them going forward as we have really another stretch run here that’s not dissimilar to the situation we were in last year. Hopefully the experience that they all gained last year will pay dividends as we kind of go through it again here in the next five games.”
It’s not just that the Revolution’s younger players have gained valuable experience at an early stage in their careers – it’s that they continue to go through these experiences and develop together, as a group. The longer a core of players stays together, the more comfortable they become, and that’s been borne out in New England’s improved results through the past few years.
That type of long-term approach requires patience and the Revolution staff knew that this path wouldn’t necessarily offer the quickest fix – “With any young player or players, you’re going to have some growing pains,” said Burns – but it’s the path that the Revs see taking them the furthest in the long run.
“We’ve had young players that have gone right into the deep end, so to speak, and who’ve been given a lot of minutes right out of the gate in some cases,” said Burns. “For the most part, they’ve succeeded.
“As the team continues to progress forward, we think the fact that they have played together and are familiar with each other, we feel pretty good that it’s going to help us down the stretch.”
There’s something inherently exciting about a team which not only has the ability to compete now, but is also set up to succeed for years to come. That’s what the Revs believe they have with their young core built largely through the SuperDraft and academy system.
What the future holds remains to be seen – Burns admits that clubs can rarely retain every single player they’d like to keep for as long as they’d like to keep them – but there’s no question that the Revolution’s roster is set up in a way that should only see it improve as the years go by.
“We feel like we have a bunch of players here – a core group of young players – that we would certainly like to retain and keep here for a long time,” said Burns. “I think the fact that now we’ve been able to add a couple of veteran guys, as well, to kind of help mentor some of these players along, will help aid them in their careers both on and off the field in terms of professionalism. So we’re pleased with the young group that we have.”
