But now, it’s over.

Speaking with Revolution players after last night’s loss, the message was the same across the board; there was immense disappointment having missed an opportunity to lift a trophy in front of the hometown fans, but the focus had immediately shifted to Seattle Sounders FC, which comes to town for a regular-season match on Saturday night.

At this point, everyone wants to talk about how important it is for the Revs to go on a run through the final third of the schedule and get back into playoff contention. Currently eight points out of the final playoff spot with nine games remaining, that’s clearly the case.

But you cannot make up an eight-point gap in one night, and therefore it’s pointless for the Revs to be thinking about anything beyond Saturday night’s meeting with the Sounders. There are three points on offer this weekend at Gillette Stadium and the Revs are focused on claiming them. There is no “after that.” Worry about that when the time comes.

For now, the 2010 season consists solely of one meeting with the Sounders. Play that game, assess the situation, then go from there.

Head coach Tomas Boy
“I think that the result does not reflect what really happened on the field. I think we made a huge mistake. We should’ve played a perfect game and not make any mistakes. We created chances, we had the control. But, you can see that that’s the style of the Revolution, they wait from the opponent’s mistake and it worked out for them.”

Forward Miguel Sabah
“I think that it was clear that the team came out with a purpose but the goals never came. They were waiting for a mistake from our part and unfortunately it happened towards the end of the second half.”

“It was not a fair result at all. But that’s soccer, the team that scores is the one that wins and I believe we have to work on that aspect.”

Defender Mauricio Romero
“Morelia dominated, the result is a lie. We made a mistake on that play. We made a poor clearance and that (New England) is a team that plays off of errors of their opponents. Morelia dominated the game: we played the ball down field, attempted to play outside on the wings and tried to finish the plays. I think we had more opportunities to score goals. I think the result is unfair, but soccer has that power, of circumstances. But, we have to resolve them when they present themselves.”

I’ll tell you what, I don’t care if the Revolution is “dominated” tonight as long we pull out another victory. Because tonight’s winner is the SuperLiga 2010 champion, and that’s the truth.

Remarkably, this will actually be the third time the Revolution has hosted a cup championship in Foxborough in the last nine years (which seems to almost contradict my point above, but the sentiment remains the same). It was by chance the Revs reached the 2002 MLS Cup final at Gillette Stadium, which had already been pre-determined as the site for the league’s title game regardless of the participants. Of course, the Revs dropped that match in heartbreaking fashion, losing the title to the LA Galaxy on Carlos Ruiz’s extra-time goal.

But the Revs got a second chance to lift a trophy in front of the hometown fans when they hosted the Houston Dynamo in the SuperLiga 2008 championship game, and they didn’t disappoint. After 120 minutes of regulation and extra time finished level at 2-2, it took eight rounds before the winner was decided in a penalty shootout as Corey Ashe’s left-footed shot crashed off the crossbar. Celebrations ensued as the Revolution players paraded the SuperLiga trophy around the stadium for the fans while confetti rained down.

There’s been quite a bit of turnover on the Revolution’s roster since that SuperLiga victory in 2008, but I spoke with a couple of players who were part of that team after training today. Here’s what Chris Tierney and Pat Phelan had to say about the experience of winning a trophy at home …

Chris Tierney - “That’s probably the best memory of my career thus far. It was amazing to win it at home in front of the fans, so we want another trophy - we want to win it for the organization, for this club. I think we deserve it. We’ve done well in SuperLiga, so it’s a huge game for us.”

Pat Phelan - “It was one of the highlights of my time here with this team. To be able to do that again would speak volumes, especially with the kind of season we’ve had in MLS. It hasn’t been too kind to us and this could be huge for our season, especially going into next year, too.”

9,232 lucky Revolution fans were in attendance that August night in 2008, and they’ll forever have the memory of watching their team lift a trophy here at Gillette Stadium.

Will you be here as the Revs try to do it again on Wednesday?

As mentioned earlier this week via Twitter (@jeff_lemieux) three players joined the Revs on trial: Lee Sawyer, Gabe Mercier and Shastri Spencer. The trio first trained with the Revolution yesterday amidst driving rain and swirling winds, but they were presented with much more favorable conditions today out on the Lower Practice Field. After the jump you’ll find a picture and a bit of information on each trialist.

Also joining in with full team activities was Kheli Dube, who had been in London visting his newborn son while rehabbing a sprained right knee …

Lee Sawyer

Sawyer is a 20-year-old midfielder who most notably spent his youth days with English Premier League powerhouse Chelsea, the club with which he signed his first professional contract in 2007. Although Sawyer never saw first team action with the Blues, he made a number of appearances with the club’s reserve and youth teams. While under contract with Chelsea he spent time on loan with Southend United, Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers, and also made appearances with England’s U16, U18 and U19 teams. He most recently had a short-term stint with Barnet.

Sawyer served as a central midfielder during today’s training session and looked very much like he enjoyed keeping the ball moving, never taking more than one or two touches before distributing.

Gabe Mercier

Mercier is a 24-year-old defender and a local product out of Middleborough, Mass., having graduated from Middleborough High School in 2004. He attended Southern New Hampshire University (the alma mater of Revs goalkeeper Preston Burpo and Director of Youth Development Karl Edmonds) and has since had stints with the New Hampshire Phantoms, New Hampshire Mountaineers and Western Mass Pioneers.

Mercier played as a defender during today’s scrimmages, playing both in the middle and on the right side.

Shastri Spencer

Spencer is a 22-year-old midfielder from Trinidad & Tobago. He attended Monroe Community College in New York before transferring to East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

Spencer lined up as a left-sided midfielder during today’s training session.

Kheli Dube

As a bonus, here’s a shot of Dube upon his return to training. Dube spent the last couple of weeks in London visiting his newborn son, Deshawn, while simultaneously rehabbing from a sprained right knee. Now he’s not only returned to training but has returned to health and is expected to be available for selection this weekend against Philadelphia. While Dube says his knee feels good, fitness will be his only concern after missing so much training time, but we’ll have more on that in tomorrow’s preview …

What this also means is that it’s once again time for me to take a look back at the five predictions I made prior to the start of the season to see how I’m doing. I’ve given progress reports after 10 games, 15 games and now 20 games, and this will be the final update before we truly see how I did when the regular season comes to an end in late October.

Of my five predictions, one was already proven correct, while another was proven incorrect, leaving three still very much up in the air. However, with only 10 games remaining in the regular season, we’re beginning to see very clear trends in many areas. So, how am I doing?

1. Steve Nicol will become the third head coach in MLS history to earn 100 career regular-season victories. (Side prediction: Nicol will reach the 100-win plateau by the end of April. That gives him road games against LA, D.C. and San Jose and home dates with Toronto and Colorado to pick up the necessary victories.)

PROGRESS REPORT: Nicol earned his 100th career victory on April 10, leading the Revs to a 4-1 victory over Toronto FC.

ANALYSIS: I’ve covered this one in the past, so there’s really no reason to go over it all again. Nicol began the year on 98 victories, so it was inevitable that he’d grab his milestone 100th win early in the season. It was a gimme. Am I proud of making one of my five predictions a sure thing? Of course not. But considering the fact that some of my other predictions are on shaky ground, I’m glad I did it.

2. The Revolution’s rookie class will be one of the best in Major League Soccer this season.

PROGRESS REPORT: Zack Schilawski (five goals), Zak Boggs (two goals) and Seth Sinovic (12 starts) have all played considerable roles through the first two-thirds of the season. Jason Griffiths (five appearances) has also seen consistent time since signing with the club in late June.

ANALYSIS: This is easily the most difficult of my five predictions to judge, as it’s completely subjective unless you put your faith totally in statistics (probably not a good idea). After the first half of the season I’d have said this was a complete lock considering Schilawski’s torrid start (a hat trick in his third career game), Boggs’ dream debut (two goals in his first career start) and Sinovic’s starting role on the left side. I still believe the Revolution’s rookie class - the previously mentioned trio plus midseason signing Griffiths - will be considered one of the best in the league this season, but their influence has tapered off to more expected rookie standards in recent months.

Zack Schilawski flew out of the gates with a hat trick on his home debut and continued to impress with five league goals through the month of May, but with Marko Perovic playing as a withdrawn forward and the recent signing of Ilija Stolica, the 23-year-old has been serving in a substitute’s role lately. Although he hasn’t scored a league goal since May 29, he did find the back of the net in the 1-0 win over Pumas UNAM in the group stage of SuperLiga and is currently second behind Perovic (7) with six goals in all competitions. Considering the fact that Kheli Dube was a rookie of the year finalist with just four goals back in 2008, it’s safe to say Schilawski could finish out his rookie year stuck on five league goals and it would still have to be considered a successful campaign (even with three goals coming in one game).

In a manner similar to Schilawski, Zak Boggs made his presence felt immediately with a two-goal performance in his first career start in Columbus on May 8. However, a concussion has kept Boggs out of the lineup since late June, limiting the West Virginia native to just nine appearances (four starts) this season. Boggs has since returned to full training and should be close to a return to the field, so hopefully he can return to form for the last third of the season.

Seth Sinovic was massive for the Revs in the early part of the season, taking over the left back role left vacant when Jay Heaps retired at the end of the 2009 season. Nicol has opted to use the versatile Chris Tierney and veteran Cory Gibbs on the left side of a four-man backline in recent weeks - while he’s also experimented with a 3-5-2 setup - moving Sinovic to a substitute’s role, but the rookie is typically the first defensive option off the bench. Early-season tests against the likes of Landon Donovan and Dwayne De Rosario helped welcome Sinovic into the professional game and he likely has a bright future ahead.

Central midfielder Jason Griffiths didn’t join the Revs until midseason after finishing his degree at Kentucky but promptly earned a spot in the starting lineup in early July; a clear sign of Nicol’s faith in the youngster. A strained hamstring kept him out of action for one month but he’s since returned to make two substitute appearances, and he’ll likely continue to be one of the top options in central midfield after the Revs parted ways with Joseph Niouky.

3. The Revolution will score more than 33 goals this season.

PROGRESS REPORT: The Revs have scored 20 goals through 20 games, putting them on pace for 30 goals this season.

ANALYSIS: In order to reach the 34-goal mark and avoid setting a new club record for fewest goals in a season, the Revs will have to score 14 goals in their last 10 games (an average of 1.40 goals per game). This certainly isn’t out of the question, but the Revolution has struggled to find the scoresheet all year and the club hasn’t scored more than one goal in a game since the 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy on July 10. The Revs have scored in 10 straight games in all competitions, but they’ve scored just one goal in each of their last nine games. Should that trend continue, I’ll end up wrong on this particular prediction.

The recent addition of Stolica should help in the goal-scoring department - especially considering his partnership with fellow Serb and leading scorer Perovic - while the hard-working Dube should also be close to returning from a right knee sprain. But the Revs will have to create chances to score, and that’s been one of the issues this season. I’m holding out hope the Revolution will find its offensive legs through the last 10 games of the regular season, but right now the math says they’ll have to improve by almost half-a-goal per game in order to avoid the 33-goal mark.

4. Taylor Twellman will play again this year for the Revolution.

PROGRESS REPORT: Twellman was added to the season-ending injury list on June 23, ending his chances of playing again this season.

ANALYSIS: This is the only prediction of my five which can already definitively be chalked off, since Twellman’s season came to an end before it ever began when he suffered a setback in June. I’ve already gone over my analysis of this one in the previous progress report, so I won’t re-write it all here.

5. The Revs will reach the MLS Cup Playoffs for the ninth straight season. (Side prediction: The Revs will finally play someone other than the Chicago Fire in the 2010 postseason.)

PROGRESS REPORT: At 6-11-3 (21 pts.), the Revs currently occupy sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings and 13th in the overall league standings. They are currently out of a playoff spot.

ANALYSIS: This one seemed like a longshot just prior to the midway point of the season when the Revs were sitting at 3-9-2, but a fantastic run through July and the early part of August not only sent the Revs to the SuperLiga 2010 final (to be played on Sept. 1 against Monarcas Morelia) but also vaulted the club back into playoff contention.

Unfortunately, taking zero points from the recent two-game road trip to Chicago and Kansas City put a serious dent in the Revolution’s postseason aspirations; not only did the Revs not earn the points themselves, but the Fire and Wizards both pushed ahead of them in the Eastern Conference by claiming three points apiece. Now the Revs are seven points back of the final playoff spot with 10 games remaining - certainly not an impossibility considering there are still 30 points to be had, but it will likely take a remarkable run to extend the postseason streak to nine consecutive appearances.

Typically, 40 points is considered the magic number as far as the playoffs are concerned. With 40 points, a team will put itself firmly on the bubble of postseason teams. The Revs will need 19 points from their final 10 games to reach the 40-point barrier, meaning it’ll take something like a 6-3-1 or 5-1-4 record (at the very least) just to reach that mark. Of course, 40 points is merely a benchmark and in no way guarantees a postseason spot (especially considering the expanding league now has 16 teams vying for eight spots).

Bottom line, the Revs will likely have to win six (but more likely seven or eight) of their last 10 games to make a serious postseason push. With that said, until I see a Steve Nicol-coached team fail to make the postseason, I refuse to believe it can happen.

CONCLUSION: I’ll freely admit I’m looking pretty shaky on a few of my predictions, but such is life when you’re an optimist trying to predict the future. Besides, there are still 10 games remaining and anything can happen - so we’ll have to wait and see what does.

As I mentioned earlier, this will be the final progress report before we get the actual answers to how my predictions panned out. No matter the outcomes, I’m looking forward to the last 10 games of the season to see what the Revs have left in them …

The Pepsi Refresh Project contest starts today and will run through Monday, Sept. 20, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Fans can cast up to 25 votes per day at MLSsoccer.com/PepsiRefresh.

Should the Revs win the Pepsi Refresh grant, the team will provide free CPR and AED training to approximately 500 youth soccer coaches throughout New England through the American Heart Association. Additionally, the coaches will receive at-home training and practice units for their teams and leagues.

Read the full story here, and cast your vote here. Check out the video below with midfielder Chris Tierney, the Revs’ team spokesperson for this project.

The team will train tomorrow afternoon here in Kansas City as final preparation before Saturday night’s meeting with the Wizards. As if this weekend’s game wasn’t already important enough, the oft-used “must win” term is now being thrown around following last night’s heartbreaking loss in Chicago.

A couple bits of team news for both the Revs and Wizards. For New England, Cory Gibbs left last night’s game in Chicago after aggravating an ankle injury, but the veteran defender said he plans to be ready to go on Saturday night. For Kansas City, it was announced today that rookie forward Teal Bunbury has been suspended for one game following an incident with San Jose Earthquakes defender Tim Ward last Saturday. As a result, Bunbury will not be available for Kansas City this weekend.

We’ll have plenty more coverage throughout the rest of the week here in KC. Revolution beat writer Kyle McCarthy joined me for a special traveling edition of “Box to Box” this afternoon (which should be up soon), while we’ll also have video with head coach Steve Nicol and a couple of players at tomorrow’s training session (in addition to the requisite written preview). Then, of course, we’ll have full gameday coverage on Saturday. Bottom line - stay tuned.

As you can probably tell, we have arrived in the Windy City ahead of tomorrow night’s showdown with the rival Chicago Fire. We’ll head from Chicago directly to Kansas City on Thursday afternoon (for Saturday’s game against the Wizards), but for now every ounce of focus is on the Fire. The Revs (6-9-3, 21 pts.) and Fire (5-5-6, 21 pts.) are currently tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, so this is most definitely your classic six-pointer.

As for a quick injury update, Kevin Alston (L hamstring strain) has traveled with the team and is set to undergo a fitness test tomorrow to determine if he’s ready to face the Fire. Should he be healthy enough, he’ll take over his customary right back role, likely pushing Chris Tierney to the left wing in place of Khano Smith. Should Alston not be ready, chances are we’ll see the same lineup the Revs deployed in the 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo last weekend. That would be something of a milestone, as the Revs have used eight completely different starting lineups during the current eight-game unbeaten streak.

We should be at the team hotel just in time for dinner around 6 p.m. CT, then the players will relax for the evening and gear up for tomorrow night. We’ll check in with Revolution Soccer Gameday tomorrow afternoon with a full update on weather, injuries, etc. In the meantime, check out the written preview here.

Kevin Alston - Alston missed last weekend’s 1-0 win over D.C. United with a strained left hamstring, an injury he suffered in the SuperLiga semifinal against Puebla on Wednesday, Aug. 4. The right back went through a series of fitness/agility drills with the athletic training staff on Tuesday before returning to full training on Wednesday. Alston looked set to make his return this weekend against Houston, but suffered a setback toward the end of training today (Thursday) and has since been ruled out for Saturday night’s game by head coach Steve Nicol.

Zak Boggs - It’s been a long road back for Boggs, who was removed at halftime of the June 27 game against the Chicago Fire after suffering a concussion. After his activities were severely limited in the first few weeks following the injury, he has slowly progressed back into fitness, ball drills and now team activities. Boggs is now participating in full training sessions with the team, although he’s still not heading the ball. As such, the rookie midfielder won’t be ready for this weekend’s visit from the Dynamo.

Jason Griffths - Out since July 10 after suffering a left hamstring strain against the LA Galaxy, Griffiths has returned to full training and believes he’ll be fit enough to be available for selection against the Dynamo. The rookie was briefly derailed from his recovery when he suffered a setback a couple weeks ago, but he’s since healed up.

Marko Perovic - Like Alston, Perovic was injured in the SuperLiga semifinal against Puebla - suffering a left calf strain - and missed the 1-0 win over D.C. United last weekend. Unlike Alston, it looks like Perovic will be ready to make his return this weekend against Houston. The Serb has taken part in full team activities the past two days and should be available on Saturday night.

So it’s likely the Revs will have both Griffiths and Perovic available against the Dynamo, while Alston and Boggs will miss this weekend’s match.

Additionally, Nicol confirmed at today’s training session that he plans on naming Serbian forward Ilija Stolica in his starting lineup against Houston.

For the third time in SuperLiga history, it’ll be a US-Mexico championship, with the Revolution owning the chance to be the tournament’s first-ever two-time winner. Monarcas is making its first-ever appearance in the final.

What do you think? Can the Revs reclaim their SuperLiga title? Will Monarcas make it back-to-back titles for Mexico’s Primera Division? Be sure to check back regularly to revolutionsoccer.net for tournament updates in the lead-up to the championship, and if you don’t already, follow the team on Twitter (@nerevolution) or on Facebook (facebook.com/nerevolution) for more information and inside access.