Big week for Revs’ Delamea
FOXBORO — It’s been a standout season so far for Revolution defender Antonio Delamea, and in more ways than one.
Delamea, who is the only Revs player to appear in all 1,350 minutes of MLS action this season, received his second call-up to the Slovenian national team for a match against Malta last Sunday.
He played all 90 minutes in the 2-0 win and has now returned to Foxboro and is ready to don his Revs uniform in tonight’s home game against the Chicago Fire.
“It was a great experience, something new for me. It was nice to go back to my country. We did well but now I’m back here and all my focus is on Chicago,” said the 25-year-old defender, who ranks in the MLS top 10 in clearances (81) and headed-clearances (37).
“I have played with a lot of those guys before when we were younger and we know each other. It was also like a learning process for me but everyone knew their mission.”
Heaps addressed the national team picture with Delamea before he signed to join the Revs.
“When we first started to recruit him to come here, one of the conversations we had with him was that he had just been called in for the Slovenia national team against Poland, and when you leave Europe and you’re on a (new) club, the question is, ‘ Are you going to get the exposure for your national team? How are you going to perform when you go back to the national team?’ ”said Heaps.
“I think he has been performing at a high level with us and the national team has been watching. He came back from Slovenia and they got a victory and I think it’s critical for Tony to really understand what we see from him and the fact that MLS is a great league for his development.”
The Revs (5-5-5) are situated in seventh place in the Eastern Conference but are looking to protect their recent string of excellent home performances. They are 5-0-2 at home this season and are riding a current 11-match unbeaten streak (9-0-2) at Gillette Stadium dating to August of last year. Chicago (83-4), on the other hand, comes to Foxboro owning a 1-3-3 mark on the road this season.
“I think the focus is on how do we take away something that they are really good at and disrupt that and put the game on our terms,” said Heaps. “We’ve been able to do that at home for good stretches and we just have to take that mindset and make this a really tough place to play.”
The Revs, who are coming off a solid 3-0 win over Rochester in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup fourthround match, are led by forward Juan Agudelo, who has seven goals. The Fire look to Serbian forward Nemanja Nikolic, who has 12 goals in 15 matches. Chicago has gained a boost this season with the addition of midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, the legendary German international and World Cup winner.
“They’re a team that can beat you a couple of different ways,” said Heaps. “I think they are the type of team that can possess it for a while and then on the counter-attack. They do a little bit of both. So we have to be ready for both systems and styles of play that they bring.”
Delamea added, “We know they have some good individuals and we need to close them down and play our game. We need to play like we did against Toronto. We’re at home and we need to show who is boss there. We need to play strong.”