Revs on the outside looking in
Backs against the wall with three matches remaining
The Revolution’s precipitous slide in the stretch drive to the MLS Cup playoffs began with a late summer meltdown in Le Belle Province of Quebec.
The Revolution have gone 1-4-2 in the last seven “must win” games and the falloff got underway with a disastrous 4-0 drubbing by CF Montreal on Aug. 20 at Saputo Stadium.
“Our motivation is to win every game you’re playing, whether it is Montreal or anybody else,” said Revolution head coach Bruce Arena. “The game we played on Montreal was one where, in all fairness to our group, we were not able to start a healthy team.
“We had to make some adjustments to our lineup that obviously were not good. But I think we will field a stronger team on Saturday.”
The Revolution (9-11-11) are 10th in the Eastern Conference, three places below the cutoff with three games remaining in the season.
The Revolution have qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs the last three seasons but will likely need to win out to keep that streak active. The Revolution’s uphill struggle resumes at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when they host second-place CF Montreal (17-9-5) at Gillette
Stadium.
“I mean, the only motivation we need is that we need to make the playoffs,” said second-year center back Jon Bell. “So, it’s not about what happened last time, it’s about what’s ahead of us.
“The point is we still can make the playoffs, so for us that is all the motivation.”
CF Montreal is unlikely to catch the first-place Philadelphia Union, but they are determined to hold onto the second spot with Red Bulls New York within striking distance.
CF Montreal has netted 58 goals in 31 games and have three players with more tallies than Gustavo Bou, the Revolution’s leader with seven. Romell Quioto leads CF Montreal with 15 goals in 29 games while Kei Kamara and Djordje Mihailovic have eight apiece. Quioto had a brace in the last meeting between the two clubs.
“It’s no different than any game we are playing,” said Arena. “Obviously we are aware of their strikers who were outstanding against when we played, whatever it was, about a month ago.
“But Quioto and Kamara are two physically strong front runners. We have to do a good job against them and take away some of the service as well. But they are having an outstanding year.”