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MLS New England Revolution

New England Revolution Update: July 23-29

July 23, 2007 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Eastern Conference-leading New England Revolution hits the road this weekend to face Real Salt Lake in the only MLS contest on Saturday this week. The teams will kickoff at 9:30 p.m. ET and the game will be shown live nationally exclusively on Fox Soccer Channel from Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

The Revs will conduct two training sessions this week - Wednesday and Thursday - to prepare for Saturday's game. The team's training sessions have moved to the team's secondary training facility at Payson Park Field in Foxborough, Mass., and both sessions are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Any member of the media who wishes to attend a training session Stadium must RSVP to the Revs' Communications office by the close of business the day prior.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION SCHEDULE: JULY 23-29*

Monday, July 23 - OFF

Tuesday, July 24 - OFF

Wednesday, July 25 - Training at Payson Park Field (Foxborough, Mass.), 10 a.m.

Thursday, July 26 - Training at Payson Park Field (Foxborough, Mass.), 10 a.m.

Friday, July 27 - Travel

Saturday, July 28 - at Real Salt Lake (Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah), 9:30 p.m. ET (TV: Fox Soccer Channel; Radio: WEEI Radio Network)

Sunday, July 29 - Revs Reserves at RSL Reserves (Trailside Park, Park City, Utah), 10 a.m. MT/12 p.m. ET; Travel *subject to change

DIRECTIONS TO PAYSON PARK FIELD

From the North: Route 1 South to North St. (intersection before Gillette Stadium) ... take a left on North St. ... follow North Street for 1.4 miles until fork in the road ... go left at the fork ... the entrance to the field is 0.2 miles down on the left, after the football field.

From the South: Route 1 North to North St. (intersection after Gillette Stadium) ... take a right on North St. ... follow North Street for 1.4 miles until fork in the road ... go left at the fork ... the entrance to the field is 0.2 miles down on the left, after the football field.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (7-3-6, 27 pts.) vs. REAL SALT LAKE (1-8-6, 9 pts.)

NEW ENGLAND VS. SALT LAKE SERIES INFORMATION

- The Revolution leads the overall series with Real Salt Lake, 2-1-2 - After winning the first two games in the series against Real Salt Lake, the Revs are winless against RSL in the last three meetings

- Two of the five meetings have been 0-0 draws, including the last meeting between the teams - on June 2, 2007 at Gillette Stadium

- The Revs are undefeated in games played in the altitude of Salt Lake City, earning a 1-0-1 record at Rice-Eccles Stadium ... New England is 1-1-1 against RSL at home, all at Gillette Stadium.

- Real Salt Lake's victory at Gillette Stadium on July 14, 2006 was its first against New England since joining the league

REVOLUTION PLAYER NOTES VS. SALT LAKE

- Khano Smith and Taylor Twellman are tied for career goals (2) against RSL

- Two of Khano Smith's three goals in his 2005 rookie campaign came against Salt Lake ... he scored New England's fourth goal in a 4-1 victory in the first-ever meeting on Aug. 10 before netting the game-winning strike in the 1-0 win at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Sept. 3

- Jay Heaps has two assists against Real Salt Lake, the most among Revs players

- Matt Reis boasts an 0.80 goals against average against RSL to go with his 2-1-2 record, which also includes three shutouts

LAST MEETING: June 2, 2007 - Foxborough, Mass. (Gillette Stadium) New England Revolution 0, Real Salt Lake 0 The New England Revolution and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 draw on Saturday, June 2, at Gillette Stadium. Despite out-shooting RSL 23-8 - including a 14-2 advantage in shots on goal - and playing up a man for the final eight minutes of the game, the Revs were unable to put a shot past Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando - who made 13 saves - and settled for their third tie of the season. The Revs dominated the game in possession, and in the first half had several chances in the final third but couldn't get anyone on the end of several dangerous crosses. Taylor Twellman had a prime chance in the ninth minute when his header hit the crossbar after beating Rimando. Although the Revolution controlled the tempo early, RSL had a pair of chances when Freddy Adu found space in the 30th and 34th minutes but was wide of target in both occurrences. In the second half, the Revs' defense held RSL to just one shot while the attack peppered Rimando with 15 shots, including nine on target. In the final eight minutes of the game when they were playing against the 10-man RSL squad, New England had four shots on goal all turned away by Rimando

NEWS & NOTES

SITTING PRETTY AT THE TOP

The Revolution maintained their top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 3-3 draw against Western Conference leader Houston Dynamo on Sunday ... the Revs are tied in first place with the New York Red Bulls as both teams have 27 points, but New England has a game in hand on the Red Bulls, having played 16 games to New York's 17.

TIGHTENING EASTERN CONFERENCE

There continues to be little separation among the top teams in the Eastern Conference ... a total of three points separates the top five teams in the conference ... the Revs and New York Red Bulls sit atop the standings with 27 points apiece, while third-place Kansas City has 26 points ... Columbus leapfrogged D.C. United into fourth place with 25 points, while United slipped one spot to fifth with 25 points as the only top Eastern team to not earn at least a point this weekend.

SHORT LEAGUE SLATE THIS WEEK

Only four games are scheduled in MLS this week, and the Revolution-Real Salt Lake game is the only match on Saturday ... Chivas USA visits New York on Thursday on ESPN2, while Chicago and Toronto meet at 3 p.m. on Sunday, followed by Chivas USA at Kansas City at 7 p.m.

BUSY STRETCH

The Revolution has now entered into its toughest and busiest stretch of the season, as the team will play eight games in five weeks ... beginning on this weekend, the Revs will play seven MLS games and a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match before enjoying a bye week in their schedule during Labor Day weekend ... the Revs kick off in Salt Lake City on June 28, and return home to play Kansas City on ESPN2's MLS Primetime Thursday on Aug. 2 ... three days later, the team hosts D.C. United on Sunday, Aug. 5, and then the Harrisburg City Islanders in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday, Aug. 8 ... with another three day break, the Revs welcome David Beckham and the new-look L.A. Galaxy to Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 12, before hitting the road for a six-day road trip with games at Colorado (Thursday, Aug. 16 on ESPN2's MLS Primetime Thursday again) and Kansas City (Sunday, Aug. 19) ... the team wraps up the stretch with a home game against New York on Aug. 25.

"BECKHAM GAME" PLAYER ESCORTS UP FOR AUCTION

On Monday, July 23, the New England Revolution Charitable Foundation launched 11 online charitable auctions at eBay (www.ebay.com) where fans can place bids for the opportunity to walk onto field hand-in-hand with New England and Los Angeles' starting lineups - including international icon David Beckham - as player escorts prior to the national anthem and team introductions on Sunday, Aug. 12, at Gillette Stadium ... auctions can be accessed by typing in keywords "Revolution Player Escorts" at the eBay homepage ... player escorts must be ages 5-14 ... 100 percent of proceeds from the auctions will go to the New England Revolution Charitable Foundation, the not-for-profit charitable arm of the Revolution.

TORRID SCORING

The Revs sit atop MLS' leaders in team scoring average, netting 1.81 goals per game this season ... the team has scored 29 goals in 16 games ... last season, the Revs scored 39 goals in 32 games, for a 1.22 goals per game mark ... New England leads MLS in three-goal games this season with seven, two more than Houston, Kansas City and New York which are all tied for second with five three-goal games ... in total, the Revs have posted eight multiple-goal games - exactly half of their games this season.

TWELLMAN'S TOUCH

Taylor Twellman scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season on Sunday, pushing his year-to-date mark to eight goals ... he is currently fourth in MLS this season in scoring, even though he missed three games while away on U.S. National Team duty ... with his goal against Houston this past weekend, Twellman also moved into sole possession of sixth place on the MLS career scoring chart (83 goals), and is now just five goals back of fifth place (Roy Lassiter, 88 goals).

ROAD WARRIORS

The road has also become a second home ... the Revs have MLS' best road record at the halfway point of the season, registering a 4-2-2 mark away from home for a .625 winning percentage ... New England played six of its first eight games on the road, going 3-1-2 in that stretch to explode out of the gates this season.

RESERVES BACK IN ACTION

Coming off a 1-0 victory over the Houston reserves on Sunday night, the Revolution reserves will play their eighth game of the season on Sunday, June 29, when they face the Real Salt Lake Reserves in Park City, Utah ... the Revs are 5-2-0 (15 pts.) this season, and are among the top reserve teams in the league.

REVS ADVANCE TO OPEN CUP QUARTERS

After earning a 4-2 victory over the Rochester Rhinos (USL-1) on Tuesday evening, the Revs have moved on to the quarterfinals of the 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup ... the Revs will host the Harrisburg City Islanders at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 8, at 7:30 p.m. ... the Revs' quarterfinal appearance is the team's second in as many seasons and fourth overall ... Harrisburg plays in the United Soccer Leagues Second Division, and is one of two USL-2 clubs still remaining in the Open Cup bracket.

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