The Revs’ New Guys…and those Old Guys, Too

By: Jeff | February 27th, 2007

Since my colleague has already picked at the bigger news in the Boston Globe’s report on the minor injustices surrounding the New England Revolution’s “Dempsey Fund,” I thought I’d mine the deeper corners of the same article for what it says about how some of the new guys at the club are doing.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

“First-round draft choices Wells Thompson and Amaeche Igwe have been among the most effective players. Three more draft choices (Bryan Byrne, Adam Cristman, and Ryan Solle) will arrive for practice at the Dana Farber Fieldhouse in Foxborough today. Cristman scored two goals in two games for the US Under-23 national team in games in Japan last week…Former Japan national team midfielders Takashi Hirano and Takuya Yamada and Peruvian striker Jorge Ramirez are not expected to accompany the Revolution to training camp in Cancun next month.”

To do the math so far, that’s two rookie draftees dubbed “the most effective” and three trialists seemingly found wanting; from a strictly “Revolution” perspective, I’d say it’s most accurate to say the jury remains out on Byrne, Cristman, and Solle. Returning to those trialists, the question of what Revs coach Steve Nicol thinks about them remains. Here’s the quote that immediately follows the sentence excerpted above:

“‘It wasn’t any surprise when I say they lack a wee bit of experience,’ Nicol said of the newcomers. ‘But as far as ability is concerned, they show a lot of it, and it is a matter of getting them experience on the field.’”

OK…so, they’re not going to Cancun, but it’s still a matter of getting them on the field? It’s probably nothing more complicated than a quote from Nicol referring to the draftees getting slipped into the article in an awkward spot. But the question is, why aren’t these players going to Cancun? Are their trials over? Are any of the three going to be signed and it’s only visa/passport issues keeping them out of Mexico? Naturally, I can’t answer that right now or I would.

Whatever happens with the trialists, I’ve got something of a sinking feeling that the coaching/front office decision to “stand pat” on the current roster means we’ll learn plenty about the rookie draftees – not excluding their limitations – as the 2007 season progresses. And that gets back to the gloom my colleague cited at the end of his post.