Coming off a great performance against Houston, D.C. United aims to carry that momentum into Saturday, when the Black-and-Red takes on the New England Revolution.
The Revs, currently on a six-game undefeated streak, scored 10 goals in its last two games. United, though, is playing with confidence and is up for the challenge.
“I don’t think they’ve lost since we beat them here about a month ago,” Assistant Coach Amos Magee said of New England. “They’re a very dynamic attacking team. They’ve scored 5 goals in [ each of ] the last two games. We know we’re in for a very tough match.”
With goals coming from forwards Diego Fagundez, Patrick Mullins and Teal Bunbury, and midfielders like Chris Tierney and Lee Nguyen in the last two games, DCU’s midfield and backline have a lot of responsibility.
“They’re a handful,” Magee continued. “We expect their front five, which has been very dynamic, will continue to be dynamic. We have to be very buttoned up defensively. We have to have good communication, and good organization and good structure— which I think we’re ready to do.”
Coming off a clean sheet against a good Dynamo attack, there is full belief in center backs Bobby Boswell and Jeff Parke to lead this team to a win at Gillette Stadium.
“We’ve had some good defensive performances over the past month as well. It’s going to be a tough battle, particularly with us coming off of three days rest and them off a week’s rest. But, I think our guys are ready; they’re mature enough to be able to deal with it,” he said.
In addition to registering the shutout on Wednesday, D.C. United scored two great goals from forwards Chris Rolfe and Fabián Espíndola. So, while the Black-and-Red need to have a lock-down performance defensively, you can’t win if you don’t score.
“We need to keep getting timely goals,” Magee expressed. “We need to have our big guys keep stepping up. Eddie Johnson will be back from suspension, so that’s going to help. Rofley and Fabi were both excellent [on Wednesday] and will be good moving forward.”
This will be United’s third game in one week, so the Revs are banking on tired legs in Black-and-Red. But, D.C. has depth—plenty of players ready to step up.
“Were going to have to have some younger guys step in; Luis Silva and Perry [Kitchen] and Nick DeLeon chip in their goals here and there. They’ll score their goals, and this will be a good place for them to start.”
Tune in to Comcast SportsNet tomorrow, May 24 at 7:30 pm to support the Black-and-Red against the Revs!
