FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The sense of urgency within New England Revolution camp has been steadily building in recent weeks as the Revs have stumbled through a seven-game winless run, and now with just 10 games remaining on the regular season schedule, that urgency has reached a new peak.
Comfortably in fifth place as recently as mid-July the Revs (29 pts.) now find themselves four points below the playoff line in the East, and while they have two games in hand on the sixth-place Montreal Impact (33 pts.), they also need to worry about D.C. United (27 pts.) creeping up the table from behind.
With that in mind, New England simply cannot afford to see their winless run stretched to eight when they visit the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night at Talen Energy Stadium.
“It’s now or never,” said goalkeeper Matt Turner. “We’ve been on this streak and it’s been bad game after bad game, and it’s not really time for us to hang our heads. It’s time for us to turn it around. Just one win can change everything, so we’re looking to get that this weekend in Philly.”
Saturday night’s showdown is a classic six-pointer as the Revs could climb to within one point of the Union (33 pts.) with a win, but could also fall seven points back should they lose.
New England also have the added incentive of avoiding a series sweep as the Union have won the first two matchups this season, including a 3-2 win over the Revs at Gillette Stadium just two weeks ago.
“We’ve lost two games to Philly this year. We can’t afford to lose another one to them,” said Turner. “We really need to win the game on Saturday, and no other outcome is really suitable for us, so we’ll go down there looking to get three points.”
Head coach Brad Friedel remains confident that his group can flip the switch for the final 10 games of the season, and several examples within MLS this year reinforce that belief, most notably Seattle Sounders FC, who’ve gone 7-0-2 in their last nine games after winning just three times in their first 15 matches.
Just one win is often all it takes to swing the momentum back in the right direction, and the Revs know that momentum needs to shift this weekend in Philly with more than 600 traveling supporters behind them.
“It’s time now for us to get our run going,” Friedel said. “It’s crazy how this league is – there are very few teams that consistently get results every weekend. There’s only one or two.
“What a difference a win can make, and there’s no reason with the quality that we have in the (locker) room that we can’t go on a 10-game unbeaten run.”
