FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution fans could see a fresh face or two in the starting lineup for Sunday afternoon’s regular-season finale against the Montreal Impact, but head coach Jay Heaps said he won’t make wholesale changes to the group.
With a postseason berth very likely out of reach – the Revs would need to overturn a 12-goal differential with the Philadelphia Union – there could be an opportunity for some younger players to gain valuable experience in front of a huge crowd, but winning still remains New England’s number one priority.
“There will be, here or there, a move or two. Maybe as the game goes on you’ll see different players factor in,” Heaps said. “But at the same time, we’ve been on a good uptick and we want to make sure we have that mentality going into the game. Making too many changes could upset that a little bit.”
Two players who almost certainly won’t factor into the proceedings on Sunday are Femi Hollinger-Janzen and Je-Vaughn Watson. Speaking on Wednesday, Heaps said that both players “took serious knocks and are out a little bit more of an extended period of time.”
Chris Tierney could be in line for a return, however, after the veteran defender was left on the bench for last weekend’s loss in Chicago while dealing with a hamstring injury. The 30-year-old left back was on the training field on Wednesday working with strength and conditioning coach Nick Downing.
“We missed him pretty significantly,” Heaps said of Tierney. “We’ll see how the week goes. He’s been out here (on the training field), so we’ll see where he is as the week progresses.”
