MLS Regular Season | Match #11
New England Revolution at FC Dallas
Sunday, June 27 | 9 p.m. ET
Toyota Stadium | Frisco, Texas
Watch: TV38, myRITV
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub (English), WBIX 1260 Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
Revolution Pregame Live (8:15 p.m. ET)
- Facebook, YouTube, revolutionsoccer.net
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
1st in Eastern Conference (7-1-2, 23 pts.)
Last Result | 3-2 win vs. New York Red Bulls
The Revs made it five straight wins and moved to 5-0-0 at Gillette Stadium for the first time in club history with another 3-2 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday night. Carles Gil assisted on all three goals – pushing his MLS-leading mark to 10 on the season – as Tajon Buchanan, DeJuan Jones, and Gustavo Bou all got on the score sheet for the Revs, who’ve now scored 17 goals, fourth-most in MLS.
Sunday night’s visit to Dallas will be the Revolution’s first meeting with a Western Conference opponent since September 25, 2019, when Gil and Bou scored late in a memorable 2-2 draw with the Portland Timbers. Sights will be set on a sixth consecutive victory, which would match the club record for longest winning streak.
FC Dallas
13th in Western Conference (1-4-4, 7 pts.)
Last Result | 2-0 loss at Los Angeles FC
FCD’s winless skid hit six games (0-3-3) on Wednesday night with a 2-0 loss at Los Angeles FC, their fourth loss in four road trips this season. It’s been a rare dip in form for a side that qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs each of the last three years, including a trip to the 2020 Western Conference Semifinals.
Despite their early struggles – currently at the foot of the Western Conference table – Dallas do remain unbeaten at Toyota Stadium, where they’re 1-0-4 on the season. They’ve been stingy defensively in Texas, conceding just five total goals in their five home games.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution midfielder Carles Gil
It has been a historic start to the 2021 campaign for Carles Gil, who is just the second player in MLS history to register 10 assists through the first 10 games of a season. The only other player to accomplish that feat was Carlos Valderrama, who did so in 2000 – the year he set the single-season MLS record with 26 assists.
Eight of Gil’s assists have come in the last five games, including five in the last two. Entering the weekend he has assisted on five consecutive Revolution goals, two shy of the record set by Steve Ralston (with the Tampa Bay Mutiny) and Diego Valeri (with the Portland Timbers).
On Sunday night Gil will return to Toyota Stadium for the first time since March 2, 2019, when he marked his MLS debut with a goal in the Revolution’s 1-1 draw with FC Dallas.
FC Dallas defender Ryan Hollingshead
Veteran defender Ryan Hollingshead is often underappreciated, but he’s been a consistent contributor for FC Dallas over the course of eight MLS seasons. Versatility has long been his calling card, and in recent years the 30-year-old has added goal-scoring to his repertoire, with 10 goals combined in 2019 and 2020.
This year Hollingshead is once again a stalwart for FCD, starting all nine games and playing all but 14 minutes, leading the Western Conference side with one goal and two assists.
STATUS REPORT
Revolution
Head coach Bruce Arena has made three changes to his starting XI in each of the last three games, and he’s likely to rotate again on Sunday night as the Revs play their third game in nine days in the Dallas heat.
“If you’ve seen, we’ve made adjustments each and every game over the last probably five or six games,” Arena said. “I anticipate doing the same.”
Those changes will not include Luis Caicedo, Wilfrid Kaptoum, or Christian Mafla this weekend. Arena said that Caicedo is recovering from surgery and will be back on the field “in the next month or so,” while Kaptoum is expected to be “back in training on a full-time basis next week.” Mafla continues to recover from a lower body injury.
FC Dallas
The hosts will be without four players on Sunday night, most notably veteran center back Matt Hedges, who is set to miss his fourth straight game with a hip injury. Backup goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck and Homegrown forward Beni Redžić are also out through injury, while offseason addition Szabolcs Schön just recently wrapped up international duty with Hungary at UEFA Euro 2020.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
New England Revolution head coach Bruce Arena
“However the goals come, they come because of team play. At times, it could be one individual scoring goals. At other times, it could be a variety of players, so there will be a mix of this, I'm sure, as we move forward, as is the case with any team in the league, but it's nice to see that we're getting some balanced scoring.”
New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell
“We know we still haven’t played a full 90 minutes at our best. We know we’ve played 45 minutes, we’ve played 75 minutes, we’ve played 80 minutes, 87 minutes of really good at times soccer, but we still got to get that complete game. I think we’re chasing our best performance. It’s still something that we’re excited for. But as we’re still growing, we’re still getting wins, and that’s important because at the end of the day three points is what matters. There’s things we need to do to keep on improving and get better, but winning is the best feeling.”
