Dec. 3, 2002 – New England Revolution sign Shalrie Joseph

Shalrie Joseph planned to pass up MLS, as he set up tryouts in Europe after playing for St. John’s University. The New England Revolution selected Joseph with their second-round pick in the 2002 draft, coach Fernando Clavijo following assistant John Murphy’s recommendation, realizing Joseph would be unavailable for at least one season. A year later, Joseph was playing for the New York Freedom when Kraft Soccer’s Sunil Gulati convinced him to take his chances with the Revolution and the move worked out as he became the team’s best-ever all-around performer.

Joseph made his Revolution debut as an 82^nd-minute substitute for Wolde Harris in a 4-0 loss to LD Alajuelense in a Champions Cup match on March 23, 2003. Joseph made his first Revolution start as a right back in place of Jay Heaps (suspended) in the second leg against Alajuelense, a 3-1 victory on March 26, 2003.

Joseph became MLS’ dominant holding midfielder, named to the Best XI team four times (2005, ’07, ’08, ’09), and is the Revolution’s all-time appearance leader with 305 games in all competitions.

In his final game at Gillette Stadium, Joseph scored twice while playing for Chivas USA in a 3-3 draw with the Revolution on Aug. 29, 2012.

In 2011, Joseph moved into a part-time forward role and led the Revolution in scoring with eight goals, totaling 37 in his career, tied with Pat Noonan for sixth on the team’s all-time list. Joseph converted 12 of 15 penalty kick attempts, second to Lee Nguyen (14) in Revolution history. Chris Aduama photos

TODAY IN NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY