MLS New England Revolution

New England Revolution Update: April 21, 2008

Published on April 21, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution will train in Foxborough on Tuesday in preparation for the club's road game against MLS' only remaining undefeated team, FC Dallas, on Thursday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. ET at Pizza Hut Park.

The team will train on the Lower Practice Field at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, with the session scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. A full schedule for the week is below.

Media wishing to attend any session held on the Gillette Stadium grounds must notify the Revolution Communications office by the close of business the day before to RSVP and guarantee admittance. Media availability usually begins at approximately 11:30 a.m. for 10 a.m. sessions.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION SCHEDULE: April 21-27

Monday, April 21 - OFF

Tuesday, April 22 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Wednesday, April 23 - Travel to Dallas

Thursday, April 24 - at FC Dallas (Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas), 8:30 p.m. ET ... TV: ESPN2 (English) and ESPN Deportes (Spanish) ... Radio: WEEI Radio Network and ESPN Deportes Radio (Spanish)

Friday, April 25 - Travel to Boston

Saturday, April 26 - OFF

Sunday, April 27 - OFF

NEW ENGLAND VS. DALLAS SERIES INFORMATION

The Revolution leads the overall series with FC Dallas (formerly the Dallas Burn), 19-9-1.

The Revs own a 10-4-1 record in games played at Dallas, while the club is 9-5-0 in home games against the Hoops.

The Revs won the season series with Dallas last year, going 2-0-0, and have won the two-game season series in three of the last four years.

New England has an all-time winning percentage of .672 against Dallas, which represents the club's highest winning percentage against any MLS team that it has faced more than five times.

The Revolution's 19 victories over Dallas represents the club's second-highest win total against any MLS team ... the Revs have won 23 games against New York.

The Revs are 11-3-0 against Dallas under head coach Steve Nicol dating back to 2002. In their last eight road games against the Hoops dating back to 2002, the Revs are 6-2-0. New England and Dallas have tied only once in the 29-game all-time series.

The Revolution was the first visiting team to earn a victory at Pizza Hut Park, taking a 2-1 win on Aug. 13, 2005.

New England won six of the teams' first seven meetings (1996-97), before Dallas went 5-1-1 over the next three-and-a-half seasons (1998-2001) ... since then, the Revs are 12-3-0 against the Hoops.

The Revolution won its first-ever cup championship on its last visit to Pizza Hut Park, defeating Dallas, 3-2, in the U.S. Open Cup Final on Oct. 3, 2007.

PLAYER NOTES VS. DALLAS

Taylor Twellman is New England's all-time leading scorer against Dallas with 14 goals, a figure that marks his highest total against any MLS team ... seven of those 14 goals have served as game-winners.

Steve Ralston leads the Revolution with 14 career assists against Dallas, including seven in his 12 games while a member of the Revs.

Jay Heaps is the club's all-time leader in games played (15) and games started (14) against the Hoops.

Matt Reis is 7-3-3 all-time against Dallas, posting a 1.34 goals against average with five shutouts.

LAST MEETING

New England 4, FC Dallas 2

September 15, 2007 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborugh, Mass.)

Steve Ralston scored the game-winning goal and added two assists, as the New England Revolution defeated FC Dallas, 4-2, at Gillette Stadium ... the Revs took a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute when Pat Noonan flicked a shot past Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala, with Khano Smith providing the cross ... Dallas equalized just six minutes later through Carlos Ruiz, sending the teams into the half tied at 1-1 ... Noonan scored his second to regain the lead for New England, finishing Ralston's layoff in the 65th minute, before Ralston put home his own rebound to extend the lead to 3-1 in the 78th minute ... Ruiz scored his second header of the match in the 84th minute to cut the lead to one, but Smith's 90th-minute long-range rocket sealed the win for the Revolution.

NEWS & NOTES

PLAYING THE NUMBERS

Historically, FC Dallas is the club that the Revolution has had the best rate of success against ... the club has a record of 19-9-1 against Dallas for a winning percentage of .672, which represents the club's best winning percentage against any MLS team that it has faced more than five times ... the Revs have a winning percentage of .833 (2-0-1) against Toronto FC, but they've only played three matches against the second-year club.

NICOL DOMINATES DALLAS

Since being named head coach midway through the 2002 season, Steve Nicol has led the Revolution to a record of 11-3-0 against Dallas ... Nicol's 11 wins over the Hoops represents his second-greatest win total against any MLS team after has 12 wins against New York.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

New England returns to Pizza Hut Park with fond memories of its last visit to Frisco, as it saw the Revs earn their first-ever cup championship with a victory in the U.S. Open Cup Final ... Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman and Wells Thompson all scored goals to help lead the Revolution past FC Dallas, 3-2, on Oct. 3, 2007.

BEND IT LIKE LARENTOWICZ

Midfielder Jeff Larentowicz is quickly making a name for himself around the league as a serious threat on free kicks, as the fourth-year player once again scored from a set-piece on April 19 at New York ... Larentowicz curled a 20-yard shot around an eight-man wall and into the lower right corner of the goal to score his first goal of the season and level the score at 1-1 in the 56th minute ... on July 28, 2007, he earned the Revs a 2-1 win at Real Salt Lake with a stunning free kick from 25 yards out in the 82nd minute.

REVS TRADE FRANCHINO TO L.A. GALAXY

The Revolution announced on Friday, April 18, that the club had traded midfielder/defender Joe Franchino to the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for L.A.'s second-round selection in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft ... Franchino, who came to New England via the MLS Special Draft in 2000, had been the Revs' longest-tenured member ... with Franchino's departure, defender Jay Heaps is now the team's longest-tenured member, having been with the club since 2001.

THOMPSON RETURNS FROM INJURY TO MAKE 2008 DEBUT ...

Midfielder Wells Thompson, who missed the first four games of the season due to a left heel injury, made his 2008 season-debut last Saturday night at New York (April 19) ... the second-year player, who was an integral part of the Revolution's run to MLS Cup 2007 last season as a rookie, entered the match in the 84th minute for Khano Smith and slotted into the left side of midfield marking his season debut before he played 69 minutes in the team's reserve match the following day.

... THANKS TO A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIEND

Wells Thompson's recovery from his recent left heel injury has been aided by some unique ingenuity ... a friend of Thompson's in North Carolina who makes orthotics performed minor "shoe surgery" to relieve pressure on the player's heel, cutting a round, quarter-sized hole in the back of the 24-year-old's boots ... so far, the procedure seems to have been a successful one as the effects of the alteration are visible.

LINEUP MIX-UP

Head coach Steve Nicol has used four different starting lineups in the team's first five games of the season ... in fact, he has only used the same starting 11 in back-to-back games once this season - in the team's last two games ... myriad early-season injuries, suspensions and international duty for starters have had to alter Nicol's plans almost every game this season.

LOGGING TIME

Four Revolution players are tied for first in the league in minutes played this season as the Revs have played five games already, tied with Kansas City ... Jay Heaps, Shalrie Joseph, Michael Parkhurst and Matt Reis have all played 450 minutes this year, tied with KC's Kevin Hartman and Jimmy Conrad ... all four New England players are expected to start on Thursday and should claim the league lead to themselves by the start of the weekend's play.

FOUL LANGUAGE

Three of the Revs' players are ranked in the league top 10 in fouls suffered this year while, as a team, the Revolution lead the league in the category (78) ... Mauricio Castro - who will miss Thursday's game while serving a red-card suspension - is tied for the league lead with Alejandro Moreno, who each have 14 fouls suffered ... Kenny Mansally is tied for third with 13 fouls suffered, while Jeff Larentowicz , who has been among the leaders in fouls committed last year, is tied for seventh with 10 fouls suffered despite missing one game because of a red-card suspension.

CARD GAMES

New England has been shown a total of six cards this season ... while the Revs have only earned four yellow cards this year - tied for the lowest total in the league with San Jose, the team is tied for the league lead in red cards: Jeff Larentowicz at Chicago (April 3) and Mauricio Castro at New York (April 19).

DOING IT ALONE

Although the Revolution is tied for third in MLS in goals scored (7), the team is tied for last in the league in assists (2) ... six of the team's goals have been of the unassisted variety, while both assists came on a single goal - from Kenny Mansally and Khano Smith on Sainey Nyassi's game-winning goal at Kansas City on April 9.

HEAPS CLIMBING MLS' MINUTES-PLAYED LIST

Defender Jay Heaps - who is in his 10th year in the league and eighth with the Revolution - climbed into eighth place on MLS' all-time list for minutes played (22,943) on Saturday, April 12 against Colorado ... Heaps passed the retired Robin Fraser (22,836) ... if he plays into the 85th minute of Thursday night's match at FC Dallas, Heaps will leapfrog the recently-retired Chris Armas (23,027) into seventh-place all-time ... Heaps is New England's all-time leader in minutes played (17,199), games played (193) and games started (188).

RESERVES UPDATE

The Revolution reserves are currently 0-2-1 (1 pts.) following their first three games of the Reserve Division schedule ... the team opened with a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Fire reserves on April 4 at the Toyota Park Practice Field before earning a 2-2 draw with the Kansas City Wizards reserves on April 10 at the Swope Park Training Center ... most recently, the reserves fell, 1-0, to New York at Giants Stadium on April 20 ... Argenis Fernandez has scored both of the reserves' goals, while Kheli Dube has recorded two assists.

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