FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution returns to the road this weekend in search of a sixth straight win – which would match the club record – visiting the Columbus Crew on Saturday night.
The Revs (13-12-3, 42 pts.) are fresh off a perfect three-game homestand in which they earned a trio of come-from-behind victories over Eastern Conference opponents. Back above the .500 mark for the first time since early July, the Revs can climb into second place in the East with another win this weekend.
Columbus (9-9-10, 37 pts.) enters the weekend clinging to the fifth and final playoff spot in the East thanks to a slight edge in goal differential over the Philadelphia Union.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and both Comcast SportsNet and 98.5 The Sports Hub will cover the action.
Current Form: Confident Revs aim to keep climbing; Crew rounding into form at the right time
Both Lee Nguyen (seven goals, three assists in the last eight games) and Kelyn Rowe (two goals, three assists in the last five games) continued their stellar form last weekend, scoring just two minutes apart to lift the Revs to another comeback win over the Montreal Impact. The Revs have now won five straight since a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers more than one month ago.
WATCH: Quick-fire strikes from Rowe and Nguyen help Revs overcome another early deficit
While the Revs claimed the maximum nine points from their recent three-game homestand, they did so in unconventional fashion, coming from behind on all three occasions. It hasn’t been slow starts which have plagued the Revs, but merely untimely mistakes, something they’ll be looking to cut out moving into the final six games.
“I think our approach has been good, it’s just little mistakes here and there,” said center back A.J. Soares. “It’s nothing in our approach or energy or anything like that – we’re starting well, we’re just making one little error here and there. If we cut that out, we’ll be good.”
Columbus has overcome a rough patch in the middle of the season (1-7-8 from April through mid-July) to climb back into playoff contention by going 5-2-2 in the last nine games. Of particular note has been the Crew’s home form – Gregg Berhalter’s side has won its last three games at Crew Stadium while outscoring opponents by the heavy margin of 10-1.
Past Meetings: Revs’ home loss in July snapped string of four straight wins over Crew
These two sides will clash twice in the next two weeks, as they’ll round out the three-game regular-season series on Oct. 4 at Gillette Stadium. That’s where they opened the season series back on July 26, when Ethan Finlay’s 84th-minute goal condemned the Revs to a 2-1 defeat and a club-record eighth straight loss.
WATCH: Finlay’s late winner earns Crew first victory in Foxborough since 2011
It was Federico Higuain who scored the Crew’s opener in that match, curling home a 25-yard free kick similar to the two set pieces he finished against the Revs in a wild 4-3 game at Crew Stadium back in 2012.
“I think he only hits free kicks against us,” head coach Jay Heaps said with a chuckle. “He’s dangerous and they’re dangerous on other set pieces, as well, so it’s always a focus when you have a specialist on the free kick.”
Prior to the setback in July the Revs had won four straight meetings with the Crew, including both matches at Crew Stadium last season. Most memorable, of course, was the 1-0 triumph in last year’s regular-season finale which clinched New England’s return to the postseason for the first time since 2009.
WATCH: Agudelo’s first-half goal enough to send the Revs back into the playoffs
Injury Report: Jones questionable after early departure last weekend; Bunbury suspended
Revolution fans held their collective breaths last Saturday night when Jermaine Jones was forced off at halftime of the 2-1 win over Montreal with a left leg contusion, but some of those fears have been allayed as the powerful central midfielder is listed as questionable ahead of this weekend’s trip to Ohio.
“We’re progressing with him,” Heaps said earlier in the week with regards to Jones. “But at the same time, we’re managing not pushing him too fast. We’re optimistic.”
While Jones’ status for the weekend remains up in the air, Teal Bunbury will most certainly be unavailable while serving a one-game suspension for yellow-card accumulation. It’ll be the first game Bunbury has missed as a member of the Revolution after appearing in each of the first 28 games this season.
The injury-hit Crew has three players on either the season-ending injury report (Kingsley “Fifi” Baiden and Daniel Paladini) or disabled list (Matt Wiet), while a fourth (Josh Williams) is listed as out for this weekend. Also on Columbus’ injury report are the aforementioned Higuain (R Achilles contusion) and forward Adam Bedell (post appendectomy), both listed as questionable.
Final Thoughts: Barnes says Revs embracing the challenges they’ll face away from home
“We take that as a challenge,” Darrius Barnes said of returning to the road after a successful homestand. “We were able to step on our home field and get the wins and play the way that we wanted to play. To be a great team or a championship team, you have to take that same form, go on the road and emulate the same thing.”
