In late March I threw a post up analyzing/complaining about the main sign on the outside of Gillette Stadium and its omission of the New England Revolution. Apparently, as the sign denotes, it's home to the New England Patriots only. Predictably, a healthy debate among fans raged in the comment section of the post about who within the Kraft ownership group really cares about soccer, or the Revs. At the end of the story I mentioned I was going to make a general inquiry using an electronic mail message to an address the Kraft Group provided on their website. The email was sent on 3/28 and a reply received on 4/9. See below.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to today's edition of Musket Rounds. I apologize for the lateness, and also for my recent absence. Real life has called, and I had to answer. Regardless, I'm back! On to the Rounds.

Revolution Links

AT&T GOTW update: Beckham edging out Nguyen | MLSsoccer.com
DO. NOT. ALLOW. THIS. Nguyen's goal was OBVIOUSLY the best. ALL OF YOU VOTE NOW.

MLS pairings for U.S. Open Cup released - Soccer By Ives
The Open Cup pairings have been announced. The Revs will be getting the Harrisburg City Islanders or the Long Island Roughriders. I believe the match will be on May 29th.

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What is there to say? The win over Vancouver was the first time where the New England Revolution utterly overwhelmed and dismantled an opponent. More so than even the LA Galaxy game, the Revolution dominated the game - outside of the first 10 or so minutes. And reading through twitter, it is easy to see that the supporters had been waiting, salivating, wanting this to happen.

"The Match in Tweet" let's us take a strange ride that we have not seen all year. This is not the early goal hold on by your teeth "Match in Tweets" (the Portland Timber game), or the just waiting out an inevitable comeback even though it never comes "Match in Tweets" (Los Angeles game), this is the sunshine, flowers, rainbows and puppy dogs "Match in Tweets" And hopefully, there are a few more of these coming our way this season.

If you are tweeting solid Revolution gold during game days and haven't made "The Match in Tweets" yet, then make sure you hashtag your Revolution game-day, post-game, and day-after-game tweets with #Revs, or follow @MindOfAbram on Twitter, so that you too can be included in "The Match in Tweets.

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Numbers don't always tell the story, and no truer words can be spoken about Saturday night's victory over Vancouver. While the final score indicated a lopsided affair, a quick glance at the stat sheet doesn't seem quite as convincing.

New England scored four goals in a match for the first time since last September, and in the process racked up some pretty impressive numbers in the stat sheets. However, if you're looking for numbers to back up that 4-1 scoreline, you really have to look a little deeper, because the traditional stat sheet doesn't do it justice.

So, according to the numbers, where does this club stand? Are there still areas this squad can improve? If I can indulge in another sports cliché, "the numbers never lie".

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Three more clubs in the Northeast Division of the PDL Eastern Conference opened their seasons this weekend, and Seacoast United secured 4 points from two matches (Friday and Sunday) to take their perch at the top of the table. Here's what went down:

Western Mass. Pioneers 1 - 2 Seacoast United Phantoms

The Phantoms are on a roll after this weekend. A late game rally from the New Hampshire-based club led to 3 points Friday night as they played away against the Western Mass. Pioneers. Seacoast's 2 goals came from James Goodwin and Steve Palumbo, both within a short time span, but only after the Pioneers dominated the match for the initial 70 minutes. For a full recap of the match, click here.

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Is it Saturday yet? No? Ugh. Well, might as well read about soccer in the meantime. Here's some links for you to make it through your morning, or whenever it is that you've stumbled into the wonderful work of The Bent Musket today.

Revolution Links

Nguyen earns player of the week honors - RevolutionSoccer.net

So, basically, everyone is loving Lee Nguyen this week, and with good reason. He has been chosen pretty much across the board as the MLS player of the week. Well done, Lee.

MLS Power Rankings: Week 10 - Goal.com

Speaking of Lee Nguyen, Kyle McCarthy points to his success as the main reason that the Revs have climbed up to #14, but also that he'll need to be more consistent if the Revs want to continue their climb

Mr. Versatile finds a home - RevolutionSoccer.net

Despite Chris Tierney's history of being a "wherever you need me to play" type of soccer player, he has found a new, more permanent role at left back under Jay Heaps. The Revolution's now first-choice LB talks about the transition to the position and how he approaches the role under Heaps' new system.

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I can't sing the praises of this team's Saturday night performance enough. I would never have expected the Revs to just shake off an early Vancouver goal like it was nothing, answer immediately, and then pile on 3 more for the win. If you had told me that last year, I would have laughed in your face. This team showed a lot of resolve and a lot of confidence on and off the ball. Brilliant all around.

After Saturday, you've got to think that this starting XI is pretty damn close to the preferred XI for the 2012 Revs, save for maybe Blake Brettschnieder (who had a very respectable game, I should add). What I think is key to the success of this particular starting XI, in a 4-4-2, is Benny Feilhaber's comfort with and commitment to the right midfield position. And he took to the role fantastically this weekend. Benny, as we all know, prefers to play centrally. So, when he's put out wide, he has a tendency to pinch into the middle on the attack. What worked on Saturday was Saer Sene's ability to balance those runs of Feilhaber by way of drifting out a bit wider at times and just generally timing his runs accordingly to compliment what Benny was doing.

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