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MLS New England Revolution

Preview: Second-Place Revs Begin Regular Season's Final Month against Crew

October 3, 2014 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Playoff implications abound on Saturday night when the New England Revolution begins the final month of the 2014 regular season by hosting the Columbus Crew.

Just two points separate the second-place Revs (14-13-3, 45 pts.) from the fourth-place Crew (11-9-10, 43 pts.) in the crowded Eastern Conference standings, making this weekend's matchup a classic six-point showdown as the regular season winds to a close.

Comcast SportsNet will cover the action from Gillette Stadium beginning at 7:30 p.m., while Revs Postgame Live will follow immediately after the final whistle. The radio call will be available on 98.5 The Sports Hub HD2 for the entirety of the match, while 98.5 The Sports Hub will join the action in progress.

Current Form: Bounce-back performance sees Revs up to second; Crew 7-2-2 since mid-July

After having their five-game winning streak snapped two weekends ago in Columbus, the Revs responded in fine fashion last Friday night at Sporting Park, taking down defending champion Sporting Kansas City, 3-2, to leapfrog SKC into second place in the East.

The Revs showed their resolve on a rollercoaster night in Kansas City, squandering a two-goal halftime lead in the span of just 90 seconds only to respond themselves with a late winner through Jermaine Jones.

"I'm really happy with the response because it's really difficult when you give up two goals within a minute-and-a-half," said head coach Jay Heaps. "We were grinding out a result, and I was really happy with that. But in the end, we go up 2-0 on the road, we've got to be a little bit better at closing the game out."

Columbus, meanwhile, continued to roll along last weekend, winning a fifth straight home game with a comfortable 2-0 triumph over the already-eliminated Montreal Impact. The Crew went unbeaten in September (3-0-1) and is now 7-2-2 since mid-July, following up a 1-7-8 stretch through April, May and June.

Past Meetings: Revs aim to avoid season sweep after dropping first two meetings with Crew

One week after the Revs swept their three-game season series with Sporting KC, they'll be hoping to avoid that fate themselves against the Crew, which has won the first two meetings between these sides this season.

Columbus' first win in the series was coincidentally the Revolution's last home loss, as Ethan Finlay's late goal lifted the Crew to a 2-1 win in Foxborough back on July 26. More recently, Federico Higuain's second-half free kick was enough to send Columbus to a 1-0 win at Crew Stadium just two weeks ago.

In fact, all four of Higuain's career free-kick goals in MLS have come against the Revs. As such, New England will set out to avoid fouling around the box in an effort to correct some of the errors from their recent meeting.

"We made a couple mistakes and I think we didn't play the way we should've played against them," said Charlie Davies, whose potential late equalizer was spectacularly saved by Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark. "I think you'll see a whole different Revolution come Saturday against the Columbus Crew."

Injury Report: Soares back in the mix after rare absence; Dorman upgraded to questionable

Stalwart center back A.J. Soares returned to full training this week and has been removed from the injury report after missing last weekend's trip to Kansas City - just the second game he missed all season and the first because of injury.

There is good news, as well, for central midfielder Andy Dorman, who's missed the past 13 games since suffering a knee sprain back in mid-July. After steady progress, Dorman has returned to full training and was upgraded to "questionable" on the Revolution's most recent injury report.

Columbus could have available some added defensive reinforcements on Saturday in the form of center back Emanuel Pogatetz and versatile defender Josh Williams. Pogatetz, the former Austrian captain who joined the Crew in early September, saw his first game action in a midweek scrimmage, while Williams also made his long-awaited return in that game after recovering from surgery to remove a rib back in June.

Final Thoughts: Revs ready for rematch after "leaving points on the table" in Columbus

"I think we have to challenge ourselves because the last game (against Columbus) wasn't good enough," said Heaps. "Against them two weeks ago, I thought that we left something on the table.

"Besides leaving points on the table, I thought our guys didn't play as well as they can. Maybe we didn't prepare the guys well enough. Going into this game, we have to be spot on from the staff down to each player."

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