FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - After returning from the west coast this morning, the New England Revolution (9-8-6, 33 pts.) will hit the road once again this weekend when the club visits the New York Red Bulls at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, at Giants Stadium.
NEW ENGLAND VS. NEW YORK SERIES INFORMATION
•The Revolution leads the all-time, regular-season series with the New York Red Bulls (formerly the New York/New Jersey MetroStars), 24-16-10 ... the Revs are 8-12-6 on the road against New York.
•Friday night's match will be the third and final meeting between the Revs and Red Bulls in 2009, and the second at Giants Stadium ... the clubs played to a 1-1 draw in East Rutherford in the second game of the season on March 28, while the Revolution earned a 4-0 win in the most recent meeting on June 7 at Gillette Stadium.
•The Revolution is undefeated against New York in the teams' last 12 regular-season meetings (7-0-5) dating back to the end of the 2005 season, while the unbeaten run spans 14 games (8-0-6) including postseason matches ... New York's last victory in the regular-season series came on Sept. 17, 2005 - a 5-4 victory at Giants Stadium.
•The Revs haven't lost in their last seven visits to Giants Stadium - including one postseason match - going 2-0-5 in that span.
•This will be the Revolution's last-ever visit to Giants Stadium, the venue which New York has called home since MLS' inaugural season in 1996 ... the Red Bulls are scheduled to move into the brand new Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., for the start of the 2010 season.
•The Revolution's 4-0 win over the Red Bulls in the most recent meeting on June 7 was New England's greatest margin of victory over New York in the series history ... it matched the greatest margin of victory by either team in the series, as the then-MetroStars defeated the Revs, 4-0, on Aug. 14, 1996.
•New England's win over New York on June 7 snapped a string of four consecutive ties in the regular-season series.
•New England and New York have met in the postseason three times - all since 2003 - and the Revs have eliminated New York on each occasion ... the clubs' most recent playoff encounter was in the 2007 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
PLAYER NOTES VS. NEW YORK
•Taylor Twellman is the Revolution's all-time leading scorer against New York with 14 goals, while he's also added five assists in 19 career appearances ... he scored the 100th and 101st goals of his career in the Revs' 4-0 win on June 7 ... that appearance was Twellman's last match before being added to the disabled list.
•Five of Jay Heaps' 17 career goals have been scored against New York, a team which he has faced 34 times including his stint in Miami ... Heaps scored the game-winning goal in the Revolution's 4-0 win over the Red Bulls on June 7, and also wore the captain's armband as he became the ninth player in MLS history to make 300 career appearances.
•Including his time in Tampa Bay, Steve Ralston has recorded 21 assists in 44 career appearances against New York, more than he has recorded against any other team ... Ralston had one goal and one assist in the Revolution's 4-0 win on June 7.
•Matt Reis is 9-2-6 in his Revolution career against the Red Bulls, posting a 1.26 goals against average and six shutouts.
LAST MEETING
New England 4, New York 0
June 7, 2009 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
Taylor Twellman scored a pair of goals - including the 100th of his career - and Jay Heaps tallied the game-winning goal in his 300th career appearance as the Revs stretched their unbeaten run against the Red Bulls to 12 regular-season games ... Heaps opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time before setting up Steve Ralston's goal to make it 2-0 in the 52nd minute ... Twellman became the fifth player in MLS history to score 100 career regular-season goals in the 57th minute, converting Shalrie Joseph's feed, while he added his 101st tally in the 64th minute to complete the scoring ... Matt Reis made three saves to become the seventh goalkeeper in MLS history to record 50 shutouts.
NEWS & NOTES
MLS CUP PLAYOFFS WATCH: REVOLUTION SLIPS OUT OF POSTSEASON SPOT
It became apparent this past weekend just how tight the race is for a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs, as the Revolution (9-8-6, 33 pts.) entered last week locked in a four-way tie for seventh place but finished the week alone in 11th ... the Revs dropped a 2-0 decision to fellow playoff contender Chivas USA (11-9-3, 36 pts.), while Seattle Sounders FC (9-6-10, 37 pts.), D.C. United (8-6-12, 36 pts.) and Toronto FC (9-9-7, 34 pts.) all picked up three points and Real Salt Lake (9-9-7, 34 pts.) earned a draw ... with seven games remaining on their regular-season schedule, the Revs can return to the thick of the playoff hunt just as quickly, as they still have games in hand on almost every team with which they're fighting for a postseason spot.
REVOLUTION LOOKS TO SNAP BRIEF TWO-GAME SKID
With just seven games remaining in the regular season and the MLS Cup Playoffs within sight, the Revolution will be looking to end its brief two-game losing streak at a critical point in the schedule on Friday night in New York ... the Revs have dropped their last two games to the Kansas City Wizards (Sept. 5) and Chivas USA (Sept. 13), marking just the second time this season that the Revs have lost back-to-back regular-season games ... the only other time the Revolution lost consecutive league games this season was on April 25 (Real Salt Lake) and May 3 (Houston Dynamo) ... the Revs have not lost three straight regular-season games this year.
REVS' RUN OF SUCCESS AGAINST NEW YORK ON VERGE OF RECORD STATUS
The Revolution has a chance to make history on Friday night at Giants Stadium, as New England aims to extend its unbeaten run against New York to a league-record 13 games ... the Revs are 7-0-5 in their last 12 regular-season meetings with the Red Bulls, which matches the longest unbeaten run by any MLS team against a single opponent ... coincidentally, the record is shared by the San Jose Earthquakes, which went 9-0-3 against the Revolution from 2001-05 before being relocated to Houston ... including postseason matches, the Revolution is 8-0-6 in its last 14 meetings with the Red Bulls in all competitions.
FAREWELL, GIANTS STADIUM
Friday night's match will be the Revolution's last visit to Giants Stadium, the venue which New York has called home since the league's inaugural season in 1996 when the Red Bulls were known as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars ... the Red Bulls are scheduled to move into Red Bull Arena - a state-of-the-art facility located in Harrison, N.J. - for the start of the 2010 campaign ... the Revs are 8-12-6 in 26 previous regular-season games at Giants Stadium, while they went 1-1-1 in three postseason matches at the facility ... the Revolution will be looking to finish off a strong run of results at Giants Stadium, as the club is 2-0-5 in its last seven visits, including one postseason match.
A BIT OF HISTORY
It was an evening filled with milestones the last time the Revolution and Red Bulls met on June 7 at Gillette Stadium, with Taylor Twellman scoring his 100th career goal, Jay Heaps making his 300th career appearance and Matt Reis recording his 50th career shutout ... lost in the shuffle, however, was the fact that New England's 4-0 win over New York was the Revolution's greatest margin of victory in the all-time series, which includes 50 regular-season meetings, six postseason matches and one U.S. Open Cup match ... the four-goal win also matched the greatest margin of victory for either team in the all-time series, as New York defeated the Revs, 4-0, on Aug. 14, 1996.
REVS AIM TO REDISCOVER OFFENSIVE TOUCH
The Revolution will be looking to regain its recent goal-scoring form when the club visits the Red Bulls on Friday night, as the club was handed a rare shutout by Chivas USA in a 2-0 loss yesterday afternoon ... it was the first time the Revs were blanked in more than two months, a stretch spanning eight regular-season games and dating all the way back to a 0-0 draw with the Kansas City Wizards on July 11 ... not only that, but the Revolution had scored multiple goals in each of its previous three games prior to the Chivas USA match, registering a total of seven goals in that stretch ... the Revs scored a season-high four goals the last time they met the Red Bulls, in a 4-0 win on June 7.
MAKE THE MOST OF IT
It's been well documented that no team can ever be taken lightly in Major League Soccer, but the Revolution will look at Friday night's match against the New York Red Bulls as a crucial opportunity considering the remaining games on its schedule ... following the match against the Red Bulls (4-17-4, 16 pts.), five of the Revs' last six games will be against teams with winning records, including three games against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference: the Columbus Crew (11-4-9, 42 pts.) and Chicago Fire (10-6-9, 39 pts.) ... after New York, the Revolution's only remaining game against a team without a winning record is Sept. 30 against a resurgent FC Dallas (7-11-6, 27 pts.), in a match that will be played as part of a doubleheader at the Cotton Bowl.
LET'S TAKE THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD
The Revs will travel to New York this weekend for their second consecutive road game, continuing a stretch in which they play four of five away from home ... New England began the stretch with a 2-0 loss to Chivas USA yesterday afternoon, bringing the club's overall road record to 3-5-3 ... this is the Revolution's most concentrated span of road games since opening the season by playing four of five on the road ... overall, the Revs will play four of their remaining seven games away from Gillette Stadium.
REVS WELCOME BACK JOSEPH FROM SUSPENSION ...
All-Star midfielder Shalrie Joseph is eligible to return to the Revolution's lineup this week after serving his one-game suspension in the club's 2-0 loss to Chivas USA yesterday afternoon ... Joseph received the mandatory one-game suspension after he was red-carded in the 23rd minute of New England's 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Wizards on Sept. 5 ... three of Joseph's team-leading eight assists this season have been recorded in his two appearances against New York ... in his career, Joseph has two goals and six assists against the Red Bulls, which represents his greatest assist total against any team ... the Revs will be happy to have Joseph back, as their record in the three regular-season games Joseph has missed this season is 0-2-1, while they've failed to score a goal in those three games.
... BUT LOSE JANKAUSKAS AND THOMPSON
At the same time the Revolution will regain Shalrie Joseph following his suspension, the club will lose both Edgaras Jankauskas and Wells Thompson for this weekend's trip to New York, also with suspensions ... Jankauskas was shown a straight red card in the 70th minute of Sunday afternoon's 2-0 loss to Chivas USA, marking the first ejection of the Lithuanian forward's MLS career ... Thompson was issued a yellow card just three minutes after Jankauskas' ejection, bringing his total number of cautions on the season to eight and triggering an automatic one-game suspension ... this is Thompson's second suspension this season for caution accumulation.
