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MLS New England Revolution

New England Revolution Update

October 6, 2008 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution will train in Foxborough three times this week before traveling to battle the Kansas City Wizards at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 11, at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.

NEW ENGLAND VS. KANSAS CITY SERIES INFORMATION

Kansas City leads the all-time series between the two teams, 15-11-7.

Saturday night's match is the second of three meetings between the Revs and Wizards this season, and the second and final one at CommunityAmerica Ballpark ... New England defeated Kansas City, 3-1, in just the third game of the season back on April 9 ... the season series will conclude in the regular-season finale at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 25.

New England is 6-7-3 all-time on the road against Kansas City, but the Revs have won in their last two trips to face the Wizards and are undefeated in Kansas City since April 15, 2006 (2-0-1) ... the Revolution is 5-8-4 against the Wizards at home, including a 1-5-4 mark at Gillette Stadium.

After going winless (0-3-4) against the Wizards for a seven-match stretch from August 2005 to May 2007, the Revs have won three straight games against Kansas City dating back to August 2007.

The Revs and Wizards split the first 12 meetings of the all-time series with six wins apiece, but New England has struggled against Kansas City since ... even with wins in each of the past three meetings, the Revs have still won just five of their last 22 matches with the Wizards (dating back to 2000).

For the first time since 1999, the Revs won the regular-season series last year, going 2-1-0 against Kansas City.

PLAYER NOTES VS. KANSAS CITY

Taylor Twellman leads the Revs with five career goals against Kansas City in 14 appearances.

Steve Ralston leads New England will 11 career assists against the Wizards, including six in 15 appearances with the Revs ... he has also scored three career goals against Kansas City, including two during his time with New England.

The Gambian duo of Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi each scored in the Revolution's 3-1 win against the Wizards at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on April 9 ... Mansally's goal was the first of his career, while he also notched his first career assist on Nyassi's goal ... however, both players will be unavailable for Saturday night's match while with the Gambia National Team.

Matt Reis is 5-4-5 in his Revolution career against Kansas City, posting a 1.21 goals against average and recording four shutouts.

LAST MEETING

New England 3, Kansas City 1

April 9, 2008 - CommunityAmerica Ballpark (Kansas City, Kan)

Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi each scored first-half goals to lead the Revs to a 3-1 victory in the teams' first-ever meeting at CommunityAmerica Ballpark ... the Revs took the lead through a Jack Jewsbury own goal in the 12th minute, but Jewsbury redeemed himself by converting a penalty kick in the 28th minute to level the score at 1-1 ... combination play between Mansally and Khano Smith set up Nyassi's game-winner in the 33rd minute before Mansally lashed home a loose ball seven minutes later to round out the scoring ... Matt Reis made eight saves to preserve the win.

NEWS & NOTES

REVOLUTION CLINCHES SEVENTH STRAIGHT PLAYOFF BERTH

The New England Revolution has become the third team to qualify for the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs with three games still remaining in the regular season ... the results from Week 28 of the Major League Soccer schedule, coupled with the remaining league matches and head-to-head tiebreaker scenarios, have secured the Revs' passage to the postseason for the seventh consecutive season, the longest active playoff appearance streak in MLS ... the Revolution has joined the Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo as the only teams which have qualified for the eight-team playoffs so far this year ... this marks the ninth overall season that the Revolution has qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs (1997, 2000, 2002-present).

BOSTON'S BEST IN POSTSEASON PERPETUITY

Boston is known as a sports-mad city with a rich history of championship success, and never more so than in recent years ... however, of Boston's five major professional sports teams - Revolution, Patriots, Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox - the Revs hold the longest current streak of playoff appearances ... having already qualified for their seventh-straight postseason, the Revs have topped the city's other pro outfits for recent postseason success ... the Revolution has been in the playoffs since 2002, while the Patriots have advanced to the postseason every year since 2003/04 (five straight years and counting) ... the Sox and Celtics won the World Series and NBA Championship, respectively, last year after not making the playoffs the previous season, while the Bruins qualified for the playoffs in 2007/08 after missing the postseason for three straight years.

REVS MAINTAIN SECOND SPOT IN EAST

With the club's 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, the Revolution maintained its one-point lead over third-place Chicago in the Eastern Conference standings after the Fire also battled to a draw, 1-1, with the Kansas City Wizards on Sunday afternoon ... New England (12-8-7, 43 pts.) can no longer catch Columbus (16-6-5, 53 pts) for first place, but remains ahead of Chicago (12-9-6, 42 pts.) with just three games remaining in the regular season, while New York (9-10-8, 35 pts.) occupies a distant fourth ... the Revs are tied with Houston (11-5-10, 43 pts.) for second in the overall MLS standings, although the Dynamo has a game in hand.

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD

Two of the Revolution's remaining three regular-season games are against the Kansas City Wizards, beginning with Saturday night's match-up at CommunityAmerica Ballpark ... the clubs will meet again just two weeks later on Oct. 25 at Gillette Stadium in the regular-season finale ... the Revs and Wizards have already met once this season in Kansas City on April 9, with New England earning a 3-1 victory behind goals from Gambian teenagers Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi.

CHANGING FORTUNES IN THE LAND OF OZ

After winning just four times in their first 14 trips to Kansas City to face the Wizards, the Revs have now won back-to-back road games in K.C. dating back to last season ... New England earned a gutsy, 1-0 win over Kansas City in the teams' last-ever meeting at Arrowhead Stadium on Aug. 19, 2007, courtesy of a late Taylor Twellman goal ... earlier this season on April 9 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, goals from Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi helped lift the Revs to a 3-1 victory.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...

After hosting back-to-back league games at Gillette Stadium for just the second time this season, the Revs will now hit the road for two straight MLS matches for the first time since April ... the journey begins this weekend with a trip to Kansas City to face the Wizards at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday, Oct. 11 ... the Revolution will then briefly return to Foxborough before traveling to the nation's capital to battle bitter Eastern Conference rival D.C. United at RFK Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 16, in a match that will be televised nationally as part of ESPN2's MLS Primetime Thursday ... the pair of matches represent New England's final two road games of the 2008 regular season, as the club will close out its schedule against the Wizards at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 25.

... AND FEELING AS "AT HOME" THERE AS EVER

Perhaps it's the camaraderie of banding together in a harsh atmosphere, or maybe it's just those comfortable hotel beds, but whatever the reason, the Revs have been one of Major League Soccer's best road teams this season ... New England's 6-4-3 record away from home is tied with league-leading Columbus for the best road record in the league, while only two other teams - Chicago (6) and Chivas USA (4) - have managed more than three road wins ... the Revs are so comfortable away from Foxborough, in fact, that they are one of only two teams in MLS - along with Chicago - to have a better winning percentage on the road (.577) than at home (.571).

MANSALLY AND NYASSI CALLED UP TO GAMBIA NATIONAL TEAM

The teenage duo of Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi will miss this weekend's match at Kansas City after departing on Monday morning to join the Gambia National Team for a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal on Saturday, Oct. 11 ... the match will be played in Senegal at the Stade Leopold Senghor as part of Group F of African qualifying ... both players have been mainstays on the Gambia Under-20 National Team, while Mansally made his first two appearances with the senior national team in previous World Cup qualifiers in June ... the selection marks Nyassi's first call-up to the senior national team ... both Mansally and Nyassi are expected to rejoin the Revs ahead of the team's Oct. 16 match at D.C.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman each scored late goals to lift the Revs to a 2-2 draw with visiting Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, as the duo continue to battle for the Revolution's Budweiser Golden Boot, awarded to the player with the most goals at the end of the season ... Ralston edged ahead of Twellman by two goals with his 77th minute strike - his career-high eighth of the season - but Twellman pulled back within one of the team lead just two minutes later with his seventh tally of the campaign ... Twellman - who has missed a total of 14 MLS games this season with injuries - has been the Revolution's top scorer in five of his six seasons with the club, including each of the last three.

RALSTON RE-INVENTING HIMSELF

"Iron Man" Steve Ralston continued his MVP-worthy season with yet another crucial goal on Saturday night against Real Salt Lake, as the Revolution battled back from a two-goal deficit to earn a draw ... Ralston leads the second-place Revolution in both goals (8) and assists (7) with three games remaining in the regular season - a remarkable feat considering he's missed seven matches because of injury, including five after dislocating his shoulder in the season opener ... while New England's 34-year-old captain has always been known as an assist-man - he's led the league in assists three times and is the league's all-time leader in career assists - he has redefined himself this season as a goal scorer, notching a career-high eight goals in his 13th year in the league.

TWELLMAN BACK TO HIS SCORING WAYS

Taylor Twellman scored his seventh goal of the season on Saturday night against Real Salt Lake, placing him second on the Revs, just one behind team-leader Steve Ralston ... while it's not unusual to see the Revolution's all-time leading goal scorer near the top of the scoring charts, it's impressive considering how quickly he got there ... Twellman has missed a total of 14 regular-season games this season with various injuries, limiting the U.S. National Team forward to just 13 appearances (nine starts) ... prior to this season, the fewest regular-season appearances Twellman had made was 22 ... since making his first start of the season on Aug. 9 against Chicago, Twellman has recorded six goals and two assists in 10 appearances.

TWELLMAN'S QUEST FOR 100: TWO TO GO

With 98 career regular-season goals to his name, Taylor Twellman is just two goals shy of becoming the fifth player in Major League Soccer history - and the first in Revs' history - to score 100 goals ... Twellman is currently ranked fifth in MLS career goals, six behind fourth-place Jeff Cunningham (104), currently of FC Dallas, and 24 shy of D.C.'s Jaime Moreno (122), the league's all-time leading goal scorer ... the U.S. National Team member has scored his 98 goals in just 169 games, while all four players ahead of him on the charts have made at least 260 career appearances ... Twellman is on pace to become the league's youngest 100-goal scorer.

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