New England Revolution

Revolution and USMNT midfielder Benny Feilhaber turns 27 years young today. Happy birthday, Benny!

Benny shares his birthday with actor Shawn Wayans, former NFL star Junior Seau, actress Katey Sagal, recording artist Robert Palmer, actress/recording artist Dolly Parton, late recording artist Janis Joplin and famous poet Edgar Allen Poe.

Do you share a birthday with Benny? If so, happy birthday!

The players have reported to the first day of preseason training here in Foxborough, and we’ll have photos, video and more for you later on this afternoon on revolutionsoccer.net.

In the meantime, check out today’s Headline News and a few tweets below from some of the players below.

The locker room is ready and awaiting the players’ arrival shortly yfrog.com/ob7f0eyj

— NE Revolution (@NERevolution) January 16, 2012

“We’re going to hit the ground running … I don’t want a day to go by where we don’t get better.” – Jay Heaps bit.ly/zL7M2w

— NE Revolution (@NERevolution) January 16, 2012

Back to work

— Ryan Kinne (@RyanVKinne) January 16, 2012

The Jay Heaps era is official. First day of preseason bright and early#lets get it

— Shalrie Joseph(@ShalrieJoseph21) January 16, 2012

Let’s get itt! twitter.com/KAlston30/stat…

— Kevin Alston (@KAlston30) January 16, 2012

Flights were good. And in New England now! #Successful day so far.

— Tyler John Polak (@TylerJohnPolak) January 15, 2012

My fellow Far Post Podcast comrades Jeff Lemieux (Newcastle supporter) and Cathal Conlon (Liverpool supporter) made a friendly bet around Dec 30′s matchup between their respective clubs. Sorry Jeff – it’s only for one day, and at least it’s Friday, right?

Newcastle and Liverpool are set to square off again on March 31, and I am willing to bet that Jeff will be at least checking the score on his phone around 4am PST from his LA hotel room. So, if Jeff looks a little tired for the 3/31 Revs. vs. LA Galaxy Gameday video, you know why.

Lastly, we’ll be back with a new Far Post podcast the first week of February, following our  trip to Casa Grande, Ariz.

The Major League Soccer world has descended upon Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for the 2012 MLS Player Combine, which is the precursor to next Thursday’s SuperDraft at the Kansas City Convention Center. During the course of the next five days, 68 of the top prospects will be showcasing their skills in front of every MLS technical staff, all in the hopes that they’ll be impressive enough to be drafted next week.

Last year, both A.J. Soares and Stephen McCarthy participated in the Combine before being selected by the Revs in the first and second rounds of the 2011 SuperDraft, respectively. With the Revs slated to pick third overall in the 2012 SuperDraft, it’s more than likely their first selection will be on display this weekend at Central Broward Regional Park.

That’s why you should watch. All six matches at the Combine will be streamed live on MLSsoccer.com, with games slated for Friday (2:45 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.), Sunday (2:30 p.m. and 4:25 p.m.) and Tuesday (10 a.m. and 11:55 a.m.). You can find full details and additional coverage from Ft. Lauderdale HERE.

After watching the games, come back here and let us know which players you liked and who you think the Revs should take with the third overall pick next Thursday. If you’re feeling particularly Nostradamus-y, you can even debate who you think would be a good pick in the second round (22nd overall).

Check that, we found a camera – an old Sony Handycam – while doing a bit of offseason cleaning a few weeks back. The camera had no charger, cord, or battery. It did, however, have a tape inside. With no power source, it was impossible to eject said tape. So, we did what most anyone would do in that situation and pried it open with a screwdriver. The tape survived, the camera was thrown in the trash, and we dug up a Hi8 player to import the video.

The footage on this tape predates just about everyone in the building (Jeff Lemieux was 14 and practicing his standups in front of his bedroom mirror in his autographed Revs jersey), as it is from two Revs training sessions (August 20/21, 1998). The Revs were preparing to take on the LA Galaxy on Aug. 22 at Foxboro Stadium. How many former players/coaches and current FOX Soccer Analysts can you name in this video?

So, we compiled some clips from the roughly 15 minutes of footage on the tape and threw in some sweet 1998 music for your listening/viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

We hope everyone is enjoying our “Heaps Speaks” series thus far. So far we’ve released four videos –  if you haven’t seen them yet, you can check them out here.

We’ve also had an unexpected number of comments on these videos regarding Jeff Lemieux‘s choice of attire for this series of interviews, namely his zip-up Argyle sweater. What do you think? Yea or nay? Guys, would you wear this? Ladies, do you like the look?

I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of the college soccer landscape is limited.

With the majority of my time devoted to covering the professional game, particularly our beloved Revs, I rarely have time to keep up with which college teams are topping the polls and at the present time I probably couldn’t pick the top college prospects out of a lineup. I’ll spare you the uninformed piece about which players to keep an eye on during the NCAA College Cup this weekend because the fact is that I haven’t seen most of these players kick a ball. Essentially, I’d be faking it.

Luckily for me – and for fans starved for information ahead of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, which is now just five weeks away – there are those who devote countless hours to following college soccer. One such devotee is MLSsoccer.com’s Travis Clark, who put together a comprehensive list of the top 25 college seniors and 10 potential Generation adidas candidates. You can find that feature here, and I’d suggest you start reading to familiarize yourself with the names which could be called when the Revolution makes the third overall pick on Jan. 12.

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Danleigh Borman has the option to either accept or decline the Bona Fide Offer extended by MLS after the 25-year-old South African was selected by the Revolution in yesterday’s Re-Entry Process. But it can’t hurt that the former University of Rhode Island standout supported the Revs during his time in college, as he claims in this short video.

Even I’d look good in this thing …

For the second straight year, the Revs emerged unscathed from the Expansion Draft as the Montreal Impact made 10 selections on Wednesday afternoon without plucking a player from the Revolution’s roster. This after the Revs had at least one player selected in each of the first six Expansion Drafts.

It didn’t take long for Impact head coach Jesse Marsch to raise some eyebrows, however, taking Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching with the first overall pick. Ching stated earlier this week that he would retire if selected by the Impact – instead opting for a job in the Dynamo’s front office – so we’ll see how that scenario plays out in the coming weeks. One has to imagine the Impact plans to work out a deal to ship Ching back to Texas.

You can find the full list of players selected by Montreal here. A couple of former Revs are among the list, including James Riley (who has now been selected in three Expansion Drafts, but was immediately traded to Chivas USA for Justin Braun and Gerson Mayen) and Seth Sinovic.

What are your thoughts on Montreal’s picks?

They left who unprotected?

That seems to be the question on everybody’s lips this time of year – specifically the days immediately following MLS Cup – when clubs submit their 11-man protected lists ahead of the MLS Expansion Draft. Every year since 2006 (plus in 2004 and 1997) the league has conducted an expansion draft for clubs entering the league, and every year, without fail, fans and experts alike have been left puzzled by some of the names on the list of available players.

A quick glance through the news clippings this morning shows Freddy Adu, Omar Bravo, Brian Ching, Bobby Convey, Julian de Guzman and Andres Mendoza as some of the “big” names drawing attention because of their availability. Meanwhile, I’ve had questions from Revolution fans regarding the absences of Darrius Barnes, Milton Caraglio, Franco Coria, Ryan Guy and Kenny Mansally from New England’s protected list. All valid questions, for sure.

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Two days ago, Jay Heaps was officially introduced as the head coach of the New England Revolution.

Now, the work begins.

Heaps’ first task in his new role will be to put together a list of 11 protected players ahead of the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft, in which the Montreal Impact will continue to shape its roster by selecting 10 players from other teams around the league. Each team must submit its list of 11 protected players on Monday, Nov. 21, while the actual draft will take place at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 23.

As we’ve done in years past, we want to get your take on which 11 players you’d protect if it was your decision.

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