Playoffs? Playoffs? These two teams making the playoffs? Yes, despite their recent run of form both D.C. United and the New England Revolution find themselves in the MLS Cup. With an opportunity to turn around their recent fortunes both clubs will meet on Wednesday night at RFK Stadium with the added incentive of greater glory. The match will be played at 7pm EST and will be shown on UNiMAS, Comcast SportsNET Plus in Washington D.C., TSN 2 in Canada, and Comcast SportsNET in the New England area.
If their is one club that may have an advantage in this match, recent history seems to indicate that it would be United. D.C. won the season series against the Revs in 2015, first sneaking a late draw back in May at Foxborough and putting two past New England late to earn the 2-1 win in June. D.C. has a 19-9 advantage in their all-time series at RFK with 4 draws added in. New England has had a good run of form at RFK recently though with them winning three of the past five matches there.
D.C. United’s Fabian Espindola makes a deep run past New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell (photo credit: Jennifer Jordan-Harrell Photography)
Perhaps the biggest question for this match is can United’s back four of Taylor Kemp, Kofi Opare, Bobby Boswell, and Sean Franklin overcome their terrible form after their 5-0 defeat by Columbus Crew SC. While Sunday’s defeat was certainly an example of how dangerous Crew SC will be in the playoffs, it perhaps shined a brighter light on the problems of United’s defense. Using their advantage in speed on the outside, Crew SC torched Kemp and Franklin.
Although not exactly a carbon copy, the Revolution share many similar traits. Like Crew SC, the Revs have players on defense like Chris Tierney who can place long crosses to surging attackers on the counter-attack. Tierney’s partnership with midfielder Kellyn Rowe (7 goals, 6 assists) has helped the club during some very difficult portions of the season and will be critical to coach Jay Heaps’ attack on Wednesday.
Midfielder Lee Nguyen (7 goals, 10 assists) will also cause headaches for the United defense. Although he does not have the scoring touch that he had last season Nguyen is still one of the best passers in Major League Soccer and will serve as the focal point of the Revolution attack. On Sunday against New York City Football Club Nguyen dictated the entire pace of the match providing excellent passes in to forward Charlie Davies (10 goals, 4 assists) for scoring opportunities and holding on to possession when necessary. If D.C. falls behind early look for defensive midfielder Perry Kitchen to provide more pressure on Nguyen with the hope of disrupting the attack.
The good news is for United is that they will have their opportunities. Sunday’s disastrous result certainly sullies what was a nice two game rebound for D.C. The lack of scoring opportunities certainly hurt D.C.’s chances against Columbus, with forwards Fabian Espindola and Chris Rolfe being muzzled by a swarming Crew SC defense. United is at their best when midfielders Chris Pontius and Nick De Leon can lead on the counter-attack and open up space for Rolfe. The Revolution will look to plug up these leaks with Tierney and defender Andrew Farrell. But London Woodberry has struggled at right-back this season after taking over for right-back Darrius Barnes back in the April. With that small hole in New England’s defense look for United coach Ben Olsen to hit their weakness either with De Leon or Pontius.
With both teams doing just enough to qualify for the playoffs it is difficult to see a clear choice for a victor in this match. With New England having won last weekend it would seem that they would have the advantage coming into Wednesday night. But the MLS Cup Playoffs can often be unpredictable and with D.C. having a far superior home record (11-3-3) versus road record (4-10-3) it appears that the Red and the Black may just squeak by with a result.
