FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Win, lose or draw in Saturday night’s regular-season finale against Toronto FC, it won’t change the fact that the New England Revolution will finish second in the Eastern Conference.
Oftentimes these types of games – late-season encounters which won’t affect the standings – are dubbed “meaningless” by the media. But the Revs simply don’t see it that way.
With the MLS Cup Playoffs on the horizon and the Revolution statistically the league’s hottest team through the last 10 games, they’re approaching Saturday’s meeting with TFC as an opportunity to continue their strong run of form and carry that straight through into the postseason.
“Games like this going into the playoffs are crucial,” said Kevin Alston. “We want to keep the ball rolling and we don’t want to kill our momentum. We want to produce a good product and really play some good soccer, and just carry that over into the playoffs.”
Since a midseason slump in which the Revs lost eight straight games and dropped as low as sixth place in the Eastern Conference, they’ve gone 9-2-2 and locked up second place with one game still to play. They’ll enter the weekend 3-0-1 in their last four overall and winners of five straight at Gillette Stadium.
The Revs will open their postseason slate on the road against a yet-to-be-determined opponent – whichever side finishes third in the East – next weekend, before hosting the second leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 9.
Head coach Jay Heaps admitted that the Revs will need to keep their upcoming playoff series in mind when rolling out the lineup on Saturday night, but added that a certain level of importance must be placed on the TFC game as a springboard into the postseason.
“We’ve had a little bit of time off with this past weekend – playing on the Thursday – so we’ve had ample time to recover,” Heaps said. “We’re going to be smart about the weekend, but at the same time, you want to go into the playoffs on the right foot and I think winning at home is really important.”
Saturday’s regular-season finale is not only an opportunity for the Revs to continue doing the things which have made them successful, but also a chance to improve in certain areas ahead of the playoffs.
Chief among those areas, according to the players, is team defense. The Revs haven’t shut out an opponent since late August – coincidentally a 3-0 win over Toronto FC – going eight straight games without keeping a clean sheet, and that’s something they’d love to remedy this weekend.
“We just need to tighten the screws all around,” said Alston. “I think our attacking’s been good. I think we’ve let up some goals that we can probably prevent and we just need to work on that.”
So while Saturday’s game may be “meaningless” with regards to the Eastern Conference standings, it’s anything but to the Revs, who are viewing their regular-season finale as an extension of the playoffs.
“We need to go into the playoffs feeling good and in a good rhythm,” said Charlie Davies. “For that to happen, we’ve got to win Saturday.”
