The 2012 New England Revolution season was the team's seventeenth year of existence, all in Major League Soccer. The team opened its season on March 10 at the San Jose Earthquakes and concluded on October 27 at Montreal Impact. New England's first home league game was March 24 against the Portland Timbers.
Overview
Offseason The New England Revolution had plenty of turnover during the offseason after finishing in last place in the Eastern Conference the prior year. The Revolution fired longtime coach Steve Nicol after 10 seasons with the club, and hired former long-time New England Revolution defender Jay Heaps to replace Nicol. Heaps had most recently worked as the color commentator for Revolution broadcasts on Comcast SportsNet New England and 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Preseason The New England Revolution started training camp in Arizona culminating with a scrimmage against the PDL club FC Tucson which the Revolution won 2-1. New England then returned home for a few more weeks of training along with two scrimmages against the Boston College Eagles of the NCAA, both of which ended in Revolution victories.
The Revolution then returned to Arizona in order to participate in the 2012 Desert Diamond Cup. Their successful preseason continued with 3 consecutive victories over the Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake in order to advance to the Desert Diamond Cup championship game. The Revolution lost the final to the Galaxy, 4 - 2 in a penalty shoot-out.
March The Revolution opened the regular season on March 10, 2012 all the way across the country to San Jose, California to face the San Jose Earthquakes. A first half mistake by Revolution captain Shalrie Joseph was converted into a goal by Chris Wondolowski. New England was never able to recover from that mistake and ended up losing their season opener 0-1 to San Jose. One week later, the Revolution traveled to Kansas City, Kansas in order to take on Eastern Conference favorites Sporting Kansas City. Revolution defender Stephen McCarthy was sent off on a controversial tackle in the 14th minute. The Revolution, who were suffering from numerous injuries to their defense corp was unable to survive 76 minutes with only 10 men and ended up losing 0-3 to Sporting Kansas City.
New England had their home opener on Saturday March 24, 2012 against the Portland Timbers at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution came out of the gates fast with a score by new striker Saër Sène in the 1st minute. They were able to shut down the Timbers for the rest of the game and get new head coach Jay Heaps his first MLS victory with a 1-0 result. Once again, the Revolution traveled cross country to Carson, California to face the Los Angeles Galaxy on March 31, 2012. Once again the Revolution scored early off a cross from Shalrie Joseph to rookie Kelyn Rowe for the first goal of his MLS career in the 10th minute. The Revolution attack continued and lead to another goal by Chris Tierney in the 13th minute and added one more to their tally off a Saër Sène goal in the 65th minute. The Galaxy were able to break through and finally score one off the foot of Robbie Keane in the 78th minute, but the Revolution held on to record their 2nd victory of the year, 3-1 over Los Angeles.
Squad
Roster
Player movement On August 1, 2012, New England would trade their captain Shalrie Joseph to Chivas USA in exchange for Blair Gavin, a second round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, and allocation money.
Transfers
In
DatePlayerPositionPrevious clubFee/notesRef December 12, 2011 Clyde Simms MF D.C. United 2011 MLS Re-Entry Draft January 12, 2012 Kelyn Rowe MF UCLA SuperDraft, 1st Round January 12, 2012 Tyler Polak DF Creighton University SuperDraft, 2nd Round July 5, 2012 Jerry Bengtson FW CD Motagua Transfer August 1, 2012 Blair Gavin MF CD Chivas USA Trade Florian Lechner DF Karlsruher SC Free transfer Björn Runström FW Hammarby IF Free transfer Dimitry Imbongo FW TSV 1860 München II Free transfer August 27, 2012 Juan Toja MF Aris Thessaloniki Allocation
Out DatePlayerPositionDestination clubFee/notesRef November 23, 2011 Alan Koger FW unattached waived November 30, 2011 Monsef Zerka FW Option declined December 1, 2011 Ryan Cochrane DF San Antonio Scorpions FC Option declined December 1, 2011 Franco Coria FW Chacarita Juniors Option declined December 12, 2011 Kheli Dube FW Chicago Fire 2011 MLS Re-Entry Draft December 12, 2011 Otto Loewy DF unattached waived December 12, 2011 Andrew Sousa MF Boston Victory S.C. waived December 31, 2011 Milton Caraglio FW C.S.D. Rangers contract not extended January 31, 2012 Rajko Lekić FW Lyngby BK Free transfer January 31, 2012 Pat Phelan MF SJK Option declined March 5, 2012 Zack Schilawski FW Carolina Railhawks waived March 5, 2012 Ryan Kinne FW Connecticut FC Azul waived May 4, 2012 Kenny Mansally MF Real Salt Lake waived June 27, 2012 Björn RunströmFW unattached waived June 27, 2012 Jeremiah WhiteMF unattached waived June 27, 2012 John Jairo LozanoDF unattached waived August 1, 2012 Shalrie Joseph MF CD Chivas USA Trade August 6, 2012 José Moreno Mora FW unattached waived August 10, 2012 Zak Boggs FW unattached retired
Squad statistics
Competitions
Preseason
Desert Diamond Cup
Standings
Matches
Major League Soccer
Kickoff times are in EDT.
Standings
Eastern Conference
Overall table Note: the table below has no impact on playoff qualification and is used solely for determining host of the MLS Cup, certain CCL spots, and 2013 MLS draft. The conference tables are the sole determinant for teams qualifying to the playoffs
Results summary
Results by round
U.S. Open Cup
Miscellany
Allocation ranking New England is in the #19 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking. New England held the #1 position until they selected Juan Toja, which dropped them to the bottom of the order.
International roster spots New England has 8 MLS International Roster Slots for use in the 2012 season. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots and no New England trades have been reported.
Future draft pick trades Future picks acquired: *2013 MLS SuperDraft Round 2 pick from D.C. United; *2013 MLS SuperDraft Round 2 pick from Chivas USA. Future picks traded: None.
Notes
External links