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The New England Revolution welcome the Chicago Fire on Saturday night. Here are three things you should know before the 7:30 kickoff:
1. Chicago lost midweek at Vancouver. With a record of 1-3-4, it's safe to say that the Fire are struggling. Those struggles continued on Wednesday night when the team dropped a 2-1 result at BC Place. A Kennedy Igbonanike strike was negated by a pair of Blas Perez goals to give the Vancouver Whitecaps full points. The Fire will now have to travel across the continent to face a long-time foe. Historically, the Fire haven't done great at Gillette Stadium as they are 8-12-2 when visiting. It's also worth noting that Jay Heaps has a 6-4-2 record against the Fire since becoming a head coach in 2011.
2. Kei Kamara scored four goals against the Fire last year. This week's big news was that the Revolution added Kamara as a Designated Player. The forward was coy about his involvement in this weekend's game, only saying that he's ready to play if called upon. Interestingly, his Revolution debut could come against a team he had a lot of success against in 2015. Kamara scored two goals against the Fire on May 22 and grabbed another on July 15. Four days later, the two teams met for a third time with Kamara once again finding the back of the net. Will he grab his first goal in Revolution colors against the underwhelming Fire? Time will tell.
3. This is the first of three home games for the Revolution. Point one mentioned that the Fire are struggling. Point three will now acknowledge that the Revs haven't had an ideal start to 2016. Currently holding a record of 1-3-7, the Revs need to start collecting points if they want to stay competitive in the topsy-turvy Eastern Conference. Saturday will be important as the team now faces three consecutive home games. The Revs locker room certainly knows how critical this stretch is, as Andrew Farrell called Saturday a "do-or-die kind of thing" and Je-Vaughn Watson stated that a win could put the Revs "back in the mix."