FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- As New England Revolution captain Steve Ralston lifted the SuperLiga trophy on Aug. 5, observers couldn't help but wonder if Ralston would finally lift that elusive MLS Cup to end the season.
Prior to that moment, the Revolution had sailed through everything in their path. Waging war on three fronts, the Revs excelled in all of them by topping the MLS table, reaching the U.S. Open Cup semifinals in their title defense and lifting the SuperLiga crown.
The performance showed all the underpinnings of previous Revolution squads: a rock-solid defense, quick and tidy play through midfield and rotating contributions up front. When that formula failed, the Revs just ground out results. It didn't matter that Ralston and Taylor Twellman had both missed significant time through injury -- the Revs didn't lose back-to-back games until August.
"We came out of the gate so strong and played so well," Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst said. "We were just cruising. We had our youthful energy at that point."
Neither Parkhurst nor his teammates knew the team would descend into an injury-plagued and fatigue-induced abyss in the months that followed. The Revs went 2-10-4 in all competitions after the SuperLiga crown, including two separate winless streaks of five and six games.
"It's real straightforward for us," Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said. "The first part of the season was great. The second part of the season wasn't so great."
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SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The line of demarcation fell on that early August night. Winning SuperLiga might have proved the culmination of a month's worth of arduous games, but it also saw the Revs take a break from league play for most of that stretch.
Playing those extra fixtures in August and September -- in addition to an abortive stint in the CONCACAF Champions League and an unsuccessful U.S. Open Cup semifinal -- strained a roster that was deeper than in previous seasons, but not deep enough to handle 23 games between June 6 and Sept. 11.
"It hurt us big-time," Nicol said. "Our bread and butter is league play. It was a fantastic tournament to win, but we ultimately paid the price for it."
Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis said his team had to cope with the euphoria of winning the title and its residual effects during the second half of that hectic stretch.
"Teams go through highs and lows during the season," Reis said. "After SuperLiga, we got hit with an injury bug. After you win a championship, there's usually a sag in form. We went through both of those things at the same time."
As the games piled up, Nicol rotated his squad more frequently. The striking corps looked threadbare as Twellman, Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally and Adam Cristman all struggled with injuries at various points. Parkhurst missed time after being selected for the U.S. Olympic team. Even the seemingly injury-proof Reis missed a few games.
Nicol brought multiple younger players into the lineup -- Dube, Mansally, Sainey Nyassi and Chris Tierney all saw significant playing time -- but the absences meant increased playing time for players who might not have been ready to cope with those demands.
"Ideally with young players and rookies, you want to give them time," Nicol said. "You want to put them in and then take them out. When you're asking them to play 90 minutes week after week and have the consistency of a Ralston or a [Shalrie] Joseph, it's difficult."
That consistency never came as Nicol had to chop and change from week to week depending on availability. The hallmark of previous Revolution sides -- a regular starting XI -- faded away.
"It was a long, crazy season," Parkhurst said. "The good thing was that so many guys got some experience and some guys got minutes that probably wouldn't have if the starters had stayed healthy throughout the year."
Even those younger players hit the wall as the season continued and the results never improved. Nicol said the controversy surrounding his team's struggle to adapt to a 4-4-2 formation mandated by the options available didn't matter as much as the team's inability to get its legs back.
"It all boils down to fatigue and the extra physical toll," Nicol said. "It catches up with you at the end when you're trying to go for that extra yard. All of these things add up. During the important part of the season, we were playing with half a team. I dread to think what would have happened if we had advanced in the Champions League."
A dismal home record -- two wins from eight games in all competitions -- during that stretch didn't help as the previously fortress-like Gillette Stadium turned more hospitable.
"We didn't find a way to win games, especially at home," Ralston said. "In previous seasons, we had established a great home record. We fell behind a lot early in games and had to play catch up. We probably played a lot better on the road than we did at home."
The performances improved as the legs returned. A resounding home win against Chivas USA and a rare away draw in Colorado in mid-September seemed to indicate a return to form was soon around the corner. A narrow loss in Columbus did little to dissuade that feeling.
"As we got healthy, we got hit for a bit more," Reis said.
A Herculez Gomez tackle broke Ralston's fibula in Kansas City with two regular season games to play. As Ralston limped off the pitch at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, most of the Revolution's hopes to generate offense went with him.
"We got our legs back under us and then we lose Ralston," Nicol said. "We don't have another guy in that position."
The offense sputtered in Ralston's absence. Losing Twellman to lingering concussion symptoms prior to the start of the MLS Cup Playoffs and watching Joseph limp through the two games with Chicago in the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series didn't help either.
"You can't just blame the injuries," Ralston said. "We think we're a good enough team where we can deal with one or two players going out."
A 0-0 draw in the first leg proved a false dawn as Chicago ran out comprehensive winners at home to end the Revolution's streak of three consecutive MLS Cup appearances.
The early playoff demise raises questions about the future of the current squad. Substantive changes could come to the team's core this offseason with Parkhurst out of contract and Twellman's off-again, on-again interest in a European move.
If the Revs are to lift that elusive first MLS Cup everyone thought beckoned after that SuperLiga trophy, those changes might end up being more than cosmetic.
"I don't know where we go from here," Ralston said. "That's for [club president] Sunil [Gulati], Mike [Burns, Revs vice president of player personnel] and the coaching staff to decide. I imagine we'll make some moves, but you never know who may come in or out. I'm interested to see what happens."
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