Team Captain Steve Ralston and the New England Revolution have qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs for the seventh straight season. Photo: Keith Nordstrom

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution has become the third team to qualify for the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs. The results from Week 28 of the Major League Soccer schedule, coupled with the remaining league matches and head-to-head tie-breaker scenarios, have secured the Revs’ passage to the postseason for the seventh consecutive season, the longest active playoff appearance streak in MLS.
 
The Revolution has joined the Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo as the only teams which have qualified for the eight-team playoffs so far this year with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
 
This is the ninth overall season that the Revolution has qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs (1997, 2000, 2002-present).
 
New England has advanced to the last six Eastern Conference Championships – an MLS record – and has also played in four of the last six MLS Cup championship matches, including each of the last three.
 
Following last weekend’s matches, the Revs can finish no lower than fourth overall in the Eastern Conference and no lower than eighth in the overall MLS standings because they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with FC Dallas, currently in fifth in the West.
 
The 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs begin the final week of October. The top three teams in both the Eastern and Western Conferences automatically gain playoff spots, as well as the next two teams with the next best records overall, regardless of conference affiliation.
 
The conference semifinals are two-game, aggregate goals series and will be played Oct. 30-Nov. 2 and Nov. 6-9. The first game is played on the home field of the lower seed, moving to the higher seed’s field for the second game. Should the teams’ goal totals be tied at the conclusion of game two, the teams would play a 30-minute mini-game to determine a winner. If the teams still remain tied after that, penalty kicks will be used to determine the winner.
 
The conference championship matches are scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 13-15, and MLS Cup 2008 will be played at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23, at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The championship game will televised by ABC and Telefutura.
 
ESPN2 will televise the first game of the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs on Thursday, Oct. 30. Teams will be announced at a later date.
 
The Revolution (12-8-7, 43 pts.) is currently second in the Eastern Conference and travels to the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday, Oct. 11. The teams will meet at 8 p.m. at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in a match that will be televised by TV38, and broadcast by the WEEI Radio Network.