MLS New England Revolution

New England Revolution Update: August 31st

Published on August 31, 2009 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Alone in third place in the Eastern Conference and riding its first three-game winning streak of the 2009 season while boasting a 5-1-1 mark in its last seven, the New England Revolution (9-6-6, 30 pts.) will conclude a three-game home stand when the club hosts the Kansas City Wizards at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Gillette Stadium.

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 Kansas City Wizards must submit their requests to the Revolution Communications office (media@revolutionsoccer.net) by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3, 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. 31-Sept. 6

Monday, Aug. 31 - OFF

Tuesday, Sept. 1 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 2 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Thursday, Sept. 3 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Friday, Sept. 4 - Training on Lower Practice Field (Gillette Stadium), 10 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 5 - vs. Kansas City Wizards (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.), 7:30 p.m. ... TV: TV38 ... Radio: WEEI Radio Network

Sunday, Sept. 6 - OFF

NEW ENGLAND VS. KANSAS CITY SERIES INFORMATION

* Kansas City leads the all-time, regular-season series between the two teams, 18-11-8 ... the Revs and Wizards have met outside of league action just once, playing to a 1-1 draw in SuperLiga 2009 on June 24, 2009. * Saturday night's match will conclude the three-game, regular-season series between the Revs and Wizards and will be the fourth overall meeting between the clubs in 2009 ... Kansas City earned a 3-1 win in league action on June 13 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, while the other two meetings - both at Gillette Stadium - ended in draws: 1-1 in a SuperLiga 2009 group match on June 24, and 0-0 in a regular-season showdown on July 11. * Kansas City is the only team the Revolution will play as many as four times prior to the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2009 ... the Revs will play both the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire three times in all competitions this season, while they'll play every other team twice. * The Revs are just 5-9-5 at home against the Wizards, including 1-6-5 at Gillette Stadium since the facility opened in 2002 ... Kansas City is one of just three teams against which the Revolution has a losing record at home, along with the San Jose Earthquakes and Columbus Crew. * New England's only win against Kansas City at Gillette Stadium occurred on Aug. 2, 2007, when the Revs earned a 2-0 victory. * The Revs are 0-3-1 in their last four regular-season meetings with the Wizards ... prior to this stretch, New England had won three straight games against Kansas City from Aug. 2, 2007 to April 9, 2008. * There has been at least one red card issued in each of the last four meetings between the Revs and Wizards in all competitions ... New England has had four players ejected in that stretch, while Kansas City has had one. * The Revs won six of their first 11 meetings with the Wizards in the all-time, regular-season series, but New England has struggled against Kansas City since ... the Revolution is 5-13-8 in its last 26 regular-season meetings with the Wizards dating back to 2000.

PLAYER NOTES VS. KANSAS CITY

* Taylor Twellman leads the Revs with five career goals against Kansas City in 16 appearances, while he's also added three assists ... Twellman will not be available for Saturday night's game, however, as he is currently on the disabled list. * Steve Ralston leads New England with 12 career assists against the Wizards, including seven in 18 appearances with the Revs ... Ralston's most recent assist against Kansas City was on Shalrie Joseph's goal in the 3-1 loss on June 13. * Although he hasn't scored against the Wizards in the regular season, Kheli Dube did score the Revs' lone goal in the 1-1 draw in SuperLiga group-round action on June 24. * Matt Reis is 5-7-6 in his Revolution career against Kansas City, posting a 1.33 goals against average and five shutouts ... he made a career-high 11 saves in the most recent meeting with the Wizards on July 11.

LAST MEETING New England 0, Kansas City 0 July 11, 2009 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.) Behind the stellar effort of goalkeeper Matt Reis - who made a career-high 11 saves to record his 51st career shutout - the Revs battled the Wizards to a 0-0 draw in the first game of a tripleheader at Gillette Stadium ... New England's best chance to score came one minute in when Kenny Mansally's close-range blast was smothered by Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman ... Reis made his two biggest saves on back-to-back efforts from Jack Jewsbury in the 64th minute, first pushing away a powerful header before stopping a sliding shot seconds later ... Kansas City was reduced to 10 men when Lance Watson was red-carded in the 81st minute.

NEWS & NOTES

REVOLUTION SET TO CONCLUDE THREE-GAME HOME STAND

The Revs aim to make it a clean sweep of their critical three-game home stand when they host the Eastern Conference rival Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium ... with back-to-back home wins over Real Salt Lake (3-1 on Aug. 23) and the San Jose Earthquakes (2-1 on Aug. 29) the past two weekends, it has already been a successful home stand, but New England can put an emphatic cap on the three-game stretch with yet another victory over the Wizards ... this is the Revolution's only three-game home stand of the 2009 season and the club will close its regular-season schedule by playing five of its last eight games on the road, including a season-ending trip to defending MLS Cup champion and current division leader, Columbus.

NINE DAYS, NINE POINTS

With nine points during a nine-day stretch from Aug. 20-29, the Revs have proven just how quickly fortunes can change in professional sports ... entering the club's Aug. 20 showdown with Seattle Sounders FC, the Revolution was 6-6-6 (24 pts.) and was stuck in sixth place in the Eastern Conference ... with three straight wins over Seattle, Salt Lake and San Jose, however, the Revs have soared to third place in the East with a record of 9-6-6 (33 pts.) ... this is New England's first three-game winning streak since May 11-24, 2008, while the Revolution hasn't won four straight since a club-record six-game winning streak from April 9 - May 14, 2005 ... in their 14-year history, the Revs have only had five winning streaks of four games or more.

REVS CLIMB INTO THIRD IN EAST, TIGHTEN PLAYOFF CHASE

Last weekend's 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes - combined with Toronto FC's draw with Seattle - lifted the Revs into sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference and bolstered their push for a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs ... entering this week's action, the Revolution (9-6-6, 33 pts.) is locked in a four-way tie for the sixth-best record in the league with the Colorado Rapids (9-7-6, 33 pts.), Real Salt Lake (9-9-6, 33 pts.) and Chivas USA (10-9-3, 33 pts.) ... New England holds an advantage over its rivals, however, as the Revs have one game in hand on both Colorado and Chivas USA, and three games in hand on Real Salt Lake ... the Revolution will play crucial road games against both Chivas USA (Sept. 13) and Colorado (Oct. 3) in the coming weeks.

RISING REVOLUTION GAINS GROUND ON EASTERN CONFERENCE LEADERS

While the Revs are currently locked in a battle for playoff positioning with the teams immediately around them in the standings, they won't want to take their eyes off Eastern Conference leaders Columbus and Chicago, which are suddenly within striking distance ... as the Revolution (9-6-6, 33 pts.) picked up its third straight win this past weekend, both Columbus (10-4-9, 39 pts.) and Chicago (10-6-8, 38 pts.) both fell to defeat ... the Revs are now six points back of the first-place Crew with two games in hand, while they're just five points behind the Fire with three games in hand ... the battle for the Eastern Conference crown could come down to the wire, as the Revolution plays Columbus twice and Chicago once in the final three games of the regular season.

REVS HAVE BEEN LEAGUE'S BEST SINCE MID-JULY

Entering their July 19 matchup with Chivas USA, the Revs were below .500 and hadn't won a league match in more than one month ... a 2-0 win in that game began a transformation for the Revolution, which is 5-1-1 in its last seven games and is currently riding a season-high three-game winning streak ... New England's 5-1-1 mark since mid-July represents the best record in Major League Soccer during that time span, tied with the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew, which is also 5-1-1 ... in comparison, Saturday night's opponent, the Kansas City Wizards, are 0-5-2 in their last seven games.

REVS AND WIZARDS CONNECT FOUR

It will be a case of déjà vu on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, where the New England Revolution and Kansas City Wizards will square off for the fourth time this season ... if it seems like the Revs have played the Wizards more than any other team in 2009, it's because they have: Kansas City is the only club against which New England will play as many as four times prior to the MLS Cup Playoffs ... the Wizards are one of just two teams - along with the New York Red Bulls - which the Revs will play three times in the regular season, while the clubs also met in the group stage of SuperLiga 2009 on June 24 ... the Revolution and Wizards haven't met four times in a season since 2006, when all inter-conference opponents played four games.

SEEING RED

One of the byproducts of playing the same team frequently throughout the course of a season is increased intensity, and the New England-Kansas City series has seen its fair share of passion in 2009 ... at least one red card has been issued in each of the last four meetings between the Revs and Wizards in all competitions ... the Revolution has seen four red cards in that stretch, while the Wizards have been shown one ... New England had both Khano Smith and Gabriel Badilla ejected from its' 3-1 loss to Kansas City in last year's regular-season finale on Oct. 25, 2008, while Emmanuel Osei saw red in another 3-1 loss on June 13, 2009 ... additionally, rookie midfielder Mike Videira was red-carded in a 1-1 draw in SuperLiga 2009 on June 24, 2009 ... Kansas City's only red card during that stretch came in the most recent meeting, a 0-0 draw on July 11, 2009, when Lance Watson was ejected ... all four of the Revolution's red cards have been issued in the first half, while the Wizards' lone ejection was issued in the 81st minute.

REVOLUTION AIMS TO END WIZARDS HEX

While the current Eastern Conference standings may show the Revolution (9-6-6, 33 pts.) comfortably ahead of the Wizards (5-10-6, 21 pts.), it's Kansas City which holds the historical edge heading into Saturday night's showdown ... the Revs haven't beaten the Wizards since a 3-1 win at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on April 9, 2008, going 0-3-1 in their last four regular-season meetings with Kansas City, including 0-1-1 this season ... having Saturday night's game at home won't necessarily help either, as New England is 5-9-5 against Kansas City in Foxborough, including 1-6-5 at Gillette Stadium since the facility opened in 2002 ... overall, the Revs are just 5-13-8 in their last 26 regular-season meetings with the Wizards dating back to 2000.

THOMPSON'S SECOND CAREER GOAL IS A GAME-WINNER

Third-year midfielder Wells Thompson scored just his second career goal last weekend, the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes ... Thompson hadn't scored a regular-season goal since his rookie year, in a 3-1 win over the Chicago Fire on May 6, 2007 ... the 74th-minute strike against San Jose was a highlight-reel goal, as the Wake Forest product eluded his marker on the right wing before cutting inside and curling a left-footed blast into the far upper corner.

REVS NAME EDMONDS DIRECTOR OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

The Revolution announced on Aug. 26 that the club has hired Karl Edmonds as its new Director of Youth Development ... Edmonds is one of the most established coaches and talent evaluators in New England youth soccer, having spent the last 12 years as the Director of Soccer and Player Development for Seacoast United Soccer Club, a perennial power on both the regional and national scenes based in Hampton, N.H. ... he will take control of both the Revolution's Under-16 and Under-18 teams, which recently completed their first seasons in U.S. Soccer's Development Academy ... Edmonds will also oversee the youth development program and will work with the Revolution's technical staff to create and implement the youth teams' coaching curriculum and training systems.

REVOLUTION RELEASES 15TH ANNIVERSARY LOGO

The Revolution has released its 15th anniversary logo, which the team will use as a secondary mark throughout the 2010 season ... the shield's outside perimeter has an industrial metallic appearance, including rivets and bolts around the edge ... the Revolution's traditional flag logo is centered between the years "1996" and "2010" on the horizontal bar at the top of the crest ... inside the shield, "15 Seasons" is written in large white lettering with grey accents, while red and white stripes of the American flag are furled diagonally across the bottom of the shield ... for more information and to see an image of the logo, visit revolutionsoccer.net.

REVS TO COLLECT SOCCER EQUIPMENT FOR PASSBACK THIS SATURDAY, SEPT. 5

Because of the inclement weather conditions this past weekend, the Revolution has moved its Passback collection to this Saturday, Sept. 5, prior to the Revolution-Wizards game ... the Revs will be collecting all types of new or gently-used soccer equipment, including uniforms, shin guards, balls, cleats, socks, water bottles and goalie gloves ... donations will be accepted between 6:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, with collection locations available at the Bank of America (northwest corner) and Patriot Place (north end) gates ... a Boston-based soccer support group, Soccer1, will receive the items collected on Saturday, and distribute them to organizations in the greater Boston area.

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