Match 11.13 Preview: At New England Revolution

Match #: 11.13

Opponent: New England Revolution

Records:
New England Revolution, 3-4-3, 12 pts, 4th in East Conference, 8th in MLS
DC United, 7-1-4, 25 pts, 1st in East Conference , 1st in MLS

TV: MLSLive.TV - 6:00 PM

Previous Meeting: DC United 1 : 0 New England Revolution, June 3, 2006 (DCenters debriefing...)

Suggested Pregame Music: Anarchy X - Queensryche

The Stakes: A tedious one goal win and a disappointing draw comprise DC's last two games. The team is not in as good a form as we saw previously (to me, the best game played is still home against Houston). What's more, DC needs to find its form, as it will soon face its first game against the Chicago Fire, and a home-at-home series against Kansas City which has the power to reshape the look of the Eastern Conference table.

New England has seen a middling performance so far, but might sense an opportunity at home against a DC team that they kept close (if not particularly threatened) at RFK. They haven't won since May 13, but they did manage to spoil the Chicago stadium opening for the Fire with a comeback 3-3 draw. Four of their next five games are against weaker competition, so a win for the Revs means a nice little momentum boost going into a period where they can pick up some points.

I don't expect many surprises from either side tactically. Steve Nicol isn't going to abandon the hack and grab style simply because he's playing at home, or because Piotr Nowak told him to. The only issue is that he might see some increased scrutiny from the Ref based on those comments. Don't forget that Shalrie Joseph got an early yellow (as in, the first minute I think) of the 2004 Conference Championship, a decision that I think helped that game develop into a beautiful game of attacking soccer. If there's a yellow in the first fifteen minutes of this game, we might see the same.

Things I'd like to see: Prideaux and Walker as subs. Eskandarian needs to recover from his lackluster performance last week, so as to stop any "he's a streaky player" discussion.

Previews from the DCUniverse: DC SunDevil, SE Podcast (more as they appear.)

Expected Yield: 2.0 points. DC rights the ship with a decent performance, the only question is whether that leads to more goals than the Revs. I think, on balance, it will.

D's Location: At the SE Party at the Pour House.

Last Words: Genuine People Personalities