FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Two days after their 2015 season came to an abrupt end in the Knockout Round of the MLS Cup Playoffs, as they cleaned out their lockers at Gillette Stadium, New England Revolution players were still struggling to grasp the reality that stared them in the face.
“It came quicker than expected,” Lee Nguyen said of the offseason.
“No one was expecting that we’d go out of the first playoff game,” added Jose Goncalves.
“The season ends so quickly,” said Andrew Farrell. “You don’t know what to do with all the time.”
This wasn’t how the 2015 campaign was supposed to play out for the Revolution. Not after last year’s barnstorming run to an MLS Cup appearance. Not with the vast majority of that roster returning. Not with Jermaine Jones in the mix for a full season. Not with Juan Agudelo back on board.
This was supposed to be the year.
That’s why players were left so stunned by the Revolution’s early exit, dumped out of the postseason by longtime rival D.C. United last Wednesday night. This was a team more than capable of putting together another lengthy playoff run – they simply didn’t find the same spark that ignited them last season.
“It’s a disappointment considering the talent that we had,” said Charlie Davies. “I think we had so much ability, and I think we deserved more as a team. It’s disheartening to come away with a loss against D.C.
“I really felt like we had all the pieces to the puzzle. I don’t think we were necessarily missing something. I think maybe it was just mental lapses. Maybe we were too content at times. I think that’s what really came back to haunt us.”
What also haunted the Revs were dropped points at crucial times.
Through the cloud of the campaign’s frustrating end, it’s easy to forget that the Revs were perched atop the Eastern Conference and in the thick of the Supporters’ Shield race as recently as mid-September. Only a late-season stumble (1-3-1 in the final five games) relegated the Revs to the East’s fifth seed, forcing them to go on the road for a single-elimination playoff game.
“We put ourselves in that position,” said Davies.
Never before had the margin for error in MLS been quite so small, and there are (agonizingly) specific examples the Revs can point to throughout the 2015 season.
Back in early May the Revs carried a 2-0 lead into the final 15 minutes of their first-ever meeting with Orlando City SC, but conceded twice – including a 90th-minute equalizer – to settle for a 2-2 draw. In a late September home game against Philadelphia, a 1-0 halftime lead turned into a 1-1 draw.
Had the Revs held on to win both of those games they would’ve finished third overall in MLS, and second in the Eastern Conference. They’d still be in the postseason, coming home this weekend to host the second leg of a conference semifinal.
Instead, they finished 11th overall and fifth in the East, sent out of the playoffs in 90 painful minutes.
In any sport, in any league, that’s a remarkably tiny margin for error.
“If you just take away some of those games where we get the lead and we end up losing the game, and we drop three points and don’t even get one point,” Davies said, eventually trailing off. “There are a lot of games this season we can look back on and be like, ‘Man, that’s where we messed up.’”
“There are several games where we can look back and say, ‘We lost two points there, we lost all three points there,’” said Teal Bunbury. “Those would’ve been crucial for us.”
Those, of course, are regrets to be expressed now, in the immediate aftermath of a disappointing campaign. In the coming days, weeks and months those sentiments will fade to the backs of players’ minds, there only to provide motivation as they move closer to another season and a clean slate.
Soon, it will be 2016, and maybe that will be the year.
“We pursue to win championships and to win games,” said Bunbury. “That’s what we try to do, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do next year.”
