By all accounts, 2016 served as a down year for the Revolution. The club failed to qualify for playoff soccer for the first time since 2012 while conceding 10 more goals than it scored—a stat that made the difference between a playoff berth and a season cut short. Now, pressure has begun to mount on Revs front office, which has yet to acquire a player to fill any of the club’s roster holes.
Yet as the curtain falls on another calendar year, there’s reason to feel optimistic. Xavier Kouassi will debut. Cody Cropper has a chance to develop into a star.