FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls will open their Eastern Conference Championship series on Sunday afternoon at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. Playing in the Eastern Conference Championship for the first time since 2007, the Revs are 11-1-2 in their 14 games since last visiting Red Bull Arena in early August.
NBC will broadcast the first leg of the series nationally, starting at 1:30 p.m., with John Strong and Kyle Martino calling the game live from Red Bull Arena. Sunday’s game will also be carried locally on the radio with Brad Feldman and Paul Mariner calling the game on the Revolution Radio Network and SiriusXM FC Channel 94. WMVX 1570 AM Nossa Radio will also carry the game on Brazilian radio.
Sunday’s game will be the Revs’ first since finishing off a 7-3 win over the Columbus Crew on aggregate on November 9. New England claimed a 4-2 road win in the first leg of that series before winning 3-1 in the second leg at Gillette Stadium, setting up the Conference Championship matchup with the Red Bulls. Entering the weekend, the Revs have gone 4-1-1 in their last six road games, scoring 14 goals in that time. Since a 1-0 loss to Columbus on September 20, the Revs have gone 6-0-1 in all competitions, including the two wins over the Crew in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Revolution are 3-1-2 in six all-time postseason meetings with New York, including a 1-1-1 mark on the road. The winner of the two-game, aggregate-goal series will determine the Eastern Conference representative in MLS Cup 2014, with the LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders FC facing off to represent the Western Conference.
MLS CUP PLAYOFFS
Complete MLS Cup Playoffs Bracket
MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Championship First Leg Schedule
Sunday, November 23
New York Red Bulls vs. New England Revolution, 1:30 p.m. ET – NBC
LA Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders FC, 5 p.m. ET – ESPN and ESPN Deportes
MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Championship Second Leg Schedule
Saturday, November 29
New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls, 3 p.m. ET – NBC Sports Network
Sunday, November 30
Seattle Sounders FC vs. LA Galaxy, 9 p.m. ET – ESPN and ESPN Deportes
LONGTIME RIVALS AWAIT
This will be the fourth time that the Revolution will face their longtime rivals, the New York Red Bulls, in the MLS Cup Playoffs, but the first time that they do so with a berth in MLS Cup on the line. The Revs and Red Bulls met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2003, 2005 and 2007 with New England going 3-1-2 in those three series, advancing from each on aggregate.
In 2003, the Revs won the first leg of their series 2-0 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey before playing to a 1-1 draw in the return leg at Gillette Stadium for a 3-1 series win. Two years later, New York (then the MetroStars) led their Conference Semifinal series 2-0 on aggregate with 30 minutes remaining, only for New England to score three times en route to a 3-2 aggregate win. The clubs last met in the playoffs in the 2007 Eastern Conference Semifinals with New England claiming a 1-0 win on aggregate thanks to a Taylor Twellman goal in the second leg of that series at Gillette Stadium.
Just as they did in the three previous playoff series against New York, the Revs will play on the road in the first leg this year before returning to Gillette Stadium for the second and deciding leg on Saturday, November 29.
REVOLUTION PASS IN DISPERSAL DRAFT
The Revolution did not make a selection in this afternoon’s Chivas USA Dispersal Draft. New England held the fifth pick in the draft but elected to not select any of the available players.
A total of seven former Chivas USA players were selected in the Dispersal Draft, which was conducted via teleconference with representatives of all 20 MLS clubs.
JONES AND NGUYEN BACK IN TRAINING
Revolution midfielders Jermaine Jones and Lee Nguyen each returned to training with the Revolution this morning at Gillette Stadium after playing for the U.S. National Team in London last week. Jones played 90 minutes in central defense in the 2-1 loss to Colombia at Craven Cottage, earning his 48th cap for the U.S. while Nguyen came on in the 78th minute to collect his first cap since 2007 and fourth overall.
Both players were released from the U.S. squad after the loss to Colombia, allowing them to return to the U.S. and join up with their club teammates ahead of Sunday’s first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship against the New York Red Bulls.
JONES UP FOR U.S. SOCCER ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Jermaine Jones has been nominated for the 2014 U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year Award. One of four players to play every minute of the National Team’s run to the Round of 16 at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Jones set up Clint Dempsey’s early goal in the 2-1 win over Ghana to open the tournament and then provided one of the indelible images of the World Cup, a curling strike from distance against Portugal that helped the U.S. earn a 2-2 draw. In 2014, Jones started and appeared in 10 games, scoring one goal and adding an assist in 874 minutes of action as a midfielder and more recently, as a defender. This was the fourth consecutive year that Jones has appeared in at least ten games for the Red, White and Blue. Since making his international debut for the U.S. National Team, on October 9, 2010, Jones has collected 48 caps, scoring three goals and adding four assists.
SETTING SCORING RECORDS
Of the 16 players that made an appearance for the Revs in the series win over Columbus, nine of them tallied either a goal or an assist. The Revolution set an MLS Cup Playoff record in the Conference Semifinals against Columbus, scoring seven times in the series. Prior to that series, no MLS team had ever scored more than five times in a two-leg, aggregate-goal playoff series.
Five different players have scored for the Revolution so far in the MLS Cup Playoffs with Charlie Davies and Lee Nguyen each tallying twice while Teal Bunbury, Jose Goncalves and Chris Tierney each scored once. The only time that the Revs had more than seven goals and five different goal scorers in a single playoff campaign was in 2002 when the club scored eight times in six playoff games en route to qualifying for MLS Cup for the first time ever. Six different players scored those eight goals with Brian Kamler and Taylor Twellman each scoring twice while Wolde Harris, Jay Heaps, Daniel Hernandez and Steve Ralston each scored once.
DUO ONE GOAL FROM EQUALING CLUB RECORD
Charlie Davies and Lee Nguyen are two of six players to enter the Conference Championship with at least two goals to their name. LA’s Landon Donovan and New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips are tied for the playoff lead with three goals each while the Red Bulls’ Peggy Luyindula has two, along with Davies, Nguyen and Michel of FC Dallas, who have already been eliminated from the postseason. Of that group, only Nguyen and Wright-Phillips have scored in each postseason game that their teams have played this year.
Davies and Nguyen are the first Revolution players to score multiple goals in a single playoff year since Taylor Twellman scored all three of New England’s goals in the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs and the fourth and fifth to do so all-time. Twellman has achieved the feat four times (2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007) while Brian Kamler (2002) and Pat Noonan (2003) each did so once. If either Davies or Nguyen score the rest of the playoffs, they will equal the club record for postseason goals in a single year with three. Twellman set that record in 2006, scoring three times in four postseason games before matching the feat a year later.
NOVEMBER = MOVEMBER
The Revs will once again lend their support for Movember’s mission “to have an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health” when the Revs grow mustaches as part of the charity’s annual November men’s cancer awareness campaign. As part of MLS WORKS’ Soccer Kicks Cancer’s Movember 2014 campaign, a selection of Revolution players, executives and front office staff, as well as the club’s supporters groups and fans will join MLS WORKS to grow mustaches as members of the club’s Movember team. Friends, family and fans are encouraged to show their support for men’s cancer awareness by donating to the Revolution’s Movember team, or to individuals’ campaigns. The Revolution will recognize the highest fundraiser on its Movember team with a special prize, and the Kraft family will match the first $5,000 in donations made to the Revolution’s Movember campaign. Visit the Revs’ Movember page to sign up or make a donation at www.mobro.co/nerevolution.
