FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – On Thursday morning the New England Revolution will leave behind the comforts of home, heading west to California ahead of MLS Cup on Sunday afternoon.
Playing the title game at StubHub Center, where the LA Galaxy have gone 14-1-4 this season, certainly gives New England’s opponent an edge. But where the Galaxy has been so good at home, the Revs have been just as strong on the road.
Through their past seven road games the Revs have racked up a record of 5-1-1, including a pair of playoff victories in Columbus and New York on top of regular-season triumphs in Houston, Kansas City and Toronto. Only six other MLS teams managed to win as many as five road games all season.
“You get used to being on the road a little bit. You get used to playing games, big games on the road,” said Jay Heaps, who pointed to resilience and confidence as key factors in road success. “I think in that regard it’s very similar to what we’ve gone through the last half of the season and into the playoffs.”
Not only have the Revs managed to win games on the road, oftentimes they’ve done it by staying true to their attack-minded style. They’ve averaged 2.3 goals per game through their last seven road games, scoring multiple goals in six of those contests.
Lee Nguyen, who has five goals and three assists in the last seven road games, said that’s primarily due to the Revolution’s all-out approach, which has been aided by the presence of Jermaine Jones. Unsurprisingly, New England’s 5-1-1 road stretch has coincided directly with Jones’ arrival.
“It’s just the way we play,” Nguyen said. “We’re an attacking team. We have to go out and put pressure on teams. Now we have that anchor in the midfield who can let us go and attack. He can kind of plug in the gaps when we do turn the ball over, so it does help us take more risk going forward.”
