Revere's Ride: Crystal Balls

The New England Revolution kicks off its 2012 season later tonight against the San Jose Earthquakes (10:30p, Comcast Sportsnet), so here's a brief collection of the previews various analysts have prepared ahead of the season opener:

The guys at the New England Soccer Report make their predictions for the season.

The Boston Herald's Kyle McCarthy looks at the five keys for the Revs' 2012 campaign.

Avi Creditor previews the Revs' season on Soccer by Ives and ranks the Revs as the worst team in the league on Sports Illustrated's Web site.

- John C.L. Morgan

Maine Soccer's 'Golden Triangle'

American Journal:

Talent, as the writer Daniel Coyle argues, tends to be cultivated in clusters. Soccer in Maine is no different, as there is an 838-square mile swath of Maine that produces an outsized amount of soccer talent compared to the rest of the state. To visually appreciate this "Golden Triangle" of soccer talent in Maine, you would place three pins on a map of Maine with the towns of Gorham as the northwest vertex, Cape Elizabeth as the southeast point, and Richmond as the northeast boundary.

There are a few resources I should recognize, without whom I couldn't have written this column. First, there's Michael Jeffrey, whose curation of the Maine Soccer Coaches Web site allowed me to find information that would've been very difficult--if not impossible--to find otherwise. And, secondly, there's the staff at the Portland Public Library whose stewardship of newspaper archives dating back to the 1970s and beyond saved me much time and travel. And finally, the responses I received from various high school coaches were also very helpful.

Related: The Geography of Talent (December 15- December 20, 2012)

- John C.L. Morgan

Bite-Sized Review: The Beautiful Games

Football and Chess: Tactics, Strategy, Beauty

by Adam Wells

(Hardidge Simpole, 2008)

169 pages

Soccer writers who explain the game using analogy have a good track record. First there was journalist Franklin Foer's analogy between the politics and cultures of various regions and their soccer-playing histories. Then there was the soccer journalist Simon Kuper and sports ecomonist Stefan Syzmanski's theses on the various ways the beautiful game can be related to the dismal science. And now there's Adam Wells's 169-page exploration of the similarities between chess and soccer. Fortunately, like the well-considered analogies described above, Wells is able to pull off the analogy between chess and soccer because he's able to convincingly make the case that the two games have a lot in common and that the fan of one game should appreciate the nuances of the other.

Obviously, Wells's book will probably be most enjoyed by those with a pre-existing appreciation for both chess and soccer. Nevertheless, because Wells's analysis of the numerous chess examples in his book are pretty skimpy and often lack a thorough examination from beginning to end, strictly soccer partisans will probably enjoy this book more than the close-minded chess player.

In his explanation of mobility, for example, Wells does well breaking down how Manchester United under Alex Ferguson has played a fluid and mobile game due to the many passing options available to its players once they gain possession of the ball. Wells's analogy between the mobility of Manchester United and the chess great Siegbert Tarrasch breaks down, though, when his analysis of an 1894 chess match between Tarrasch and Carl Schlecter consists of a snapshot diagram of the game, a quick appraisal of how Tarrasch's pieces are more mobile than Schlecter's, and then a quick conclusion that it is Tarrasch's mobility that allows him to win the match easily.

Despite the skimping on the chess--or maybe because of it--Wells's book is a good read for the soccer tactician within all of us, especially the first 100 pages in which Wells breaks down how eighteen technical aspects apply to both soccer and chess. And though his analysis of the chess side of these technical aspects is somewhat lacking, his explanations of the soccer-side of the analogy are sometimes revelatory, especially when he cites real-life examples from the Barclay's Premier League or the World Cup.

- John C.L. Morgan

Revere's Ride: Revs Fall in Pre-Season Finals on PKs

- John C.L. Morgan

Revere's Ride: NESN Soccer Expands Revs Coverage

After first taking flak from Revs supporters and then Revs executives, NESN soccer has expanded their coverage of the New England Revolution leading up to the start of the 2012 season.

Started in response to their parent company, the Fenway Sports Group, assuming ownership of Liverpool FC, NESN Soccer is a relatively new media source, and its mea culpa and improved coverage represents another stone removed from the wall that separates Europhile soccer fans from soccer enthusiasts who enjoy the domestic incarnation just as strongly as they play across the pond.

- John C.L. Morgan

Revere's Ride: Random Fact for Thought

From Nell Minow's piece in the latest issue of The New Republic:

In 1980, the average ratio between CEO salary and the median salary of a worker was 40 to 1. In 2010, it was 325 to 1. Among the top 50 corporations in the United States, the most extreme pay ratio, according to the compensation-data firm Payscale.com is 1,737 to 1. That salary belongs to Stephen Hemsley, the UnitedHealth Group CEO, who received nearly $102 million last year, compared with the median employee salary of $58,700.

UnitedHealth, of course, is the uniform sponsor of the New England Revolution.

- John C.L. Morgan

Revere's Ride: Revs Top Real Salt Lake, Will Play in Tourney Final

New England Soccer Today:

The Revolution punched their ticket to the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup championship game after taking a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.Diego Fagundez opened the account in the 9th minute, but a Nico Muniz blast leveled it two minutes later. Trialist Bjorn Runstrom tipped the scales back in New England’s favor in the 56th minute to send his squad to Saturday’s final, where it will either face New York or Los Angeles.

- John C.L. Morgan