FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Regular-season games don’t come much bigger than this one.
Saturday night’s showdown at Gillette Stadium pits the hottest team in the league against the Supporters’ Shield frontrunners, as the New England Revolution – unbeaten in 11 – host top-of-the-table Los Angeles FC. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the largest home crowd of the season thus far is expected to flood Foxborough.
NBC Sports Boston will televise the match and stream the action live for authenticated subscribers on NBCSportsBoston.com and the NBC Sports mobile app. Brad Feldman, Paul Mariner, and Naoko Funayama will have the call in English on NBCSB, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and SiriusXM FC Channel 157, while Portuguese radio listeners can tune into 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.
Matchday Guide | Everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s epic clash
Pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. with Revolution Pregame Live, as Elizabeth Pehota and Jeff Lemieux will be joined by former Revolution defender Chris Tierney to cover all the major storylines, streaming live on the Revolution’s official Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channels, as well as on revolutionsoccer.net.
Revolution Postgame Live will begin immediately after the final whistle on NBC Sports Boston, while Rob “Hardy” Poole and former Revolution midfielder Clyde Simms will take calls during 30 minutes of postgame coverage on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Current Form: Revs take aim at club-record unbeaten run; LAFC on record pace
New England matched a club-record unbeaten run (11) with last weekend’s 4-1 win over Orlando City SC – the Revs’ third straight victory – and they’ve now picked up 25 of a possible 33 points since mid-May. They’ve scored 10 goals in their last three matches while conceding just once, and again they featured four different goal scorers against Orlando as Gustavo Bou, Cristian Penilla, Carles Gil, and Diego Fagundez all got on the board.
Highlights | Revs stay red-hot, roll past Orlando with four different goal scorers
In what’s become a common refrain after recent victories, however, Bruce Arena and his players weren’t entirely satisfied by the performance, and focused on where they’ll need to improve moving forward as they make a push for the playoffs through the season’s final 11 games.
“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” said goalkeeper Matt Turner, now fifth in MLS with a 1.14 goals against average. “We’re not in first place, even though we have 11 unbeaten. We want to just continue to build and grow, and we want to win games in October and November.”
LAFC present the caliber of opponent the Revs could face in October and November, and while New England are 4-3-5 this season against teams currently above the playoff line, they know that a meeting with Bob Bradley’s side will be the ultimate measuring stick.
“It’s always fun to go against the top team in the league and see where you are as a team,” said Arena. “We’ve come a long way in two months, but this is probably the most severe test we’ve had, and it’s going to tell us a lot about our team as we move forward.”
Training Report | Revs ready to test themselves against league leaders
That test is presented by an LAFC side currently on pace to break the single-season points record set last year by the New York Red Bulls (71), as they’ve gone 15-3-4 through their first 22 matches. Their league-leading attack (59 goals) is paced by Carlos Vela, who is top of the MLS scoring charts in both goals (22) and assists (13).
“They’re a very good passing team,” Arena said of LAFC, who feature his son, Kenny, as an assistant coach. “They’re very attack-oriented. When they lose the ball, they get after it. Bob’s a big fan of Barcelona, so they try to – however they can, to a certain degree – look at the qualities of the Barcelona team and try to employ that, in relative terms, for LAFC.
“They’re an attack-oriented team. When they lose the ball, they try to win it back in their attacking half of the field.”
Past Meetings: Revs and LAFC set for first-ever showdown at Gillette Stadium
This weekend marks Los Angeles FC’s first-ever visit to Gillette Stadium, having joined MLS as an expansion side just last season.
In the only previous meeting between these teams last September at Banc of California Stadium, Brandon Bye scored an 82nd-minute equalizer to earn the Revs a 1-1 draw.
There are several connections between the Revs and LAFC, however, most notably midfielder Lee Nguyen, who was traded to the Western Conference side last May after spending more than six seasons in New England, registering 51 goals and 49 assists during that period.
Nguyen still has several friends in the Revolution locker room, including Juan Agudelo, who said there’s already been a little back and forth with his former teammate.
“I was one of the closest guys to Lee when he was here,” Agudelo said. “We put (this game) down on the calendar. I’m excited to see him play on a different side of things at Gillette Stadium, and looking forward to kicking him a little bit.”
Injury Report: Agudelo returns after one-game absence; Jones sidelined by injury
Agudelo was back in the mix for last weekend’s win over Orlando, coming off the bench to play the final 20 minutes after missing just one game because of injury.
Rookie DeJuan Jones, however, will be unavailable on Saturday night as he’s sidelined by a right leg injury.
Also unavailable will be a quartet of Revolution players currently on loan to teams in the USL Championship: Brian Wright (Birmingham Legion FC), Zach Herivaux (Birmingham Legion FC), Justin Rennicks (North Carolina FC), and Isaac Angking (Charlotte Independence).
Final Thoughts: Carles Gil “adjusting to the physicality” of MLS
“I think overall I’ve adapted well,” said Carles Gil, who has the chance to tie an MLS record on Saturday night by registering both a goal and assist for the fourth straight game. “It’s obviously different every game with the different teams you’re playing, but it’s a very physical league and it’s a very fast-paced league.
“Again, little bit little, I’m definitely adjusting to the physicality.”
