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April 24, 2009
BACK ON THE ROAD
Revs face RSL on Saturday
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Steve Nicol takes his charges back on the road Saturday.
Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images |
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Currently in second place in the Eastern Conference despite playing fewer games than every other team in the East, the New England Revolution will take its undefeated record on the road to face Real Salt Lake at the recently-opened Rio Tinto Stadium at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The game will be televised locally on TV38, while radio listeners can catch the action live on the WEEI Radio Network.
Saturday night’s match will mark the Revolution’s (2-0-2, 8 pts.) first-ever visit to Rio Tinto Stadium, where Real Salt Lake (2-2-0, 6 pts.) is undefeated with a pair of wins early in the 2009 campaign. It will be the first of two regular-season meetings between the clubs this season, and the only one at Rio Tinto Stadium, as the season series will conclude at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 23.
Despite the high altitude, New England has done surprisingly well on its four previous trips to Utah, going 2-1-1. However, the Revs are just 1-2-3 in their last six overall meetings with Real Salt Lake since winning both games between the clubs in 2005, when RSL was an expansion team.
The Revolution’s undefeated start to the season is made all the more impressive by the club’s difficult schedule, which has the Revs playing four of their first five matches – and five of their first seven – on the road . New England is one of only two teams in the league – along with the Colorado Rapids – to have only played one home game at this point in the season, but the Rapids will play their second home game this weekend, while the Revs remain on the road. The Revolution has already gone 1-0-2 away from Gillette Stadium, making the club one of just four teams in the league without a road loss.
Not only have the Revs begun the season undefeated while playing primarily on the road, but they’ve also continued to pile up the points despite dealing with an astonishing injury list. The Revolution has lost 21 man-games because of injuries just four games into the season, while the figure jumps to 22 with an added suspension . Taylor Twellman, Mauricio Castro and Gabriel Badilla (4 each), Matt Reis (3), Steve Ralston, Chris Albright and Kevin Alston (2 each) have all missed games because of injury this season, while Albright has missed an additional game because of suspension. The Revs lost 94 man-games because of injury in 2008, a figure which they are on pace to shatter if the current injury situation continues.
INJURY REPORT
PROBABLE: Jeff Larentowicz (R hip impingement)
Steve Ralston (R adductor strain)
Matt Reis (R knee inflammation)
QUESTIONABLE: Kheli Dube (R knee pain)
OUT: Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear)
Kevin Alston (R hamstring strain)
Gabriel Badilla (lower back sprain)
Mauricio Castro (L hamstring
Taylor Twellman (neck pain)
PROBABLE LINEUP: Matt Reis, Barnes, Jay Heaps, Amaechi Igwe, Chris Tierney, Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Sainey Nyassi, Wells Thompson, Steve Ralston, Kenny Mansally
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