Revs Win, Cristman Strikes, Preseason Notes

By: Jeff | March 16th, 2007

Well, the New England Revolution won another one against a Mexican third-division side, though the score wasn’t nearly so impressive as the last one. Yesterday’s game, which came against Pioneros de Cancun, ended 1-0 to the Revs, with rookie forward Adam Cristman knocking in the game’s lone goal off a Khano Smith cross (both of whom, it seems, have the New England corner of BigSoccer buzzing a bit).

There are match reports to spare out in interested parts of the Internet; hell, even the Boston Globe deigned to turn in a report. After that, all the usual suspects contributed: New England Soccer News (LINK), Soccer New England (LINK), as well as the official Revolution website (LINK).

Once again, however, none of these can hold a candle to a babelfish translation of the write-up from the local, Cancun paper (again, hat-tip to The Magpie):

“Nevertheless during the development of the first part the dominion was completely of the Pioneers who made the cost and on the brink of madness maintained the armchairs to the spectators with some plays of danger. It was beside the point incredible what happened in Cancún 86 to Pioneers who had several clear opportunities of goal, nevertheless the aim was not the adapted one being saved in several occasions the doorman of the Revolution.”

The brink of madness. Yessss…

If a 1-0 win doesn’t seem cause for celebration – and it isn’t, really – the starting line-up offers some solace: the record shows that Revs coach Steve Nicol fielded a team largely comprised of newbies, guys like Ryan Solle (at forward?), Wells Thompson, Amaechi Igwe, and Miguel Gonzalez. Wholesale second-half subs brought on the big guns for the second half, which appears to have done enough to get the Revs away from the brink of madness (again, yesssss….).

So, good result, good to see a young guy like Cristman scoring – though I’m going to withhold judgment till I see the guy play in “real” games – and nice to see the team at 4-0-0.

Speaking of the Revs’ preseason record, though, the prospect that they’ll enter the regular season with a perfect record isn’t making me optimistic as it should. Sadly, that’s a quirk of scheduling and I’m not totally sure it’s healthy. The Los Angeles Galaxy remains the only equal opposition thus far and only one more of New England’s preseason friendlies – this one against CD Olimpia of Honduras – will pit them against a truly competitive team; the other remaining game comes against the Professional Development League’s New Orleans Shell Shockers. It’s possible I’m alone here, but I find this a bit unnerving. One of the favorite gripes against the U.S. Men’s team is that they face weak opposition, which ill prepares them for the big-stage encounters that follow. Does that same logic apply to the Revs’ preseason?

I suppose we’ll find out before too long…