FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution today announced that the Republic of Ireland National Team will face the Bolivia National Team at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, May 26, 2007, in the first game of a special soccer event doubleheader that will also feature the Revolution against the Kansas City Wizards.
The Ireland-Bolivia match will kickoff at 4 p.m. ET, and will be followed by New England-Kansas City game at 6:30 p.m. (Please note this is a change from the originally announced start time of 7:30 p.m. for the MLS game.)
Tickets for the doubleheader event start at $37, and group discounts are available for parties of 20 or more. Revolution Center Circle season-ticket holders will use their game ticket for Center Circle Event #3 (Revs vs. Kansas City) to attend both matches of the doubleheader, but the Ireland-Bolivia game will be counted as Special Soccer Event "D" in the season-ticket packages.
Ireland will be making its first trip to the Boston area in seven years. The squad is currently tied for first place in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying with Germany and the Czech Republic.
The Irish feature experienced players like Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG), Damian Duff (Newcastle United/ENG) and Shay Given (Newcastle United/ENG). Ireland's next Euro 2008 qualifying match is Sept.8 against Slovakia. Ireland is managed by Stephen Staunton, a former national team star and teammate of Revolution head coach Steve Nicol at Liverpool FC.
The upcoming match in Foxborough between Ireland and Bolivia will mark the third encounter between the countries' national teams. Ireland, returning to the Boston area for the first time since June 2000 when they played a 1-1 draw with the U.S. National Team, has won all of its previous matches against Bolivia, including a 3-0 result in 1996 in New York.
Bolivia has played once before in the Boston area, a 0-0 draw against South Korea during the 1994 FIFA World Cup at Foxboro Stadium. The Bolivian team includes Juan Manuel Peña (CF Villareal/SPA), Gualberto Mojica (Pacos Ferreira/POR) and Ronald Raldes (Rosario Central/ARG). The squad is managed by Erwin "Platini" Sanchez, who was the first Bolivian to play professionally in Europe and had a lengthy career in Portugal. Sanchez was also a member of Bolivia's '94 World Cup squad that played in Foxborough.
Tickets will go on sale for the special event at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 3. For more information or to order tickets, call 1-877-GET-REVS or Massachusetts Ticketmaster outlets at (617) 931-2222.
