FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For the road-weary New England Revolution, it’s good to be home.
Between a pair of lengthy preseason trips to Arizona and last weekend’s season opener in Houston, the Revs spent 31 days on the road during a 41-day stretch between late January and early March.
That, along with the fact that it’s been more than four months since the Revs last played in front of the Foxborough faithful, has everyone eager for Saturday afternoon’s home opener against D.C. United.
“[Gillette Stadium’s] going to be a huge fortress for us,” said Teal Bunbury, now in his third year with the Revolution. “In the past couple of years it’s been amazing being able to play at home, and I know the fans are going to be with us 100 percent come our home opener on the weekend.”
Under head coach Jay Heaps the Revs have, indeed, made Gillette Stadium a fortress. Upon taking the reins prior to the 2012 season Heaps set out to make Foxborough one of the most difficult road trips in Major League Soccer, and he’s followed through on that objective.
The Revs lost just two games at home last year – tied for fewest home losses in the league with FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City and the LA Galaxy – and their overall home record of 20-6-8 during the past two seasons is one of the best in MLS.
“It’s all about getting in the right mindset and continuing what we’ve done in the past, and making this a very difficult place to play,” said Heaps, who’s led the Revolution to 37 victories in Foxborough in four years. “That’s the mentality of the group to say, ‘When you come into our house, we’re not going to give you anything. It’s going to be a fight until the end.’ That’s what we need to do.”
Despite their recent success in Foxborough the Revs’ aim is to be even better at home this year. While they only lost two home games last year they drew six, and had they turned a few of those draws into wins, they would’ve found themselves near the top of the Eastern Conference.
One of those draws at Gillette Stadium last year was with D.C. United, the side the Revs will host on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) as they look to kick off the 2016 home slate in winning fashion.
“We go into every home game expecting to win,” said Chris Tierney, who was once a Revolution fan himself and has played in Foxborough for nine seasons. “We think that we can put our stamp on games at home and have a good record here, so we’re always excited to play at home.”
“We want to win every game at home,” echoed Bunbury. “We have the team to do it and we have the fans to do it. So now it’s just up to us to go out there and produce.”
