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New England Revolution need to snap out of late-season funk – Metro US

New England Revolution need to snap out of late-season funk

New England Revolution need to snap out of late-season funk
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It will be at least a month between victories (last one was 2-1 over Red Bulls on September 16) for the Revolution but there is still no need to panic in Foxborough just yet. New England (13-11-8) stumbled to a 3-1 loss on Saturday at Toyota Park vs. Chicago (8-18-6), as their winless streak extended to three matches (0-2-1). On the bright side for the Revs, their next game isn’t until Saturday, October 17 (7:30, CSN) at Gillette Stadium vs. Montreal (12-12-6) so they have plenty of time to regroup and get back in the right direction heading into the last two matches of the regular season.

After that home finale, they close things out on Sunday, October 25 at Yankee Stadium vs. NYCFC (10-15-7), who will likely be playing for nothing but pride and perhaps a spoiler role. Sandwiched around an ugly 3-0 loss in Montreal on September 19 and that disappointing result to the last-place Fire, the Revs gained a much-needed point on September 26 with a 1-1 draw against the Union (9-16-7). New England isn’t in much danger of missing the playoffs entirely (they would have to lose the last two matches in blowout fashion and Orlando City would need to win their final two by very unlikely margins), but they could simply move on to the next phase by beating the Impact a week from Saturday.

“All three of the games were different in terms of how frustrating they’ve been,” admitted New England head coach Jay Heaps after the loss to Chicago. “There is really only so much you can do as a group with last weekend’s game. We really did go about it the right way and missed a chance to win despite playing particularly well. Whatever the situation is, for today we didn’t have a great second half (2nd straight match that they blew a lead).”

As it stands, the Revolution are currently in third-place in the Eastern Conference but they are tied with Columbus (13-11-8) and only one point ahead of Toronto (14-13-4) who also has one game in hand on the Revs. They can still catch second-place D.C. United (14-12-6) who is only one point in front of New England while the Red Bulls (15-9-6) have essentially clinched the top spot by being three points ahead of D.C. with two games in hand.

You wouldn’t think that home-field advantage is too much of a factor in soccer but don’t tell that to the Revolution. They are 9-1-6 at Gillette this season and 4-10-2 on the road. This is why it is so important for them to get second-place in the East (and the bye) or at least remain in the top-four so that they have home-field in the knockout round (one match) which begins on October 28. The Eastern Conference semifinals (two matches) take place November 1 and 8 with the Eastern Conference finals (two matches) on November 22 and 29. The 2015 MLS Cup is on December 6.