New England coach Jay Heaps made sure his Revolution did not bask in the glow of last Saturday's 3-1 victory at the LA Galaxy for very long.
Instead of resting on their laurels after an impressive performance at the Home Depot Center, the Revs quickly decamped to Frisco, Texas, to prepare for Thursday's tilt against FC Dallas (8:30 pm ET, watch LIVE online).
“We're already focused on Dallas,” Heaps told MLSsoccer.com by phone on Tuesday. “We're here in Dallas. We've got them on our mind. It's important to take what we did, understand that we can go on the road and put a performance together and know that we can use that as confidence going into this game.”
All of the positives from the win over the Galaxy will serve as fuel for an entirely different task against FCD. Schellas Hyndman's side usually harps on the need to keep the ball and offers a bit more speed down the flanks in its 4-1-4-1 setup.
Those operating principles, however, may change somewhat with Jair Benítez and Daniel Hernandez suspended for the encounter.
“It's very difficult [to keep a run going], especially in this league when you have teams that offer you so many different looks and so many different styles,” Revolution defender Chris Tierney said. “It's tough to make so many adjustments in a short period of time. This game will present us with a whole new set of challenges that weren't necessarily there in Los Angeles.”
Despite the inherent obstacles of playing two dissimilar sides in such a short space of time, the Revs hope to ride the confidence gained during the past two matches to snatch a third win on the trot against FCD.
“We'll see a different formation and they definitely like to keep the ball a bit more,” Revolution midfielder Clyde Simms said. “It's definitely going to be a different task, but I think we're ready for it.”
