FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Coming off of back-to-back wins, the New England Revolution have placed themselves in prime position to punch their playoff ticket.
While it took until the final game last season before the Revs were assured of postseason play, this time around the focus is on making sure there are no doubts as they head north of the border for a match against the Montreal Impact on Saturday (4 pm ET, Univision Deportes in US, TSN2 in Canada).
“We win that game and we’re 100 percent into the playoffs,” said New England midfielder Jermaine Jones prior to a training session this week. “We want to make sure that’s the point when we fly back from Montreal. We are going to work hard in training to be focused on that game.”
For New England it’s even easier than that, as a draw versus the Impact will also do the trick. If all else fails, a Toronto FC draw or loss against New York will clinch the Revs' place.
The Revs and Impact have split their first two matches of the season, with New England taking a 2-1 victory at home less than a month ago. The last time these two clubs met at Stade Saputo, at the end of May, it resulted in a 2-0 loss for New England that touched off an eight-game losing streak.
Not looking back, the Revs, winners of seven of their last eight, know that this is a far different group, one capable of overcoming even the deepest of slumps in taking things week by week.
“We have to worry about ourselves right now,” said coach Jay Heaps. “For us, we need to win to get into the playoffs and we need to keep going one game at a time. It’s vital for us to go there and to get points in the game some way, shape or form. We’re locked and loaded on our next game; that’s where we’re focused.”
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That type of tunnel vision has led the Revs to a 15-win season, the most wins for the club since they set a team mark with 17 in 2005.
They are also only a win away from matching last season’s 51 points. If they could pick those up on Saturday, it would mean a whole lot more for this group.
“We are close,” said Jones. “We want to win that [match on Saturday] and then in the playoffs we will see game for game.”
