FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Wednesdays are better with soccer.
The New England Revolution and Montreal Impact will bring some midweek action to Foxborough on Wednesday night, when the Revs (2-5-1, 7 pts.) will host the Impact (3-3-2, 11 pts.) at Gillette Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., with NBC Sports Boston televising the game and streaming the action live on NBCSportsBoston.com and the NBC Sports Boston mobile app. Brad Feldman, Paul Mariner and Naoko Funayama will have the English call there, and on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Portuguese radio listeners can tune into 1260 AM Nossa Radio USA.
Pregame coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. with Revolution Pregame Live, as Elizabeth Pehota and Jeff Lemieux will break down the starting lineups and biggest storylines, streaming live on the Revolution’s official Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channels, as well as on revolutionsoccer.net.
Postgame coverage will begin immediately after the final whistle on NBC Sports Boston, while host Rob “Hardy” Poole and former Revolution midfielder Clyde Simms will take calls for 30 minutes on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Matchday Guide | Everything you need to know ahead of the midweek matchup
The Revs will be back in their primary kits on Wednesday night, but you can own the parley jerseys that were worn on the field in this past weekend’s win over the New York Red Bulls in the online auction through May 3, with all proceeds going to benefit the New England Aquarium.
Current Form: Revs kick off busy stretch with critical win; Impact continue road run
It wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing of matches, but the Revolution secured three points they desperately needed this past weekend with a 1-0 win over the Red Bulls. Cristian Penilla, last year’s leading scorer with 12 goals, came off the bench to bag his first of 2019, while Cody Cropper made five saves to backstop the Revs to their first clean sheet of the season.
Highlights | Penilla’s goal, Revs’ defensive effort secure vital win in nasty weather
The victory gave the Revs a perfect start to their busiest stretch of the season, as they’ll play eight games in a 29-day stretch between April 20 and May 18. It’s a massive opportunity for New England to rack up points and climb the table in the East, but only if they can build a bit of momentum in the coming games.
“It was an important game for us to win,” said Juan Agudelo, who played a new role on the right side of a four-man midfield diamond. “Going into this fast stretch of games, we needed that. More importantly, I think it’s awesome that we have another home game coming up really soon.
“We’re just really excited to do the same thing that we did on Saturday, which was get three points and move up the table.”
Watch | Friedel says goals will come: “We’re getting into a lot of really good positions”
Montreal, meanwhile, will be playing their eighth road game in nine to start the season on Wednesday night, and they’ve already found a way to secure two wins and two draws away from home.
Key to Montreal’s road form has been their defensive resolve – they’d kept three straight clean sheets prior to this past weekend’s 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union – and Revolution head coach Brad Friedel is expecting the Impact to set up a similarly stout defensive block at Gillette Stadium.
“They’ve been a very resilient group,” said Friedel. “They’ve tried to get themselves into positions to counter, and they’ve done quite a bit of it without (Ignacio) Piatti, who’s an outstanding player.
“We’re going to have to be at the top of our game with moving the ball very quickly. I’m sure they’re going to try to set up a very good defensive plan to then be able to attack us, and we’re going to have to be at the top of our game to beat them.”
Past Meetings: Revs aim to continue recent home dominance over Impact
New England have won six of the last seven meetings with Montreal dating back to September 2016, including a pair of wins last year at Gillette Stadium.
In fact, the Revs have won their last four home matches against the Impact, all by shutout, outscoring their Canadian counterparts 9-0 in the process. That includes a 4-0 rout last April, when Andrew Farrell scored his first career goal following Saphir Taider’s early red card.
Highlights | Four different goal scorers – including Farrell – lead Revs to rout of Impact
This will be the first of two meetings between the Revs and Impact in short order, as these two sides will square off once again in less than four weeks at Stade Saputo.
Injury Report: Defensive trio returns for the Revs; Impact without playmaking Piatti
The Revs regained their defensive depth this past weekend as Michael Mancienne (suspension), Edgar Castillo (calf), and Antonio Delamea (knee) all returned to the match-day squad for the win over the Red Bulls, with both Mancienne and Castillo going straight back into the starting XI.
Brian Wright was also in the squad for that match, having returned from his loan to Birmingham Legion FC of the USL Championship after making three appearances. That leaves just Zach Herivaux – still on loan with Birmingham – and Isaac Angking (knee surgery) as the only two absences for the Revolution.
Montreal are expected to be without their talisman on Wednesday night as Piatti is listed as “out” with the knee injury that has sidelined him for the past five games.
Piatti has once again been the catalyst for Montreal’s attack this season, as the Impact have scored six goals in the three matches the Argentine has played (going 2-1-0), while they’ve scored just two goals in the five matches he’s missed (going 1-2-2).
Final Thoughts: Agudelo says Penilla’s goal gave Revs the confidence to have a go
“I feel like even after [Penilla] scored (against New York), a bunch of us just had the confidence of, ‘Hey, take a shot, see what happens,’ for the next 15 minutes of that game,” said Agudelo. “If the game was a bit longer, I think we would have got another one really quick.
“Hopefully we can transfer that right over to the next game, and I think we will.”
