MLS Regular Season | Match #18
New England Revolution vs. Columbus Crew
Saturday, June 29 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, MA
Watch: FREE on Apple TV
English Talent: Nate Bukaty (play-by-play), Devon Kerr (analyst)
Spanish Talent: Bruno Vain (play-by-play), Andres Agulla (analyst)
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub (English) 1260 AM Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
English Talent: Brad Feldman (play-by-play), Charlie Davies (analyst)
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
12th in Eastern Conference (6-10-1, 19 pts.)
Last Result | 2-1 win at FC Cincinnati
It was undoubtedly a difficult start to the season for the New England Revolution, but this month of June has seen a lot of those who had written off the Revs turn around and eat their words. Last Saturday’s win over defending Supporters’ Shield winners FC Cincinnati – on the road, no less – lifted the Revolution to 12th in the Eastern Conference and brought their winning run to four games, currently the longest active win streak in the league, and the spirit in Foxborough is only to keep getting the next win and proving the doubters wrong.
Midfielder Carles Gil has been crucial to the team’s recent success, although he was announced as being questionable to start ahead of the weekend. Fortunately, winning contributions have been coming from all over the pitch during this run: three goals from forward Giacomo Vrioni, a goal and an assist from winger Ema Boateng, rockets from Esmir Bajraktarević and Noel Buck, standout performances from Xavier Arreaga and Aljaž Ivačič, and the list could easily go on. Last week’s Coach of the Matchday Caleb Porter has done especially well contending with injuries and inspiring his at-times depleted squad to what is becoming an impressive turnaround at the halfway point of the season.
Columbus Crew
5th in Eastern Conference (8-3-6, 30 pts.)
Last Result | 4-0 win vs. Sporting Kansas City
The defending MLS Cup champions are proving yet again this season that they are a force to be reckoned with, sitting 5th in the Eastern Conference thanks in large part to a defense that is currently the stingiest in the league. Last Saturday’s 4-0 thumping of Sporting Kansas City was just another sign of their dominance, and particularly of the dominance of hat-trick hero Cucho Hernández.
That victory took the Crew up to five wins in their last six, with four of those coming consecutively and on the road. However, prior to that winning streak the Black and Gold had been winless in seven, a cold streak that included five straight draws. Now that they’ve gotten hot again, Caleb Porter has said that he relishes the challenge of hosting not only last year’s champions but also the club with whom he won the second MLS Cup of his managerial career.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution defender Xavier Arreaga
The Revolution have now allowed just five goals in their last five games, one of which was a shutout, and that has been thanks in part to newcomer and versatile defender Xavier Arreaga. He has started each of the Revolution’s nine games since joining from Seattle Sounders FC in April, and the Revs have gone 5-4-0 in that period, with Arreaga indisputably playing a crucial role in the team’s turnaround.
His efforts last weekend in particular were special on both sides of the ball, with the Ecuadorian showing himself a stout defender as well as a confident dribbler who can be creative with the ball at his feet. That performance was enough to earn him a spot in the MLS Team of the Matchday, his first such accolade since joining New England, and a similarly dynamic and dominant performance will surely be needed if the Revs are to keep the prolific Columbus Crew at bay.
Crew forward Cucho Hernández
Not only did Cucho Hernández join Arreaga in last week’s best XI; he was named Player of the Matchday after scoring three of Columbus’ four goals in their shutout thrashing of Sporting Kansas City. That hat-trick performance brought his total up to nine scores on the season in only 12 appearances, and it also kept him on a three-game goalscoring streak, one that he will surely hope to continue in Foxborough.
At his current pace, Cucho is well on his way toward surpassing the 16-goal season he had last year, although he has been less productive on the creative side of attack so far this campaign, recording only two assists up to this point. The Revolution’s defense will surely be looking to take the former Watford man out of the game as much as possible this weekend.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Revolution head coach Caleb Porter on maintaining the team’s confidence during this positive run:
“That part is easy right now because the group feels good. We’ve won four in a row. I think it’s more about staying hungry than anything. We’ll keep the knife between our teeth and keep pushing, keep improving in training, and keep working hard. Obviously, it helps too when you’re playing a really good team. The guys didn’t need any motivation going into Cincinnati. They knew we were playing a very good team that we had to play well against. The same goes for Columbus. Obviously, the MLS Cup champions last year with a lot of quality. They’re coming off a 4-0 shellacking [of Kansas City] and they are a very difficult team to play. I think it’s another game where hopefully we can show that we are good enough to beat a team like Columbus.”
Porter on facing a former club in the Columbus Crew:
“I’m proud of my time in Columbus and proud of being a part of an MLS Cup championship team, one of the three that they have. To be able to put a star on the badge, that was special. I gave all I had to the club while I was there, even in the years where we didn’t win MLS Cup. Really fond memories of my time there, but I’m really, really pleased to be with New England right now and I’m excited about the future of this club. I can’t wait to play against Columbus because, again, I like playing the best teams and this is definitely one of the best teams. You really find out what your group is made of and I think it’s a great follow-up to Cincy. Can we do it again?”
Porter on the similarities between Columbus’ tactical formation and other teams the Revs have faced recently:
“We’re in a rhythm playing against 3-5-2’s; this is more of a 3-4-3. So that’s nice as well that we get to play another team that we’re used to, to some extent, their shape and their structures. But it’s a different type of game; it’s definitely a different kind of game. Cincinnati’s a little more of a transitional team, and this [Columbus] team is probably the best team at keeping the ball and dominating games.”
Porter on the return and ongoing recovery of defender Brandon Bye:
“He’s very experienced. Similar to DeJuan [Jones] he’s perfect profile for what I look for in my outside backs: he’s box-to-box, very athletic, and has a lot of range to get forward into the attack, and also defend in the channel one-vs-one. But Nick [Lima]’s been doing very well. I told Brandon this, he’s got to come in and win his job back. Obviously it was his job for the last several years. He certainly has the talent and it’s just going to take some time to integrate him. The biggest challenge is trying to get him enough minutes to start him. Every game is massively important for us and you can’t just throw a guy in 30 minutes here and there, you can’t program that; you have to do what’s best for that game. Fortunately he was able to get a little minutes [against FC Cincinnati].”
Revolution goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič on how the team responded to conceding a goal against FC Cincinnati:
“It’s normal. It’s hard to play on the road. But to be honest, not only me but the whole team, we felt so confident. I felt that if we were playing for another 30 minutes, we would have [still] won the game. It’s all about the confidence and the mentality. I think we showed now, we sent a message out there that we can beat anyone, even one of the best teams in MLS last year.”
Revolution defender DeJuan Jones on the team’s approach to the coming stretch of three games in eight days:
“It’s definitely going to be difficult, but we have good depth on the squad and guys are ready to step in. Right now, we’re just taking it one game at a time. We’re looking forward to Columbus this weekend and then we’ll deal with next week, next week.”
Revolution midfielder Ian Harkes on the team’s depth in midfield:
“I think we have a lot of guys that have good relationships on this team and understand each other, whether it’s [Matt] Polster or Noel [Buck] or Mark-Anthony [Kaye], all of us in midfield, if we’re rotating in, we have to do a job but we also fit into the system that Caleb and the coaches have set out for us. We work on it every day in training, that, when it’s our time to step up and come in, it’s still a natural blueprint, and then we can allow our individual flair to come out in the final third.”
