FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Clinging to the eighth and final spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs with two games remaining, the New England Revolution (10-10-8, 38 pts.) closes out its 2009 regular-season home schedule against one of its biggest rivals, the Chicago Fire, at 6 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Gillette Stadium.
NEW ENGLAND VS. CHICAGO SERIES INFORMATION
• Chicago owns a slight edge in the all-time, all-competitions series between the two teams, 24-19-8 ... the Fire has the advantage in regular-season (15-13-7), U.S. Open Cup (2-0-0) and SuperLiga (1-0-0) meetings, while the clubs have split 13 postseason matches (6-6-1).
• The Revs are 15-9-2 against the Fire at home in all competitions ... that record includes a 9-7-1 mark in regular-season games, a 6-0-1 record in the MLS Cup Playoffs, a 0-1-0 mark in the U.S. Open Cup and a 0-1-0 record in SuperLiga ... New England is 12-7-1 against Chicago in all competitions at Gillette Stadium since the facility opened in 2002.
• Saturday night's match will conclude the regular-season series between the Revs and Fire, while it will be the only league meeting at Gillette Stadium ... the clubs played to a 1-1 draw at Toyota Park on May 9.
• The most recent meeting between the Revolution and Fire was on July 15, when the teams squared off in a SuperLiga 2009 semifinal at Gillette Stadium ... Chicago earned a 2-1 win en route to claiming a spot in the title match.
• The Revs are 0-5-2 in seven meetings with the Fire in all competitions dating back to the start of the 2008 season, including 0-3-1 in the regular season, 0-1-1 in the MLS Cup Playoffs and 0-1-0 in SuperLiga ... New England last beat Chicago in the 2007 Eastern Conference championship game, 1-0, on Nov. 8, 2007 at Gillette Stadium.
• The Revs are winless (0-3-1) in their last four home games against the Fire in all competitions, including a pair of regular-season losses and a playoff draw in 2008, and a SuperLiga 2009 semifinal loss on July 15, 2009.
• With their draw on May 9 at Toyota Park, the Revs snapped a four-game losing streak to the Fire in the regular-season series dating back to May of 2007.
• New England and Chicago have met in six of the last seven postseasons (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) and the last four overall ... in total, the teams have met in seven postseason series, all since 2000 ... the Revolution leads the all-time playoff series, 4-3.
PLAYER NOTES VS. CHICAGO
• Taylor Twellman is the Revolution's all-time leading scorer against the Fire with 12 goals, while he has also added five assists in 23 career regular-season appearances ... Twellman is currently on the disabled list (concussion) and will be unavailable on Saturday night, instead serving as the color analyst for the Revolution's radio broadcast.
• Jeff Larentowicz has two goals and two assists in 10 career regular-season appearances against the Fire, marking his best offensive output against any team ... Larentowicz does not have multiple career goals or assists against any other team.
• Shalrie Joseph has one goal and four assists in 18 career appearances against Chicago ... Joseph's lone goal against the Fire was scored in the clubs' 1-1 draw on May 9 at Toyota Park.
• Matt Reis is 7-10-3 against the Fire during his Revolution career with a 1.50 goals against average and three shutouts.
LAST REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGNew England 1, Chicago 1May 9, 2009 - Toyota Park (Bridgeview, Ill.)
Shalrie Joseph scored the game-tying goal in the 49th minute to end the Revolution's fifth-longest scoreless streak in club history at 269 minutes, as the visiting Revs earned a 1-1 draw with the Fire ... defender Wilman Conde gave Chicago the lead in the 36th minute with his third career goal - all of which had been scored against the Revolution - finishing a loose ball in the box following Cuauhtemoc Blanco's corner kick ... Joseph leveled the score at 1-1 just four minutes into the second half, however, firing home from close range after Jeff Larentowicz's initial cross was deflected to the back post.
NEWS & NOTES
MLS CUP PLAYOFFS WATCH: REVS CLING TO FINAL POSTSEASON SPOT
Despite their 1-0 loss to the Columbus Crew last Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, the Revs (10-10-8, 38 pts.) still occupy the eighth and final playoff spot with two games remaining in the regular season ... entering this week's action, three teams sit just two points back of the Revolution, as FC Dallas (10-12-6), D.C. United (8-8-12) and Toronto FC (9-10-9) are all on 36 points ... meanwhile, both Real Salt Lake (9-11-7, 34 pts.) and the Kansas City Wizards (8-12-8, 32 pts.) could also still mathematically catch the Revs in the final two weeks of the regular season.
REVS NEED A WIN AND HELP TO SECURE PLAYOFF SPOT THIS WEEKEND
The Revolution will need a win on Saturday night against Chicago and favorable results in five other matches to clinch a spot in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs this weekend ... the only scenario in which the Revs can secure a berth in the postseason this weekend is if they WIN and ALL of the following takes place:
• FC Dallas loses or draws.
• D.C. United loses or draws.
• Toronto FC loses or draws.
• Real Salt Lake picks up no more than three points from its two matches.
If RSL defeats the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday night, the Revs cannot clinch this weekend because RSL plays Toronto FC on Saturday ... New England cannot clinch or be eliminated from postseason contention with a loss or a draw, so the above scenario is the only way in which the Revolution's playoff fate will be decided before the final week of the regular season.
FOUR POSTSEASON SPOTS STILL UP FOR GRABS
Only Chivas USA secured a spot in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs last weekend, meaning that there are still four postseason spots to be filled in the final two weeks of the regular season ... remarkably, there are nine teams which are still mathematically alive for the four remaining spots, and eight of those teams maintain legitimate postseason hopes ... entering this week's action, just six points separate the eight-place Revs (10-10-8, 38 pts.) from the 13th-place Kansas City Wizards (8-12-8, 32 pts.).
TWELLMAN TO MAKE RADIO DEBUT AS COLOR ANALYST ON SATURDAY NIGHT
Limited to just two substitute appearances this season because of a neck injury and concussion, Taylor Twellman will step into the radio booth this weekend to serve as color analyst for the Revolution's match against the Chicago Fire ... Twellman - who became the youngest player in MLS history to score 100 career regular-season goals in his last appearance this season - will join play-by-play man Brad Feldman for the broadcast on WRKO 680 AM at 6 p.m. ... this will be Twellman's first-ever appearance as a color analyst ... he is filling in for regular color analyst Greg Lalas, who is the co-founder and organizer of Kicking and Screening, a soccer-specific film festival taking place in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
REVS SET FOR REGULAR-SEASON HOME FINALE
Saturday night's match against Chicago will be the Revolution's last home game of the regular season, as the club will close out the schedule with a trip to Columbus (Oct. 25) the following weekend ... the Revs are 9-4-0 in their 13 previous regular-season home finales, including a pair of wins over the Fire in 2004 and 2005 ... the Revolution has lost its last two regular-season home finales in 2007 and 2008, snapping a string of eight consecutive wins in such matches from 1999-2006 ... entering this weekend, the Revs are 7-4-3 at home in 2009.
THE BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE
While the Revs desperately need three points on Saturday night to fend off the teams chasing them for the final playoff spot, they would actually vault into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with a victory over the Fire ... New England (10-10-8, 38 pts.) trails Chicago (10-7-11, 41 pts.) by just three points and would pull level with the Fire with a win on Saturday ... that would put the Revs in the driver's seat to finish second in the East because they would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Chicago, as the teams drew, 1-1, at Toyota Park on May 9 ... the team which finishes second in the East will earn an automatic playoff berth and have home-field advantage in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
A POSSIBLE PLAYOFF PREVIEW
The New England Revolution and Chicago Fire have met in six of the last seven postseasons - including the last four overall - and with just two games remaining in the regular season, the possibility of a fifth straight postseason matchup is looking increasingly likely ... if the season was to end now, the Revs and Fire would finish as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Eastern Conference and would meet in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs ... in total, the teams have met in seven postseason series - all since 2000 - with the Revs leading the all-time playoff series, 4-3.
PARDON THE PUN: REVS RECENTLY BURNED BY THE FIRE
One of Major League Soccer's most bitter rivalries has been surprisingly one-sided in recent years, as the Revs are winless (0-5-2) against the Fire in all competitions since the start of the 2008 season ... that record includes a 0-3-1 mark in the regular season, a 0-1-1 record in the MLS Cup Playoffs and a 0-1-0 mark in SuperLiga ... the Revolution's last victory over the Fire came on Nov. 8, 2007, when Taylor Twellman's memorable bicycle kick goal earned New England its third straight Eastern Conference title and sent the club to yet another MLS Cup.
EIGHTH TIME IS A CHARM
The Revolution and Fire will not suffer from a lack of familiarity when the clubs meet on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, as this weekend's match will be the eighth meeting between the teams since the start of the 2008 season ... this will be the fifth regular-season meeting to go along with two postseason matches and a SuperLiga semifinal showdown ... besides fellow Eastern Conference foes Kansas City (7 meetings) and D.C. (6 meetings), the Revs have played no other team more than five times since the start of 2008.
FIRE'S ROAD RECORD MIGHT LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD
While the Revolution will have home-field advantage on Saturday night, Chicago will feel confident entering Gillette Stadium based on recent results ... the Fire has the best road record in Major League Soccer with a 6-3-5 (.607) mark away from home and is the only team in the league to have won more games on the road (6) than at home (4) ... not only that, but Chicago is 3-0-1 in its last four games in Foxborough in all competitions, including two regular-season wins, a SuperLiga 2009 semifinal win and a draw in the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs.
