Revs come to grips with failure
FOXBORO — As four MLS teams prepared for Knockout Round matches last night, Revolution players shuffled through the rituals necessary to draw their season to a close.
The combination of meetings and physicals at Gillette Stadium yesterday evening provided a chance to reflect on the angst of missing out on the postseason for the first time since 2012, and wonder how exactly preseason promise dissipated into postseason heartache.
“It was extremely frustrating,” Revolution defender Chris Tierney said. “I’ve been on teams where we didn’t make the playoffs, but you felt at the end of the year that you might have almost played to your team’s potential.
“That wasn’t the case this year. We had a whole lot more in the tank than we used. Not making the playoffs with the group of guys we have in that locker room is disappointing.”
The disappointment won’t lead to wholesale changes, though. Revolution general manager Michael Burns and coach Jay Heaps will return next season, club president Brian Bilello confirmed.
Most of the pressure now rests with augmenting the core of the squad — Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe already signed new deals during the season, for example — with a handful of significant reinforcements, particularly in defense.
There are resources available to bolster the rearguard, with longtime starter Jose Goncalves expected to depart when his contract expires at the end of the year. The looming return of Xavier Kouassi from a torn right ACL provides an immediate boost from in-house, while there is also latitude to make further alterations to freshen up the group.
“We have to get better,” Burns said. “When I look at our team this year, I never saw a bad team, but we were an unsuccessful team. That is disappointing.
“I know and I feel — and I know the players do and the coaches do — that we should have been better this year than we were. And we just weren’t. That part is disappointing.”
It is a collective burden for this group to process in the days and the weeks ahead. It is all about casting the bitterness aside quickly and setting the sights on a comprehensive response next season.
“We can’t just be content with just making the playoffs,” midfielder Nguyen said. “We have to have bigger goals. I see this team doing big things next year if we all get on the same page.”