New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls: Live Game Thread

Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. the New York Red Bulls live game thread! This will be the first time the I-95 rivals meet this season after splitting the series in 2010 with home victories for each side. It is also New England's second-ever visit to Red Bull Arena and the first time they will face Thierry Henry in league competition.

The key for the Revs tonight is to be defensively sound and act decisively on the break. Despite fielding a very depleted roster from the Gold Cup, the Red Bulls are still an incredibly dangerous attacking team with the likes of Joel Lindpere, Luke Rodgers, Mehdi Ballouchy and, of course, Henry. A moment's lack of focus would spell doom for New England.

Conversely, the Red Bulls already had a shaky defense moving into this match, and the loss of their starting center-back pairing Tim Ream and Rafael Marquez will do them no favors. If the Revolution can manage to make a couple of intelligent moves in the final third instead of wasting chances as they have lately, they could take advantage and steal three points tonight.

Some game notes:

• The Revs lead the all-time, regular-season series with the New York Red Bulls (formerly the New York/New Jersey MetroStars), 25-17-11 … the Revs are 8-13-7 on the road against New York (0-1-0 at Red Bull Arena in MLS regular-season action), while sporting a 17-4-4 mark in Foxborough – including a 10-1-3 record at Gillette Stadium
• Friday’s match is the first of two games between the teams in the 2011 regular-season series … the teams will conclude the series at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, August 20
• Until New York earned a 2-0 win at Red Bull Arena on Oct. 21, 2010, the Revolution was unbeaten against New York in the teams’ previous 14 regular-season meetings (8-0-6) dating back to the end of the 2005 season … before October’s win, New York’s last victory in the regular-season series came on Sept. 17, 2005 – a 5-4 victory at Giants Stadium
• The Revs are 10-0-3 in their last 13 home games against the Red Bulls dating back to 2002 … New York hasn’t won in Foxborough since June 29, 2002 – a 2-0 win in the club’s first-ever visit to Gillette Stadium.
• This will mark the 62nd all-time meeting between the Revolution and Red Bulls in MLS regular-season, postseason and tournament action combined, tied for the most meetings against any opponent in club history (D.C. United, also with 62 meetings)
• 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

Lineups and your comments after the jump.

Lineups

Revolution: Reis; Alston, Cochrane, Soares, Domi; Dabo, Phelan, Joseph; Boggs, Lekic, Tierney

Bench: Shuttleworth, Mansally, Dube, Barnes, Coria, Nyassi, McCarthy

Red Bulls: Sutton; Solli, Mendes, Keel, Miller; Ballouchy, Tainio, Lindpere, Da Luz; Rodgers, Henry

Bench: Coundoul, Kassel, Rooney, Hertzog, Lassiter, Schneider, Hot