Union clash vital for Revs
FOXBORO — The distractions are plentiful. The Patriots own the limelight around Gillette Stadium with the opening of training camp this week. Tomorrow, two of Italy’s Serie A juggernauts, Juventus and AS Roma, will clash in an international Champions Cup contest.
So, the blinders were on for the Revolution players during a pair of early week training sessions at a new all-grass practice field located in a secluded portion of the Foxboro lot. The Revs can ill afford to be looking elsewhere with three valuable points up for grabs tonight as the Philadelphia Union come to town.
“We have a key game (tonight); anything else doesn’t matter. It’s a big six-point (swing) game,” said Revs coach Jay Heaps.
“We need three points as much as anybody. We have a game here in front of us that we have to take advantage of. Each game we want to build on. We have to focus on ourselves.”
The Revs are coming off a character-testing 4-3 victory over the LA Galaxy last week. Teal Bunbury came off the bench to score twice, notching the fourth multiple-goal effort of his career. Lee Nguyen and Kei Kamara also scored, while Diego Fagundez posted a pair of assists.
The teams are meeting for the second time this season, with Philadelphia taking a 3-0 win on July 2 at Talen Energy Stadium. The Union have now won the last three meetings between the Eastern rivals, outscoring the Revs 10-0 over that span.
But while the Union (7-9-5) sit three points ahead in the conference standings, the Revs (6-9-5) have to be considered the favorites — thanks to a 6-2-2 mark at home, while the Union are just 1-6-3 on the road.
“It’s very important. The tables don’t lie. We need all the points we can get. We’re at home, a place where we expect to win,” said midfielder Chris Tierney, who is two assists shy of the 40 career plateau. “We’re not over the moon with (last week’s) victory. The schedule is condensed a little bit and these are six-point games that we have to win.
“We have a lot of important games coming up and we’re still hungry. We need all hands on deck.”
Midfielder Nguyen, who is two goals shy of becoming the second Rev in history to reach the half-century mark, agreed the team’s position in the league standings leaves little wiggle room for a club sitting eight points adrift of the final playoff spot in the East.
“Every game counts. We’re at the point where we have to get points in every match we play. We did the job last week and now we have to do the same thing this week going forward,” said Nguyen.
“You’re seeing a lot of guys playing for each other. You’re starting to see guys with more options on the ball with one, two, three runs. For guys like me and Diego, we like to possess the ball in the final third (of the field), so movement is important.”
The home side will be bolstered by the return of defender Je-Vaughn Watson and Juan Agudelo from recent international duty. Agudelo was on the winning side of the U.S. national team’s 2-1 victory over Jamaica in Wednesday’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final, although he did not play. Watson scored the lone goal for the Reggae Boyz in defeat.
“It will be exciting to get them back,” said Heaps, noting Watson played a full 90 minutes Wednesday and may have his playing minutes monitored, while Agudelo was used primarily in the early round matches by U.S. coach Bruce Arena.
The Union did help the Revs’ playoff hopes their last time out, beating the Columbus Crew — holders of the last East playoff spot — 3-0 on Wednesday night.