‘MLS in Focus’ is a weekly profile that takes an in-depth look at select players throughout the league. This week, we debut with a look at the New England Revolutions’ biting midfielder, Scott Caldwell.

By RYAN BRISTER

MLS Beat Writer

The New England Revolution have re-discovered last year’s momentum. In 2014, they rode a late-season surge all the way to the MLS Cup final. Through nine games in 2015, they are tied for the most points in the league. Much of the attention goes (and belongs) to the big names of Lee Nguyen and Jermaine Jones.

But no MLS team can rely on stars alone. The salary cap requires teams to fill out their rosters with names that most of the public are unfamiliar with. The relative anonymity of these players belies their importance.

In New England, the player who gets most often overlooked is Scott Caldwell.

A homegrown player from Braintree, Mass., Caldwell is now in his third season with the Revs. He plays the unsexy position of defensive midfield, and his goal two weeks ago was the first of his career. He is as valuable a part as any to the Revs’ success.

Consider this: last season, Caldwell came off the bench in eight games where the Revs were either tied or winning. Four times the score was level, four times they were ahead. New England won all eight of those games, and Caldwell’s work as a nuisance and a pest is part of the reason why. That work ethic made him a starter throughout last year’s playoffs and into the start of this season.

In short, he does the ugly work required to win games.

His second half performance in the Revs’ win Saturday against the Red Bulls was a perfect illustration of this.

With the Revs already up 1-0 in the 60th minute, Caldwell chases the ball, pounces on McCarty’s mistake, and starts the break the other way. New England scored on the ensuing counter, and Caldwell got credit for a secondary assist. From there, he went into lock-down mode.

When you’re down 2-0 midway through the second half, patience is a luxury you really don’t have. Going backwards with the ball is the last thing you want to do. But Caldwell’s pressure forced Sacha Kljestan and Karl Ouimette to do just that, taking possession from the Revs’ half all the way back to Luis Robles in his own box. The Red Bulls ended up playing a long ball out from the back.

A set piece, and Caldwell is there not just to block the initial header, but to fight and clear the ball away to Charlie Davies, sparking another counter.

2-1 now, and Caldwell is picking off passes to prevent the Red Bulls from playing out of the back. These things slow the game down — exactly how New England wants to.

Here, Kljestan thinks he has space to run with the ball for a change, but Caldwell is quick to recover and ensure he does not. An attack is foiled, the Revs regain possession, and more time ticks off the clock.

This is my favorite play of the bunch. Six minutes left in the 90th, and Caldwell is harassing Mike Grella in his own corner. Grella does well to get the ball forward, but Caldwell races back to ensure that the break doesn’t reach Kljestan.

Caldwell may play an oft-overlooked role, but his contributions have been key to the Revolution resurgence as a contributor who fills the gaps between the flare of a Nguyen and the defensive aptitude of a Jones. That has prompted Jones — a respected figure on the U.S. Men’s National Team — to endorse Caldwell as a candidate for international competition. “He’s a small pit bull,” said Jones.

Clearly, Jones sees something in the 24-year-old Braintree native.

And if Caldwell continues to produce, so will the American soccer public.