CARSON, California – Seven years after their last MLS Cup appearance, the New England Revolution have their swagger back.
They’ve done it with a player turned financial advisor turned head coach. They’ve done it with a one-time US soccer prodigy who was cut before ever playing an MLS game. They’ve done it with a starting striker most expected would never play the game again after a deadly car accident five years ago.
But the final, decisive piece came via blind draw, a player acquisition mechanism that delivered World Cup standout
Jermaine Jones
and his newly-minted Designated Player contract to New England just as they needed him most.
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On August 24, when MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s fingers found the envelope that changed the trajectory of New England’s season, the Revs were four games removed from an eight-game losing streak that had taken them from first place in the Eastern Conference to out of the playoff field entirely.
A little more than three months later, boasting a 11-1-2 record since blind fortune went their way, the Revs are poised to play for MLS Cup on Sunday (3 pm ET | ESPN, UniMas and UDN in the US; TSN1, RDS2 in Canada) with an opportunity to deliver the title that’s eluded the franchise in four previous tries.
“The one thing that Jermaine has brought by coming is a real swagger, it’s a confidence that allows the players to [be themselves],” head coach Jay Heaps said. “We as coaches can say, ‘Hey, you’re great,’ but it doesn’t mean anything until someone like Jermaine steps on the field and says 'this is how you do it. This is how we’re going to do it.' And that’s why I credit him to allow our guys to be themselves during this last stretch run.”
Nobody’s benefitted more than Lee Nguyen, who mounted a Volkswagen MLS MVP run with Jones patrolling the space behind him.
MVLee, as he’s become known on social media, scored nine of his 18 regular-season goals and dished out three of his five assists after Jones arrived in late August, then fueled the Revs’ MLS Cup run with two postseason goals and three assists.
“This is a guy I’ve always wanted to play alongside with and I’m so glad we got him,” Nguyen said. “He’s helped the team out so much and you can see it. And in so many ways he’s a great teammate on and off the field. This locker room is so close and when he came in he jelled right in right away and it feels like he’s been with us for three years.”
“All the guys have so much talent,” Jones added. “I always say that, but the good point is that this is like a small family. When I go to Lee and tell him, ‘Hey, you have to work back and come on.’ The guys they’re not going, ‘Why are you talking like that?’”
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Instead, Jones’ vocal presence has been a welcome addition on a young team that was missing a veteran midfield presence to take the next step forward – from simply talented to legitimate MLS Cup contender.
In many ways, it was a move Heaps spent two years setting up, building a precocious roster that pushed Sporting Kansas City to the brink in last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals and waiting for the right player to become available to take the team over the top.
When that player came to terms with MLS after a banner World Cup in Brazil, the Revs put their name in the hat and hoped Jones would land in Foxborough. Once he did, they immediately started reaping the benefits on the field.
“We’ve really been able to adapt things with Jermaine because he’s so smart tactically,” Heaps said. “He can see the game and there are times in the game where we need him to be a little more aggressive attack-wise or other times we need him to close a gap defensively and he understands that better than most.”
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With Nguyen relied upon to create the goals against LA -- though Jones did score the winner at Red Bull Arena in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship -- the 33-year-old will be relied upon to cover acres of ground in pursuit of Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane.
Jones will harry. He’ll recover the ball. He’ll put his body on the line. He’ll deliver a few kicks and perhaps even a cringe-worthy tackle. And he may just add a deep-lying assist or lung-busting run for a goal. In short, he’ll attempt to do it all.
With a few dozen friends and family in the stands – Jones’s wife Sarah and his five children are based in Los Angeles – he’ll chase a trophy he’s been eyeing since a blind draw sent him east in August and one the Revs have been chasing, fruitlessly, since 1996.
New England’s swagger is back. The only question left is whether they’ll have appropriate silverware to go along with it.
“When I stepped the first time into the locker room, my focus was to be at the point we’re at right now and we play the final on Sunday,” Jones said. “… We’re young and we can make it happen that we can maybe bring the first cup back to New England on Sunday.”
