:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/4196759/126563557.jpg)
The New England Revolution will take the rainy Gillette Stadium pitch tonight looking for their first win of the 2012 season against an Eastern Conference opponent. The Fire come into this game with a record of 5-4-3 and a road record of 2-3-1. Both clubs are still feeling the burn of being eliminated from the US Open Cup tournament on Tuesday, both by lower division sides, and will surely be hungry for three points to help ease the pain.
Jay Heaps’ squad is a bit beaten and battered after Tuesday’s 2-hour affair, which came only three days after their Saturday match-up against D.C. United, and the big question will be how those tired legs will cope with the speed and pace of the Chicago Fire. The Revs’ back-line will have their hands full tonight with the likes of Dominic Oduro and Patrick Nyarko, but the Fire’s back-line may be just as weary of the Revolution’s Saer Sene, who is currently tied with D.C.’s Maicon Santos for 4th most goals scored in MLS so far this season.
The underlying storyline is the Fire’s nearly infallible record against the Revolution heading into tonight’s match. The Revs have not won against their windy city opponents in the past ten meetings, and of those ten matches have only so much as tied in three of them. Is tonight the night that Jay Heaps’ Revolution shows just how revamped they are under their new gaffer? We’ll just have to see.
Live chat as well as starting lineups after the jump!
Revolution (4-4-2):
Reis; Tierney; Soares; McCarthy, Alston; Nguyen, Feilhaber, Joseph, Cardenas; Moreno, Sene
Subs: Shuttleworth, Barnes, Brettschneider, Fagundez, Lozano, Rowe, White
Fire (4-4-2):
Johnson; Segares, Berry, Anibaba, Gargan; Barouch, Pardo, Grazzini, Pause; Nyarko, Oduro
Subs: Tornaghi, Jumper, Paladini, Puppo, Robayo, Rolfe, Videira