MLS Regular Season | Match #30
New England Revolution at New York Red Bulls
Saturday, September 10 | 6 p.m. ET
Red Bull Arena | Harrison, N.J.
Watch: TV38, myRITV (Rhode Island)
- Talent: Brad Feldman (play-by-play), Charlie Davies (analyst)
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub (English), 1260 AM Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
8th in Eastern Conference (9-9-11, 38 pts.)
Last Result | 3-0 win vs. New York City FC
The Revs pushed past a frustrating start to their three-game homestand and closed it in emphatic fashion on Sunday night, getting goals from Jon Bell, Noel Buck, and Tommy McNamara in a 3-0 win over defending MLS Cup champion New York City FC. That result has New England in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the playoff line and with nine teams (5th through 13th) separated by just 10 points.
Three of the Revolution’s final five games will be on the road, including a two-game trip that begins Saturday evening at Red Bull Arena. From there the Revs will head straight to Texas for a rare Tuesday night meeting with the Houston Dynamo and their final interconference matchup of the regular season.
New York Red Bulls
3rd in Eastern Conference (13-9-8, 47 pts.)
Last Result | 2-0 loss vs. Philadelphia Union
A 13th straight trip to the postseason appears to be on the cards for the Red Bulls, who currently occupy third place in the Eastern Conference, nine points clear of the playoff line. They closed the month of August on an impressive 3-0-1 run – including a road win over second-place CF Montréal – but they most recently kicked off September with a 2-0 home loss to the first-place Philadelphia Union.
That’s been the trend for the Red Bulls this year, as their road form has far outpaced their home form. In fact, RBNY boast the league’s best road record at 9-3-3, and the second-worst home record at 4-6-5, tied with D.C. United for the fewest home wins in all of Major League Soccer.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution goalkeeper Djordje Petrović
New England’s replacement for reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Matt Turner continues to defy all reasonable expectations, keeping another clean sheet last weekend against NYCFC to register his seventh shutout in just 16 MLS appearances. To put that in perspective, Petrović is just three clean sheets away from matching the club’s single-season record set by Matt Reis (10 in 2005, 2006, and 2007) despite playing only half the year.
Petrović was particularly sharp against NYCFC, including a massive point-blank stop just seconds after Jon Bell had given New England the lead in the 12th minute. With the Eastern Conference playoff race as tight as it’s ever been, the Revs may well need Petrović to continue to make those types of game-changing saves through the final five games of the regular season.
Red Bulls midfielder Lewis Morgan
Scottish midfielder Lewis Morgan has been a player reborn with the Red Bulls, consistently their top attacking threat all season. After totaling seven goals and 12 assists in 57 appearances over two seasons with Inter Miami CF, Morgan has exploded this year for a team-leading 13 goals and four assists in 28 appearances during his first year with the Red Bulls.
Morgan has been in form recently with three goals in his last four starts, and the 25-year-old attacker hasn’t gone more than two games without registering either a goal or an assist since early April.
STATUS REPORT
Revolution
Brandon Bye (lower leg) missed out on last weekend’s win over NYCFC, and the right back has been added to the Revolution’s list of questionable players alongside Dylan Borrero (leg), Wilfrid Kaptoum (leg), and Giacomo Vrioni (leg). That trio has shown progress, however, and there is hope that they’re nearing a return to action.
“We’re getting players back,” sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena said on Thursday. “We’re not at full strength at this point, but we feel good enough about the squad we have right now. Hopefully we can get a little bit healthier as we move toward the end of the season. We’re certainly not completely healthy at this point.”
Two players – rookie goalkeeper Jacob Jackson (ACL surgery) and newcomer Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (leg) – are listed as out for Saturday’s visit to Red Bull Arena.
Red Bulls
Midfielder Dru Yearwood has made 25 appearances for the Red Bulls this season, but the 22-year-old will be suspended on Saturday night after being sent off in stoppage time of last weekend’s loss to Philadelphia. Also unavailable against the Revs are Zach Ryan (shoulder), Serge Ngoma (hamstring), and Cam Harper (quad).
A quartet of players are also listed as questionable for the weekend: Frankie Amaya (groin), Patryk Klimala (ankle), Andres Reyes (ankle), and Cristian Casseres, Jr. (knee).
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
New England Revolution sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena
“We haven’t been a particularly good road team this year. We were last year. We’re not treating it like a playoff game. I don’t know what that means. I think every game we try to win, but we’re certainly going to New Jersey with the expectation to win the game. These last five games are critically important, so we need to get points and we’re going to get after it on Saturday.”
New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell
“The first 15-20 minutes of every game against the Red Bulls is hectic. They press better than a lot of the teams in the league, probably one of the best teams pressing in the league. They try to turn you over early on, especially at home. They’re really, really good. As a center back, you have to be quick with your decisions, make sure you’re playing the right passes, putting your teammates in the right positions. Every bad pass is going to get pressured so you have to be able to find balls in the right channels and be smart early on. It’s important to have your play set – that’s what we talked about – before the ball’s coming to you. That’s something that we worked on this week in practice and we will hopefully implement that against them in a really important game for us this weekend.”
