In context of many situations, 17 days doesn’t seem like such a long time. But when we’re talking about days between New England Revolution games, it’s as long as it gets.
Because the Revolution’s match against the Philadelphia Union was postponed when Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast, the club ended up with a 17-day break between its last game against the New York Red Bulls (Aug. 20) and its rescheduled meeting with the Union (Sept. 7). Never before had the Revs gone so long between games. They’d had similar breaks between league contests – as recently as last year when they took a 21-day break for the group stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup – but friendly matches or SuperLiga contests or U.S. Open Cup games had always filled the void.
It’s been a long couple of weeks – the Revs have trained nine times and played two reserve games since their last first-team match – but the hiatus is finally coming to a close as this afternoon the club will be off to Philadelphia ahead of tomorrow night’s meeting with the Union.
Early forecasts call for rain for pretty much the duration of our stay in the Keystone State, but at least it won’t be a hurricane. So that’s a step in the right direction. Considering the tornado we ran into during a U.S. Open Cup game in Kansas City and Irene postponing our originally scheduled match in Philly, I think we’ve dealt with enough natural disasters for one season.
No matter the weather, we’ll bring you a full slate of coverage on Wednesday, beginning with “Revolution Soccer Gameday” from Philadelphia … even if I have to do my best Jim Cantore impression.
With Kenny Chesney set to take the stage here at Gillette Stadium later this evening, a large majority of New England Revolution staff members will be sent home early today to avoid the heavy traffic expected in the area. But before escaping the madness, a few of us headed out to this morning’s training session to get a first look at new signing Monsef Zerka, who joined his Revolution teammates on the practice field for the first time today.
This might come as a shock to many of you (READ: This isn’t going to shock any of you), but road trips are endlessly more rewarding for everyone involved – including traveling staff members like myself – when we pick up points.
On this week’s Far Post Podcast (
2. What should we do with our Teal Bunbury bobbleheads?
I can only hope this weekend’s trip to Kansas City goes a bit more smoothly than our last journey to The Show-Me State.
Do you want Benny Feilhaber to serve you a drink?
Last night was a good way to kick off our only two-game road trip of the season.
It was time to bust out the big suitcases today as the Revs embarked upon their only multi-game road trip of the season with stops in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colo., on the docket. The team caught an early afternoon flight out of Boston and arrived at the team hotel in the Nation’s Capital – our first destination ahead of Wednesday night’s game against D.C. United – around 2:30 p.m. following a short flight down the east coast.
It felt a bit unnatural sleeping late in my own bed on a Saturday morning, but that’s exactly what I did today. I suppose that’s what happens when you play a rare Monday night road game.
Yesterday, the Revolution’s youth teams traveled to Frisco, Texas, where the Under-16s will participate in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs and the Under-18s will take part in the accompanying Showcase.
