FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution will be without Shalrie Joseph for Tuesday night's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup third round contest with the USL First Division Rochester Raging Rhinos at Paetec Park in Rochester, N.Y.
Joseph aggravated his quadriceps injury in Saturday's 1-1 home draw with Chivas USA and was left off the travel roster for Tuesday's game.
"He's tight and sore," Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said. "It's just one of those things."
Joseph is one of the few regulars left out of the squad as New England takes most of its first team to Rochester.
Nicol could include returning striker Taylor Twellman in his starting 11. Twellman returned Friday from Copa America duty with the United States and saw action off the bench in Saturday's match. Twellman was not originally expected to be available for the tie, but wanted to play and was included in the traveling party.
Jeff Larentowicz (eye) was expected to be cleared to return to training on Monday but was not included in the traveling party.
With Doug Warren (concussion) out, Matt Reis should continue in between the sticks with rookie goalkeeper Brad Knighton in reserve.
The third round matchup is a reprisal of last year's meeting at the same stage of the competition. New England escaped from Paetec Park with a win on penalty kicks after a scoreless draw. The Revs are looking to notch their first win in regulation time away from home in Open Cup play (0-4-1).
"It's a typical cup tie," Nicol said. "We're expected to go there and win. It's a more known team versus a lesser known team. We're expected to win. They'll give everything they've got. We saw that last year."
The teams have met three times in Open Cup play. In addition to last year's contest, New England defeated the Rhinos 2-1 in 2003 at Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow, Mass., before Rochester won there on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 2004.
"I'm expecting that [the squad] will remember," Nicol said of last year's test. "We'll make sure to remind them if they forget. If Rochester is going to advance, they're going to have to make sure that they out-play us."
New England enters at this stage by virtue of its regular season finish last season, while Rochester advanced to this round after ousting USL Division 2 sides Long Island Rough Riders (1-0) and Western Mass. Pioneers (2-1).
Rochester (7-5-6, tied for first place in USL 1) is suffering from a spate of injuries that has left its starting 11 decimated for the contest. Starting striker Matthew Delicâte, who is second on the team in scoring with five goals, suffered a broken jaw in a 1-0 loss to Seattle on July 3. Delicâte's jaw is wired shut, ruling him out for the next six weeks.
Former Rapids goalkeeper Scott Vallow has been out since the third match of the season after injuring a tendon in his elbow and undergoing surgery in May. The veteran 'keeper is not expected back until early August.
Rochester is also missing former Real Salt Lake midfielder Kevin Novak (ankle) and midfielder Nate Craft (knee).
With Delicâte and Mike Ambersley (foot) ruled out and reserve forward Chad Severs cup-tied, the Rhinos are stretched thin along the forward line, but received a boost over the weekend as leading scorer Hamed Diallo pushed off a trip to France to sort out visa issues in order to play in Tuesday's contest with New England.
Rhinos head coach Laurie Calloway told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that Diallo and the club agreed to share the costs of delaying Diallo's trip to Paris for a meeting regarding his work visa until after Tuesday night's match because the club was short on strikers and Diallo wanted a chance to play against New England.
Diallo scored twice in Friday night's 2-1 league victory over the Carolina RailHawks and leads the team with six tallies on the season.
"They won the game on Friday in the 93rd minute," Nicol said. "That tells you all you need to know. They'll play for 90 minutes."
The club signed Portuguese goalkeeper Nuno Santos on Friday. Santos, who counts Benfica, Santa Clara (Portugal) and Leeds United (England League One - third division) among his former clubs, could be in contention to replace Chase Harrison for Tuesday's contest depending on his match fitness.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
