FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Locked into the second spot in the Eastern Conference, the New England Revolution aren’t about to rest on their laurels.
Looking toward Saturday’s season finale against Toronto FC, who have been eliminated from playoff contention (7:30 pm ET, MLS Live in US/TSN2 in Canada), the Revs feel that their best option as they head into their second consecutive playoffs is to do so carrying some all-important momentum.
“We know there is no consequence of the game, but it doesn’t really matter,” said defender A.J. Soares. “It’s all about us, and looking forward we know that if we have a good performance here, that’ll carry into the next week.”
Riding a 9-1-2 mark since August, New England is one of the hottest teams in the league.
With nothing on the line with regard to standings, Saturday’s match looks on paper to serve the purpose of affording players some rest prior to the second season kicking in.
Coach Jay Heaps is very confident in the depth he has, and although this match should provide some extra minutes to players who might not get them in bunches, don’t expect a drastic overhaul of the Revs' lineup as they look to keep the train rolling.
“We’ve had a little bit of time off with this past week in playing on a Thursday, so we’ve had ample time to recover,” Heaps said on Wednesday. “We’re going to be smart about the weekend, but at the same time you want to go into the playoffs on the right foot. I think winning at home is really important.”
New England’s unique situation is something they were not provided with a season ago, having to play to the very last minute of the regular season before a playoff berth was assured.
- Get more New England news at RevolutionSoccer.net
Saturday gives them an opportunity to sow up some loose ends, most notably on the defensive side where they have not posted a clean sheet since Aug. 30, which just so happened to come against Toronto. Additionally, conceding first is still an issue.
“We watch the film on every game; we see little errors that we can correct,” said Soares. “We want to go into this game and have a good performance.
“We want to win the Cup, there’s no doubt about that. It starts this Saturday with a game where we can tighten the screws. We want to take momentum into the playoffs if we can.”
