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A lot of fans were disappointed when the New England Revolution lost to Philadelphia last week, and with good reason; it was a sloppy game all around, but the Revs seemed to do enough to at least get out of PPL with a point. Philly basically took the game on their only clear chance in ninety minutes. It's a heartbreaking way to lose no matter who or where you play.
Before escalating that disappointment to outrage, though, it's important to take the 50,000-feet-up broad-view of the season so far. Some of us may be missing the big picture.
Saturday was the final match in what amounts to a two-game road trip. Since it was the beginning of the season we may not look at it that way right off the bat, but take these two games and plug them into the middle of the season. The Revs just got three points from a possible six on a road swing. That's not bad at all.
It's really not bad when you think about how and where they got those points. Going into week one, the Revs were 1-6-2 at Toyota Park and 0-2-2 in Chester. In 2012, they posted an absolutely abysmal 2-13-2 away record, and an away goal differential of -13. They were without last season's leading goalscorer and the first player since 2007 to break double digits in league goals. Say what you want about the Revs' efforts to strengthen the team in the offseason; this was shaping up to be a real gloomy couple of weeks.
Instead, the Revs reversed the curse in Chicago and played very, very tough in Philadelphia. They scored a goal and conceded a goal for an even zero in goal differential. Jerry Bengtson even got his season off to a great start by scoring against Chicago, and if you include preseason, he's actually put up three goals in six games for the Revs in 2013.
Realistically, a mid-season road trip that went through Bridgeview and Chester would be so daunting that I'm sure any one of us would be happy with picking up two points and getting the heck back home. Instead, the Revs are coming away with three points and a 1-1-0 start to the season. When you think about it that way, these last two games were incredibly positive, regardless of the loss.