FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It’s a three-headed attack that produced the best offense in the league this year. And the New England Revolution know that success in Sunday’s MLS Cup (3 pm ET; ESPN, UniMas, UDN, TSN1, RDS2) starts with trying to contain it.
The combination of Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan and Gyasi Zardes accounted for 65 percent of the LA Galaxy's offense during the regular season and an even higher percent of sleepless nights for opposing defenses.
“It’s a nightmare, to be honest,” said Chris Tierney. “You try to minimize service into those guys and try and close them down when they do have the ball, force them into areas where they’re maybe a little less comfortable.”
Added Lee Nguyen: “LA’s probably one of the strongest teams going forward. You’ve got Robbie, Zardes and Landon who can hurt you in so many different ways. If we can neutralize those guys, I think then it’s a matter of if they can defend us.”
After averaging a little over two goals per game during the regular season, the Galaxy offense is producing at a rate of 1.75 goals per through four postseason matches. But even when the Galaxy offense isn’t living up to its own prolific standards, the club still finds a way. Just ask Seattle, who held the Galaxy to one goal in each leg of the Western Conference Championship and still managed to lose the series.
Sunday’s match is a one-off event, of course, so New England can try to take a page from Seattle’s playbook, as the Sounders were able to limit the talented trio’s shots on target to five in the series.
“We need to defend as a unit,” said Revs defender Kevin Alston. “We need to work together as a team to try and stop them. We’ve got to work for each other and make sure we limit the mistakes in the back and stay tight.”
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The last time New England faced the Galaxy's offense, they were slapped with a 5-1 defeat, their biggest losing margin of the season. That was back in July, however, in the midst of the Revolution's eight-game midseason losing streak.
That New England team no longer exists. The squad that will enter Stub Hub Center on Sunday is much more fearless, having lost only four times in their 20 matches since.
“It’s a very difficult matchup,” said Tierney. “But it’s one game and there’s no reason why we can’t be better on the day and win a trophy.”
