Revolution Goalkeeper Cody Cropper Doing What He “Was Born To Do” In First Start Since 2017

Saturday was a special day for New England Revolution goalkeeper Cody Cropper.

Cropper did something he hadn’t done since 2017.

Start in net for the Revolution in an MLS regular season game.

“It’s been a grind; mentally, physically, emotionally. There’s been ups and downs, and that part of professional sports, that’s part of this business.

Every player at some stage in their career has gone through that, but to go out there today (Saturday) and to put a 90-minute performance together for the first time since 2017 — over a year, nearly a year and six months — I can’t even describe the feeling right now.

Every time I talk about it, I’m just getting goosebumps. It’s what I was born to do, I’ve played this game since I was three years old and it’s what I love.” said Cody Cropper after playing his first MLS match in over a year

Cropper’s Hard Work In Training Paid Off 

Cropper against Minnesota United FC played the full 90 minutes saving two balls with a 66.7% save percentage with 2 crosses claimed and 1 punch.

For the first four matches it was Brad Knighton‘s job to be in net for the Revolution. The sudden change? Training performance and a 2 goals against average.

“Again, every week that starts, every player can get their name in the hat to start. Cody, in the last two or three weeks, has trained very, very well, better than we’ve seen him train since we’ve been at the club.” said Head Coach Brad Friedel.

As for Cropper, he knew the starting job is always up for grabs as “everybody went into this week knowing we would be fighting for our jobs”.

Cropper came off of his line on multiple occasions against Minnesota and was able to stop Minnesota’s attack dead in his tracks. Cropper calls the decisions a “gut instinct” with the coaching staff telling him prior to the game to trust his instincts.

“I trusted myself.” Cropper said.”In the past, when you don’t play games for a very long time you sometimes tend to second guess yourself. Today, I just went out there and I trusted my ability.”

New England Revolution “Proud” After Capturing First Win Of Season With A 2-1 Victory Over Minnesota

The New England Revolution grabbed their first victory of their 2019 season on Saturday with a 2-1 victory at home over Minnesota United FC. 

With the win the Revolution move to 1-3-1 on the MLS season. 

“Really happy with the performance that the players put in, really happy with the work ethic and really happy with the application with what we were trying to do.” Said New England Coach Brad Friedel after the match. 

Saturday’s match against the Loons showcased a shaken up Revolution lineup with Brad Friedel starting Cody Cropper with goalkeeper Brad Knighton not apart of the 18. In addition rookie DeJuan Jones got his first start of his MLS career and Cristian Penilla found himself off the 18 entirely. 

“It’s been a grind, mentally, physically, emotionally” said Revs goalkeeper Cody Cropper. “There has been ups and downs, and that is apart of professional sports, that is apart of this business. I think every player at some stage in their careers gone through that, but to go out there today and put a 90 minute performance together for the first time since 2017.” 

Friedel has been very consistent on how players get into the starting lineup saying:” Every week that starts, every player can get their name in the hat to start. Cody in the last two or three weeks has trained very very well. And better than we have seen him train since we’ve been at the club. And we’ve been averaging two goals a game against, and I made a change, and he played very well.” 

The first half for the New England Revolution looked to have an uptick of effort from the Revs. New England’s first half performance or lack there of in their home match against FC Cincinnati made headlines and against United FC there appeared to be a concerted effort to play harder. 

New England came out like a bat out of hell and their hard work payed off with Carles Gil delivering a perfect ball into Jalil Anibaba who headed the ball in for a 10th minute goal. 

Unfortunately for the Revs they gave up an equalizing goal in the 26th minute with Darwin Quintero scoring ona penalty with defender Michael Mancienne being called for a hand ball.

”You guys, and a lot of experts out there were probably surprised that we could motivate the players to work hard. But all of those players, every single day we see them working hard. A couple of first half performances that we have had here that haven’t been up to par, shouldn’t be the focal point. I am very very proud of the players performance today.” Said Friedel 

Very much like the first half the Revolution came out firing which has been the norm for them this season in terms of increasing their performance as the match progresses.

”A lot of people have been saying that we don’t have creative players, we do, it takes time for it all to come together and I am really proud of the way the players applied themselves today in the game.” Said Friedel

New England was able to press for extended periods of time and were able to break the stalemate with a Teal Bunbury ball finding Brandon Bye on the cross to who slammed it home to make it 2-1. Rookie DeJuan Jones recieved a secondary assist on the goal for his first MLS assist. 

The Revs were then able to ice the game and come away with a 2-1 victory. 

Next up for the New England Revolution is a road trip next weekend to take on Columbus Crew SC. 

New England Revolution Smartly Lock Up Homegrown Midfielder Scott Caldwell To A Multi-year Deal

On Thursday the New England Revolution announced that they had signed midfielder Scott Caldwell to a multi-year contract extension. 

Caldwell, now 28-years-old, is the midst of his seventh professional season after signing with the club as the second ever Homegrown Player in franchise history. 

The Braintree native has appeared in 182 regular season games, 149 of them starts, with more than 13,000 minutes played for the Revs.

In MLS play Caldwell has recorded 5 goals and 17 assists but his contribution to the Revolution goes way beyond that. 

“Scott is such a valuable part of our team and organization, and he has set the perfect example for what it means to represent New England and this club.” Revolution General Manager Michael Burns said. “Whether it was setting the foundation for our Academy back in 2008, leading the first team over these last seven seasons, or the countless hours he commits to his work in the community, Scott’s contributions to the Revolution cannot be overstated. I look forward to seeing him continue to lead this club both on and off the field.”

Currently Caldwell has 149 starts, 10th best in club history and one shy of the 150 mark. 

The terms of the contract where not released but locking up Caldwell makes all the sense in the world. Caldwell puts in the work and is one of the leaders on the team and a mainstay to the fanbase and in the community

Caldwell and the Revolution will take on Minnesota United FC this Saturday at Gillette looking for their first win of the MLS season.