January 16 marked the first day of the New England Revolution preseason under new coach Jay Heaps and assistant coach Jay Miller and the release of their preseason roster.
Although the Revolution picked up two Colombians Fernando Cardenas and John Lozano, D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms, and two draft picks Tyler Polak and Kelyn Rowe, their much needed off-season roster re-charge has been distinctly unimpressive. Their first-ever and much heralded designated player Milton Caraglio moved on to greener pastures, Monsef Zerka is unsigned and to date, goalscorer Rajko Lekic was denied the guaranteed contract he needed to stay on.
Instead, the preseason roster features such lowlights as Kenny Mansally, Sainey Nyassi, Zack Schilawski, Darrius Barnes and Ryan Kinne. The first four have had unlimited opportunities in two to five years to prove themselves and failed. For the good of those players and the Revolution and its fans, it's past time for all to move on and start fresh with new clubs and players. As for Kinne, despite the lack of talent on the pitch, the rookie played only one minute of one MLS game in 2011. If the staff had that little confidence in him, it's hard to see how he could make an impact this season.
New England are still in need of three proven goalscorers and two quality veteran defenders. In 2011, New England allowed the second-most goals in MLS (58) and scored the third fewest goals (38). There's nothing about this preseason roster that says those statistics will improve. In fact, with other MLS teams spending on quality, without more immediate incoming talent to the Revolution, the 2012 numbers could even get worse.
Not in attendance
Excused from early preseason are Benny Feilhaber, training with the U.S. Men's National Team, and Rowe, training with the USMNT U-23s. Internationals Cardenas and Lozano are awaiting their international transfer certificates and visas.
Revolution preseason roster
# Player Pos. Last Team
1 Matt Reis GK Los Angeles (MLS)
3 Tyler Polak DEF Creighton
4 John Lozano DEF America de Cali
5 A.J. Soares DEF California
7 Kenny Mansally MID Real de Banjul (GAM)
8 Chris Tierney MID Virginia
13 Ryan Guy MID St. Patrick’s Athletic (IRL)
14 Diego Fagundez MID Revolution Under-16s
15 Zack Schilawski FWD Wake Forest
17 Sainey Nyassi MID Ports Authority FC (GAM)
19 Clyde Simms MID D.C. United (MLS)
21 Shalrie Joseph MID N.Y. Freedoms (USL)
22 Benny Feilhaber MID AGF Aarhus (DEN)
25 Darrius Barnes DEF Duke
26 Stephen McCarthy MID North Carolina
30 Kevin Alston DEF Indiana
33 Zak Boggs FWD South Florida
34 Bobby Shuttleworth GK Austin Aztex (USL)
35 Ryan Kinne MIN Monmouth
40 Tim Murray GK Providence
80 Fernando Cardenas FWD America de Cali
Kelyn Rowe MID UCLA
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