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Revolution Update: August 24th

August 24, 2009 - Major League Soccer (MLS) - New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Currently tied for third place in the Eastern Conference following a pair of wins in a four-day span, the New England Revolution (8-6-6, 30 pts.) looks to continue its climb up the standings when the club hosts the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Gillette Stadium. The Revs will train in Foxborough four times this week in preparation for the inter-conference showdown.

The Revolution will train on the Lower Practice Field at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with Tuesday's session reserved for only those players who did not start against Real Salt Lake last night. All four sessions are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., while a full schedule for the week is below.

Media wishing to attend any Revolution training session on the Gillette Stadium grounds must notify the Revolution Communications office (media@revolutionsoccer.net) by 5 p.m. the day before to RSVP and guarantee admittance. Media availability usually begins between 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. for 10 a.m. sessions, although the length of training sessions can and will vary.

All media who plan on attending Saturday's match against the San Jose Earthquakes must submit their requests to the Revolution Communications office (media@revolutionsoccer.net) by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27, to be considered.

SPECIAL NOTE: Because of the special events taking place at Gillette Stadium throughout the summer, Lot 6 is not currently open for media parking. All media visiting Gillette Stadium are asked to park in Lot 5C, adjacent to Lot 6.

Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION SCHEDULE: Aug. 24-30

Monday, Aug. 24 - OFF

Tuesday, Aug. 25 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m. - NON-STARTERS ONLY

Wednesday, Aug. 26 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Thursday, Aug. 27 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Friday, Aug. 28 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Saturday, Aug. 29 - vs. San Jose Earthquakes (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.), 7:30 p.m. ... TV: TV38 ... Radio: WEEI Radio Network

Sunday, Aug. 30 - OFF

NEW ENGLAND VS. SAN JOSE SERIES INFORMATION

* San Jose leads the all-time, regular-season series between the two clubs, 16-10-4, and has had remarkable success against the Revs in Foxborough ... the Revolution is just 5-9-1 at home against the Earthquakes, including 1-5-1 at Gillette Stadium since the facility opened in 2002. * The Revolution's home winning percentage against the Earthquakes stands at .367 (5-9-1), which is the club's lowest home winning percentage against any team ... the next closest competitor is the Kansas City Wizards, against whom the Revs are 5-9-5 at home (.395) ... the only other team against which the Revs have a losing record at home is the Columbus Crew (10-11-3, .479). * Saturday night's match will conclude the regular-season series between the Revs and Earthquakes ... the clubs opened the 2009 season against each other on March 21 at Buck Shaw Stadium, with the Revolution earning a 1-0 win behind the strength of Kheli Dube's 55th-minute goal. * The Revs' season-opening win against the Earthquakes was their first victory in the Bay Area since July 22, 2000. * With a win or a draw on Saturday night, the Revolution can win the regular-season series with San Jose for the first time since 2000 ... the Revs lost five straight season series with the Earthquakes from 2001-2005 before splitting the 2008 series upon San Jose's return to the league. * Last year's season series was the first between the Revolution and Earthquakes since 2005 ... at the close of the 2005 season, the Earthquakes' operations were suspended and all the players and coaches were moved to Houston to play as the expansion Dynamo ... the San Jose club retained its name and historical records and when the team was re-introduced to the league at the All-Star break in 2007, the Earthquakes were "revived" and are considered to have been on hiatus from 2005-08. * New England is 2-1-0 against San Jose since the club returned to the league last season ... the clubs split a pair of meetings in 2008, with each team winning on its home ground.

PLAYER NOTES VS. SAN JOSE

* Only two current Revs have scored goals against San Jose while playing for the Revolution: Taylor Twellman (three goals in 10 appearances) and Kheli Dube (two goals in two appearances) ... Twellman is the only player to score for the Revolution against the Earthquakes during their first stint in the league, although he is currently on the disabled list. * Kheli Dube is the only Revolution player to score against San Jose since the club re-entered the league last season, striking twice ... Dube's first career goal in his first career start was the game-winner in the Revs' 2-0 victory over San Jose on May 17, 2008, while the other goal in that match was an own goal ... the Zimbabwean then scored the only goal of the game in the Revolution's season-opening, 1-0 win at Buck Shaw Stadium on March 21. * Matt Reis is 2-3-2 in his Revolution career against San Jose with a 1.21 goals against average and two shutouts ... both of Reis' wins and clean sheets against the Earthquakes have been recorded since the club re-entered the league last season.

LAST MEETING New England 1, San Jose 0 March 21, 2009 - Buck Shaw Stadium (Santa Clara, Calif.) Kheli Dube scored the only goal of the game in the 55th minute and goalkeeper Matt Reis made four saves to earn his 49th career shutout, as the Revs earned a 1-0 win in the 2009 season opener ... the victory was New England's first in the Bay Area since July 22, 2000, ending a six-game winless run ... the Revs goal came on the counterattack, Jeff Larentowicz driving a diagonal pass over the Earthquakes backline and into the box, where Dube volleyed his effort inside the near post ... San Jose's best chance to equalize came in the 86th minute, but former Earthquakes' forward Pablo Campos' close-range header flew wide.

NEWS & NOTES

WITH 10 GAMES REMAINING, REVS OFFICIALLY HIT THE STRETCH RUN

Last night's 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake was the Revolution's 20th game of the 2009 regular-season, meaning that the Revs now have exactly 10 games remaining on their schedule as they make a push for their eighth consecutive postseason appearance ... with back-to-back wins over Seattle Sounders FC and RSL, New England (8-6-6, 30 pts.) has climbed into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference standings with Toronto FC (8-8-6, 30 pts.), while the Revs are eight points back of second-place Chicago (10-5-8, 38 pts.) and nine points behind conference-leading Columbus (10-3-9, 39 pts.) ... the Revolution's position is enhanced by multiple games in hand, however, as the club has played two fewer games than TFC and Columbus and three fewer than Chicago ... with the top two teams in each conference earning automatic playoff berths, the Revs still have both the Fire and Crew in their sights.

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS WATCH: REVOLUTION CURRENTLY TIED FOR FINAL POSTSEASON BERTH

With a pair of wins over Seattle Sounders FC and Real Salt Lake last week, the Revs increased their point total from 24 to 30 and vaulted into a tie for Major League Soccer's final playoff spot ... New England (8-6-6, 30 pts.), Toronto (8-8-6, 30 pts.) and Colorado (8-7-6, 30 pts.) are all currently tied with the seventh-best point-total in the league, but the Revs have two games in hand on TFC and one on Colorado ... head-to-head results - which serve as the first tiebreaker in determining postseason berths - could become crucial ... Toronto holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Revs with a win and a draw this season, while New England played to a draw with Colorado earlier this year and will travel to face the Rapids on Oct. 3.

REVS CONTINUE THREE-GAME HOME STAND AGAINST EARTHQUAKES

The Revolution made a perfect start to its current three-game home stand with a 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake last night, and the stretch will continue when the San Jose Earthquakes visit Gillette Stadium on Saturday night ... following the Earthquakes' game, the Revs will close out their home stand with a match against the Kansas City Wizards the following Saturday (Sept. 5) ... this is the only time this season that the Revolution will play three consecutive regular-season home games, while it's the first time the club has been home for such a stretch since hosting Kansas City (Aug. 2), D.C. (Aug. 5) and LA (Aug. 12) in consecutive games in 2007 ... New England will finish the season by playing five of eight games on the road.

EARTHQUAKES DO DAMAGE IN FOXBOROUGH

The Revolution has been strong at home this season, going 5-2-3 at Gillette Stadium in the regular season and 7-3-4 in all competitions ... that record will be tested when the San Jose Earthquakes come into town on Saturday night, as the Revs have historically struggled at home against the Quakes more than any other team ... New England's home winning percentage of .367 (5-9-1) against San Jose is the club's lowest home winning percentage against any team, while Kansas City (5-9-5, .395) and Columbus (10-11-3, .479) are the only other two teams against which the Revs have a losing record at home ... of course, all of the Earthquakes' damage in Foxborough was done prior to the end of the 2005 season, when the players and staff were moved to Houston to become the expansion Dynamo.

SINCE YOU'VE BEEN BACK

Saturday night's match against the San Jose Earthquakes will be the Revolution's fourth-meeting with the Quakes since the club re-entered the league at the beginning of last season ... since San Jose's return, the Revs are 2-1-0 against their Western Conference foe despite being outscored, 4-3 ... the clubs have only met once at Gillette Stadium since the Earthquakes were reintroduced to MLS, with the Revs earning a 2-0 win on May 17, 2008 ... New England and San Jose opened the 2009 season against each other on March 21, with the Revs earning a 1-0 win behind the strength of Kheli Dube's 55th-minute goal.

THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WIN

After scoring just four first-half goals in the first 18 games of the season, the Revolution has almost doubled that total with three first-half goals in its last two games, both victories ... Shalrie Joseph scored in the 21st minute of the Revs' 1-0 win over Seattle last Thursday night, while Kheli Dube struck in the ninth and 29th minutes in last night's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake ... the goals marked just the seventh and eighth times this season that the Revolution scored the game's opening goal, and the club is 6-1-1 when doing so ... additionally, it was just the second and third times this season that the Revs have held halftime leads, and they are now 3-0-0 in that situation ... incredibly, New England has still scored 17 of its 24 goals (71 percent) in the second half.

DUBE, DUBE, DUBE: SECOND-YEAR FORWARD HITS FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK

Historically a streaky goal-scorer, Kheli Dube took that attribute to the extreme last night against Real Salt Lake, scoring all three goals in the Revolution's 3-1 win ... Dube found the back of the net in the ninth, 29th and 66th minutes to power the Revs' offense ... not only was it the first hat trick of the second-year forward's brief career, but it was also the first multiple-goal game of his career ... Dube entered the game with seven career goals in 36 regular-season appearances (25 starts), but quickly bumped his career total to 10 with three rapid-fire strikes ... the hat trick was the eighth in Revolution history and the first since Taylor Twellman scored all three goals in a 3-1 win over the Columbus Crew on Sept. 10, 2005 ... with his three goals last night, Dube doubled his goal total on the season to six, lifting him into a tie for the team lead with Shalrie Joseph and Steve Ralston.

MAN OF THE MOMENT: DUBE HAS A HISTORY OF SUCCESS AGAINST SAN JOSE

If there's any team against which Kheli Dube could be expected to continue his hot streak, it's the San Jose Earthquakes ... in two previous appearances against San Jose, Dube has scored two goals, including his first professional goal in his first career start in the Revolution's 2-0 win over the Earthquakes on May 17, 2008 ... Dube's other goal against the Quakes came earlier this season, as the second-year forward scored the only goal of the game in the Revolution's 1-0 win in the season opener at Buck Shaw Stadium on March 21 ... remarkably, Dube is the only Revolution player to score against the Earthquakes since they re-entered the league last season, as the other goal in New England's 2-0 victory last May was an own goal by former Revs defender James Riley.

NICOL RETURNS FROM SUSPENSION, EARNS 95th CAREER WIN

Head coach Steve Nicol returned to the Revolution's bench for last night's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake after completing his two-game suspension for conduct that led to his dismissal from the Revolution's game against Toronto FC on Aug. 1 ... Nicol now has 95 career victories and is third all-time on MLS's career wins list behind only Bob Bradley (124) and Sigi Schmid (121) ... now in the midst of his eighth season in charge of the Revolution, the Scot is the longest-tenured head coach in Major League Soccer ... a Liverpool legend from his playing days, Nicol has been remarkably successful during his stint at the Revolution's helm, winning four Eastern Conference championships and appearing in six Eastern Conference Finals in his first seven years of service ... needing five more wins to become the third coach in MLS history to record 100 career victories, Nicol has 10 games remaining in the regular season.

CASTRO MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT IN FIRST START OF 2009

After establishing himself as a full-time starter last season - his first in Major League Soccer - with 24 appearances (22 starts), Mauricio Castro missed the first 14 games of the 2009 campaign with a series of left hamstring strains ... fully recovered, Castro made his 2009 debut as a second-half substitute last Thursday night in Seattle before making his first start of the season last night against Real Salt Lake ... the Honduran's impact was immediate, forcing a sprawling save out of RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the seventh minute before assisting on Kheli Dube's opening goal two minutes later ... Castro played 81 minutes at left midfield before being replaced by Kenny Mansally.

AMERICAN AIRLINES, REVOLUTION KICK OFF NEW PARTNERSHIP

American Airlines has announced a three-year, integrated, marketing partnership with the New England Patriots of the National Football League and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer ... the agreement establishes American as the Official Airline and the Official Sponsor of both teams and of Gillette Stadium ... American will activate this sponsorship through the teams' media properties, including TV and radio programming, out-of-home advertising, and in-stadium signage along with their online assets, which include Patriots.com and Revolutionsoccer.net ... the airline will also conduct day-of-game promotions and work with the teams on community outreach.


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