FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution are under no illusions about Sunday afternoon’s regular-season finale against the Montreal Impact. They understand that, in all likelihood, it’ll be their final chance to play in front of their home fans this season.
That’s not to say that the Revs won’t do everything in their power to overturn the 12-goal deficit they currently face in their quest to snatch the final playoff spot from the Philadelphia Union; it’s just that they know the odds are, to put it mildly, pretty long.
New England’s primary focus, then, is on putting together one more strong showing for the supporters at Gillette Stadium, where the Revs are 8-4-4 this year and have averaged about 19,000 fans a game.
“We understand that [the season’s] not over and we understand how many tickets were sold to the game this weekend,” said Juan Agudelo, currently tied atop the Revolution’s goal-scoring charts with six tallies. “We’re out here training hard so that we can put a good performance out there for the fans.”
“We have a huge crowd, a huge moment at home,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “It’s something that we really owe the group of fans, because they stuck by us through ups and downs this season, some frustrating moments. There’s going to be a big crowd and we’ve got to pay that tribute.”
The “big crowd” will approach 40,000 and will be far and away the biggest turnout of the season, and one of the biggest turnouts in club history. New England set their regular-season attendance record in last year’s home finale against Montreal with 42,947 packing Gillette Stadium.
The Revs suffered a 1-0 loss to the Impact in that match, but they’ll be looking to turn the tables on Sunday afternoon and send the Foxborough faithful into the offseason on a positive note.
“We love the fans,” said Lee Nguyen, tied with Agudelo – and Kei Kamara – atop the Revs’ goal-scoring charts. “They’ve been showing us support all year long. We want to show them the faith back and give them a good game to be proud of going into the end of the season.”
