The Revolution play at Orlando on Wednesday. Photo/Kari Heistad
The New England Revolution face Orlando City FC this evening in Florida in their fourth-to-last match of the season. With their playoff hopes looking bleak, the Revs need to pick up maximum points to keep their post-season dreams alive.
Regardless, New England are looking to snap a year-long winless streak on the road.
Here are 10 reasons why the Revolution should notch their first road victory of 2017 tonight at Orlando:
- New England may be winless on the road, but Orlando aren’t THAT much better at home. The Lions have six home wins on the season – but haven’t won in the confines of their beautiful stadium since May 31.
- Orlando’s home victory on May 31 was against DC United – the worst team in MLS. They’ve won only two games since then (another at DC) and against Real Salt Lake. That makes just two wins in 16 games. Sure, New England have been downright dreadful on the road this season, but they haven’t been so bad that they’re hardly winning at all.
- Orlando are one-trick ponies, especially as of late. Their most dangerous player (who’s in the best current form) is Cyle Larin, who has 12 goals on the season. Larin’s supporting cast, namely Kaka, Giles Barnes, and Carlos Rivas, has had flashes of brilliance in recent weeks, but has been largely inconsistent.
- Take Kaka and Rivas. Kaka hasn’t had a goal or an assist in all of September. Rivas leads his team in shots, but has shot less this month than he has all season.
- While Orlando’s attack largely hinges on Larin – who is a threat the Revs need to guard – the Lions’ will have their hands full defending the Revolution attack. Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury, and Lee Nguyen are all in strong form; Diego Fagundez and Juan Agudelo have been quiet on the scoring front, though both have been invaluable in opening up space and creating chances for the aforementioned trio. In short, the Revolution have an easier task defending Orlando’s attack than Orlando does defending the Revs’ attack.
- Odds are the Revolution will get at least one goal. Scoring against Orlando – even on their home turf – hasn’t been particularly hard. Orlando’s last clean sheet came on June 30 (an away win at Salt Lake) and they haven’t kept a team from scoring at home since a 0-0 draw with Chicago on June 4.
- Orlando have only scored 18 home goals this year. That’s the third-lowest in MLS.
- The Lions are also missing three players for disciplinary reasons: Jonathan Spector, PC Giro, and Will Johnson.
- New England are in a tough position but seem to have inherited new signs of life under interim head coach Tom Soehn. The players are talking realistically about their playoff chances, but are also continuing to fight.
- The Revolution haven’t won a road game since last September at Montreal. There’s a collective urge to see that woeful streak – which has gone longer than one year now – to end, regardless of playoff hopes. The more time that goes by, the greater the odds of the Revs snapping the streak.
