The New England Revolution will continue their quest for a home playoff spot in the Eastern Conference when they travel to Orlando City on Saturday. The Revs enter the match one point back of Columbus for fourth place in the conference but already have clinched a playoff berth.
New England (14-7-10, 52 points) are coming off a midweek loss to the Crew. The 2-1 defeat snapped the Revs’ home unbeaten streak (11-1-4).
“We feel confident we can win any game against anyone, but certainly know we have to play a game that’s more mistake-free in order to win those games,” said Revs interim head coach Clint Peay.
New England has not lost in 10 straight MLS meetings, including the postseason, against Orlando (6-0-4) but is without a win in 11 consecutive road matches (0-5-6) across all competitions, with their last away win coming on May 6 at Toronto.
Midfielder Carles Gil has paced the Revs this season with nine goals, and his 23 goal contributions are one shy of his career high (24).
Orlando City (16-7-9, 57 points) snapped an eight-match winless streak against Nashville SC with a 1-0 victory on Wednesday. Orlando keeper Pedro Gallese recorded his 10th clean sheet of the MLS regular season in the win – he is the first Lions goalie to record 10 shutouts in a season.
The Lions will attempt to snap their skid against the Revs. Orlando has not defeated New England since a 2-1 extra-time victory during the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.
“The variations we tried, and we did during the game, they responded very good,” said Orlando City coach Oscar Pareja. “It was a great effort from the team that has matured and knows where we are.”
Orlando is second in the Eastern Conference standings and three points up on third-place Philadelphia. Three points on Saturday will inch the Lions closer to locking up the second seed.
–Field Level Media
