After notching their first win with our first goal of the season the Revs have traveled to Los Angeles and will visit Dallas before returning home again. The confidence New England earned in holding our lead for almost 90 minutes will be tested against a talented Galaxy team. There is little doubt that the Revs will line up differently. I hope they match the energy from last week’s win.
The Revs attacked early, scored, and continued to hunt for the win. There were moments when we slipped but our shape held and we threatened throughout. Our backline featured some midfielders with Shalrie Joseph playing from the back and Ryan Guy sliding back to cover when Kevin Alston went out injured. Kevin has recovered from being kicked in the face, though there is a chance he won’t play. If Alston doesn’t come back this week there are other returning defenders. Steven McCarthy returns from suspension and Darrius Barnes has returned to practice from injury. Also available will be recent addition Florian “Flo” Lechner who may slot into center back next to AJ. On the road against the defending champs this week our Revs defense and communication will need a level of energy similar to the win last week.
Los Angeles’ last MLS game was a win over DC United two weeks ago. Landon Donovan may miss this game, but we will still face David Beckham, Edson Buddle, and Robbie Keane. The strength of this team has been their ability to defend and then successfully counter. Faltering against Toronto in CCL and RSL in their home opener for MLS has brought talk of LA being vulnerable. This highlights Omar Gonzalez’ loss due to injury – heal up, OG. Frustrating David Beckham and generally disrupting the Galaxy attack will be difficult. Whether or not the LA defense is vulnerable depends a whole lot the Revs offense.
Saer Séne earned a second straight start with his game winning goal last week. His partner up top, however, or even if their are two strikers in our line up even might be harder to predict. New England could roll out plenty of quality midfield players despite Benny Feilhaber’s ankle injury. Shalrie Joseph will return to midfield to further his partnership with Clyde Simms. Kelyn Rowe has gotten plenty of minutes through the first three games, though Lee Nguyen has replaced him as a spark since preseason has ended. Last week’s choices suggest that Ryan Guy will join them in the midfield. Blake Brettschnieder is unlikely to beat out the two veteran internationals who were recently added. Jay Heaps described Bjorn Runstrom as having a sneaky game in between target forward and withdrawn striker. Saturday’s game in LA may come before Runstrom’s paperwork, so Columbian striker Pepe Moreno may finally give us something to talk about.
I am hopeful that the Revs can play with focus and intensity on par with their performance a week ago. LA has the firepower and teamwork that helped them become defending cup winners. I don’t fear LA, though, and I suspect the Revs can more than threaten to score. This week Joshua Nelson and I spoke with TMR Podcast and even Galaxy fan and Total-MLS writer, Johnathon Sykes on The Rebel Alliance Podcast. Head over there or find us on iTunes to hear their predictions. I went with a 1-0 Revs win and I’ll stick with that. Call me out on Twitter or email us at [email protected] if you think I’m prescient or just full of it.
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
