The Revolution have found some scoring magic, and have momentum on their side in first matchup vs. Nashville
The New England Revolution enter Saturday night’s first meeting with Nashville SC riding a wave of momentum.
Coach Bruce Arena tabbed Sunday’s 2-0 win at DC United as the Revolution’s best game of the season, crediting his players for a complete performance in all aspects. The victory was the second in a row for the Revs and extended their points streak to three games.
Against Nashville – an expansion team in its first MLS season – the Revolution are seeking a season-best three-game winning streak and looking to maintain their fifth place position in the Eastern Conference standings. Kickoff at Gillette Stadium on Saturday is 7:30 p.m.
“I think we’re getting ourselves into a better form in the attacking end of the field and hopefully we’ll be able to score goals on a consistent basis,” Arena said. “I think we have nine games remaining and all these games are important until we get to the end of the regular season. The games are meaningful and we’re all jockeying for playoff position. We need to be successful at home.”
After registering just six goals in the first seven games of the MLS regular-season restart, the Revolution (5-3-6, 21 points) have broken through on the offensive end with five goals in their last two contests. In Sunday’s win over D.C. United, the offense was held scoreless for the first 86 minutes until Gustavo Bou and Adam Buska scored in the final minutes of regulation to pull out a 2-0 win.
Midfielder/defender Brandon Bye believes the Revolution are creating more chances inside the box and that different players are stepping up at important points to fuel the resurgent offense.
“I think we’re finding a little more rhythm and guys are stepping up and scoring more goals, which is the important thing,” said Bye. “I’m excited to see what the next couple games are going to look like and I feel like everyone is stepping up at the right time.”
Arena said he doesn’t know much about Nashville, which missed the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando because of a COVID-19 outbreak and has only played 13 MLS games. Nashville (4-5-4) is in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 16 points.
“They’ve been kind of an unknown because they missed the tournament in Orlando and the two games that started the year I think everyone forgets,” said Arena. “We only started seeing Nashville in August. They’ve had a good defensive record and the one characteristic I see with this team is as an expansion team they’re built around MLS veterans. They’ll be challenging.”
The Revolution’s road game at New York City FC on Oct. 11 was moved to Yankee Stadium with a 4:30 p.m. start time.
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