It’s time to Rev up playoff push
FOXBORO — To say it is nitty-gritty time for the Revolution and their flickering playoff hopes would be an understatement. Including tonight’s contest at Gillette Stadium with the Portland Timbers, only nine games remain on the regular-season schedule.
The seventh-place Revs (7-10-8) are desperately looking to make up ground in a quest to nab the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. Currently, their 29 points are four shy of No. 6 Montreal (10-14-3).
“At this stage of the season, we have to get three points,” said Revs coach Brad Friedel. “We’re playing a team that is playing its third game in seven or eight days and has to travel across the country so hopefully we can use that to our advantage. We have to keep the tempo as high as possible because they are going to want to keep the tempo as low as possible.”
The Revs are clearly in a funk, going winless in their last eight (0-6-2) outings. The team’s last victory was a 3-2 decision over D.C. United on June 30 at Gillette. Freidel said there is no magic elixir to alter the skid.
“Hard work. There’s no secret. It’s coming out on the practice field and working hard every single day. We have to get as many players out on that field to work hard together and not lose their confidence,” Friedel said. “Honestly, the attitude and the effort has always been there and other than the first half of the D.C. game (Aug. 19), which was not my favorite half of soccer to watch and the second half of the Montreal game (May 5), the same way. Although the results have not gone our way of late, especially the Atlanta game (May 30), the Philadelphia game (Aug. 25), the Minnesota game (July 18), the play has been pretty good.”
One of the players Friedel will be looking to lean on has not been around the Gillette Stadium environs very long: Newly signed defender Michael Mancienne. The 30-year-old defender, who first crossed paths with Friedel when both were playing in England, owns 99 combined appearances in the English Premier League (EPL) and German Bundesliga. Mancienne was signed as a free transfer on Aug. 3.
“Experience is the big thing. I bring experience. I know how to fight through different situations. I’ve been in different situations. I know how to close out games, playing under pressure,” Mancienne said. “That’s football. Every team goes through it, a little bit of a rough patch. You have to get through that rough patch and maintain what you do as a team and not change what you do.”
Mancienne said the players — he knows fellow defender Claude Dielna from their days in England’s second tier — have rolled out the welcome mat to him.
“Everyone has been welcoming. I’ll play left side, right side. I’m comfortable playing either side,” he said. “Like on any team, it takes time to know each other’s game. It takes time to build relationships. Hopefully, we can build this quickly and make the playoffs. That’s the goal. Once you pick up the first win, you can go on a run and win two, three, four in a row. Hopefully, that can happen for us.”
Another Revs newcomer, Cristian Penilla, needs one goal to join Teal Bunbury (11) as the squad’s only double-digit scorers. That would mark the second straight season and fifth time in history that a pair of Revs players scored at least 10 goals in the same campaign.
There is a coaching connection between Portland (11-7-7) and the Revs as Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese made 27 appearances for New England in 1999, while Portland assistant Carlos Llamosa served on former Revs coach Jay Heaps’ staff in 2017 and also played in 38 games for the Revs from 2002-05.
In addition, Llamosa and Friedel were teammates on the United States’ World Cup squad in 2002.
There will be a players reunion as well as Revs Bunbury and Scott Caldwell were teammates at Akron University with Portland defender Zack Valentin in 2009.