MLS Regular Season | Match #17
New England Revolution at New York Red Bulls
Saturday, July 31 | 6 p.m. ET
Red Bull Arena | Harrison, N.J.
Watch: TV38, myRITV
Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub (English), WBIX 1260 Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
Revolution Pregame Live (5:15 p.m. ET)
- Facebook, YouTube, revolutionsoccer.net
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
1st in Eastern Conference (10-3-3, 33 pts.)
Last Result | 2-1 win vs. CF Montréal
Gustavo Bou became the third Revolution player in a two-game span to register a brace as the Revs closed out a perfect 3-0-0 week with a 2-1 win over Montréal last Sunday night at Gillette Stadium. It was the first time the Revs took nine points from a single week since 2014, and those points pushed them to the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings as they hit the schedule’s midway mark on Saturday.
New England’s attack continues to click as the Revs lead MLS with 30 goals, while they’ve now scored at least one goal in 12 straight games. They’ve been particularly lethal away from home, scoring 16 goals in nine road games (1.78 goals per game) while registering a record of 4-2-3.
New York Red Bulls
9th in Eastern Conference (5-6-3, 18 pts.)
Last Result | 1-0 loss at D.C. United
The Red Bulls have hit a bit of a rough patch in the past month, going 1-2-3 in their last six games, including a 3-2 loss to the Revs at Gillette Stadium in late June. They’ve been solid defensively – conceding just four goals in their last five games – but they’ve struggled to score, as they’ve also notched just four goals in that span.
Most of RBNY’s struggles have been on the road, however, as they’re 4-0-1 at Red Bull Arena since a season-opening home loss to Sporting Kansas City. That poses a challenge for the Revs, who remain in search of their first-ever regular-season win over the Red Bulls at RBA.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution forward Gustavo Bou
Several of New England’s attacking pieces have been firing on all cylinders in recent weeks, but perhaps none more so than Gustavo Bou. Buoyed by June’s international break and an opportunity to get healthy, Bou has scored eight goals in his last nine appearances, rising into a tie for third in the MLS Golden Boot rankings with nine goals overall.
Bou has been particularly lethal against the Red Bulls, scoring one goal in each of his four career appearances against the Eastern Conference rival, and tacking on one assist for good measure.
Red Bulls midfielder Sean Davis
Just one field player has played every minute of RBNY’s first 14 games – central midfielder Sean Davis. The 28-year-old has been a key cog for the Red Bulls since signing from the club’s Academy in 2014, and as club captain, he’ll be an emotional leader as they look to emerge from a difficult stretch.
Davis could also play an important role in the Red Bulls’ plan to slow down Carles Gil, who has four assists in two appearances against RBNY this year, including three in the Revolution’s 3-2 win in late June.
STATUS REPORT
Revolution
The trio of Matt Turner, Henry Kessler, and Tajon Buchanan will once again be unavailable this weekend because of international duty. Turner was Man of the Match as the U.S. beat Qatar, 1-0, on Thursday night, advancing to the Concacaf Gold Cup Final and a meeting with Mexico on Sunday in Las Vegas. Buchanan scored Canada’s only goal – his first at the senior international level – in their 2-1 loss to the Mexicans.
There is some positive news on the injury front as DeJuan Jones has been declared fit and available for this weekend after missing the last two matches, while Adam Buksa has also been cleared after he was taken off in the first half of the Revs’ win over Montreal following a nasty collision with goalkeeper James Pantemis. Jon Bell, however, is out after he also left the Montreal game with an injury.
Red Bulls
Center back Andrés Reyes has scored in both of the Red Bulls’ first two meetings with the Revolution this season, but he’s set to miss Saturday’s match with a hamstring injury. Reyes is joined on the unavailable list by Aaron Long, Daniel Royer, and Youba Diarra.
Sean Nealis – who has made 11 starts this season – is listed as questionable.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
New England Revolution head coach Bruce Arena
"They're a hard team to play against. The game Saturday is going to be difficult. I believe I recall the last game is when Gustavo [Bou] had that excellent goal on I believe the ball from Carles [Gil]. So, we've made a few outstanding plays that have created goals as well against a team that's hard to score against. I think that's part of the reason, but both games were difficult games and they could have gone either way.”
New England Revolution forward Teal Bunbury
“Whenever you get nine points out of nine potential points, I think that's a great week and I think we can be happy about that. But I think there's still a lot of work we have to do as a group. I think we're still not fully focused for 90 minutes. I still think we're making silly mistakes. I also feel that, at times, we're not all on the same page. So, I think there's a lot still to build off of. Granted, obviously we're doing well, we're getting results, but I think to take our team to the next level I think we have to start being a little bit sharper and I think that's going to be important.”
New York Red Bulls head coach Gerhard Struber
“We have some learnings against New England in the last games, and we can see they changed a little bit the system. They are staggering some moments in possession. I think we have to be very concentrated and focused in our structure, in our game plan, and find the right moments in our game, and find the momentum in our game, and protect the momentum. I think we have a clear plan against New England. We have some good learnings over the last few weeks, especially with our process in the last few weeks.”
New York Red Bulls midfielder Caden Clark
“Just be ourselves. I think when we play at home, and we’re ourselves, we’re a different team. It’s very hard to play against us. So I would say just stick to what we do best, and everyone has to be sharp on the day, including myself first. I think D.C. was not the best game for anyone, including myself. Probably my worst game in MLS so far. So I think just going from that, we’re all hungry, we all just want to have a great game and put on a good performance.”
