After suffering its first loss since mid-May this past weekend in Kansas City, the New England Revolution will now turn its attention to SuperLiga 2009 as the club begins defense of its title by hosting Mexican Primera División club Santos Laguna on Sunday, June 21, at Gillette Stadium. The Revs will train in Foxborough five times this week in preparation for the match.
NEWS & NOTES
REVS OPEN SUPERLIGA TITLE DEFENSE AGAINST SANTOS LAGUNA ...
After becoming the first Major League Soccer team to raise the SuperLiga trophy in 2008, the Revolution will begin defense of its crown on Sunday night (June 21) when the club welcomes Mexican Primera División power Santos Laguna to Gillette Stadium ... New England and Santos are joined in Group B of the competition by the Kansas City Wizards (MLS) and Atlas (MEX), while Group A consists of the Chicago Fire and Chivas USA from MLS, and San Luis and Tigres UANL from Mexico ... the Revs will host all three of their group-play matches at Gillette Stadium, including matches against the Wizards (June 24) and Atlas (June 28) following Sunday night's meeting with Santos ... the SuperLiga 2009 semifinals will take place on July 15, and the final will be played on Aug. 5.
... IN A REMATCH FROM SUPERLIGA 2008
International competitions such as SuperLiga often provide matchups between clubs which know very little about each other, but that won't be the case on Sunday night when the Revolution hosts Santos Laguna ... New England and Santos met in the group stage of SuperLiga 2008 in a match that was also played at Gillette Stadium, with the Revs emerging victorious, 1-0, courtesy of Kheli Dube's 70th minute goal ... coincidentally, last year's game was the opener for both teams in Group B of the competition, just as it is again this year ... the Revs went on to win the group - and the entire competition - with a record of 2-0-1 (7 pts.), while Santos Laguna finished at the bottom of the group with a record of (0-2-1, 1 pt.).
MEMORIES OF GLORY
With the 2009 edition of SuperLiga set to begin this weekend, the Revolution will have fond memories of last year's competition, in which the club won its second-ever cup championship ... after finishing atop their group with wins over Mexican clubs Santos Laguna and Pachuca - and a draw with fellow MLS side Chivas USA - the Revs earned a hard-fought, 1-0 win over Mexico's Atlante in a heated semifinal match at Gillette Stadium ... that set up yet another championship meeting with the Houston Dynamo, this time on the Revolution's home field at Gillette Stadium ... with the backing of its home fans, New England emerged victorious, earning a 6-5 victory in a thrilling penalty shootout after regulation and extra time finished tied at 2-2.
BACK TO EVEN - REVS' RECORD AT .500
With their 3-1 loss to the Kansas City Wizards this past weekend, the Revs dropped back to .500 (4-4-4, 16 pts.) after briefly jumping above the mark with back-to-back wins ... New England now occupies sixth place in the Eastern Conference entering the club's break from the MLS schedule to participate in SuperLiga ... remarkably, there are currently only four teams in the league with records under .500, while there are another four teams even at .500 ... despite their current position in the Eastern Conference standings, the Revs still have games in hand on every other team in the conference, including multiple games in hand on every team except Columbus.
REVS TO PLAY FIVE GAMES IN 14 DAYS
After playing just 12 games in 13 weeks since the club's MLS season opened on March 21, the Revolution will make up for lost time with a hectic stretch of games in the coming weeks ... beginning with Sunday night's SuperLiga match against Santos Laguna (June 21) and ending with a regular-season contest against the LA Galaxy (July 4), the Revs will play five games in a 14-day span ... that stretch will include three SuperLiga group stage matches, one U.S. Open Cup game and an MLS regular-season match ... should the Revolution advance to the semifinals of both SuperLiga and the U.S. Open Cup, the club could ultimately play 11 games in a 35-day stretch from June 21 - July 25.
REVOLUTION PUTS REGULAR-SEASON ON HOLD
Because of the club's participation in SuperLiga 2009, the Revolution will take a break from its MLS schedule for the next two weekends and will have a total of 21 days in between league games ... after playing this past weekend against the Kansas City Wizards (June 13), the Revs won't return to MLS regular-season action until July 4, when they'll visit the LA Galaxy at The Home Depot Center ... the break from the MLS schedule is the longest for the Revs since their participation in SuperLiga 2008 last July/August.
REVS TO HOST U.S. OPEN CUP MATCH AT VETERANS STADIUM
The Revolution will host a third-round match in the 2009 U.S. Open Cup at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Conn., against either the Western Mass Pioneers or the Harrisburg City Islanders, both of the United Soccer Leagues' second division ... should the Revs face Harrisburg, the game will be played on Tuesday, June 30, while if the opponent is Western Mass, the game will be played on Wednesday, July 1 ... kickoff for either match date will be 7 p.m. ... New England will learn its third-round opponent on Tuesday, June 16, when Western Mass and Harrisburg will meet in Harrisburg for the chance to advance and play the Revs.
JOSEPH JUST ONE GOAL SHY OF CAREER HIGH ...
While Shalrie Joseph has bounced back and forth between playing as a forward and central midfielder in recent weeks, one aspect of his game has remained constant throughout - he just keeps scoring goals ... starting as a forward against Kansas City this past Saturday night, Joseph scored his team-leading fifth goal in the Revolution's 3-1 loss to the Wizards ... the goal was scored in the 28th minute, when Joseph met Steve Ralston's back-post cross and forced a header between Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and the post ... four of Joseph's five goals this season have been scored with his head ... with five goals on the season, Joseph is just one goal shy of the career-high mark (6) that he set in 2006, and the Revs haven't yet reached the midway point of the 2009 campaign.
... AND SUPERLIGA IS HIS TERRITORY
With Shalrie Joseph currently on a goal-scoring tear, don't expect the Revolution stalwart to slow down during the upcoming SuperLiga competition ... with three goals in SuperLiga 2008, Joseph was the competition's leading scorer ... just as four of Joseph's five goals in the 2009 MLS regular season have been scored with his head, all three of his goals in SuperLiga 2008 came via header ... Joseph scored the game-tying goal in the Revolution's 1-1 draw with Chivas USA in the group stage, while he also notched the game-winning goal in the 1-0 win over Atlante in the semifinal ... however, his biggest goal came in the final against the Houston Dynamo, when Joseph scored with time winding down in extra time to knot the game at 2-2 and send the game to penalty kicks.
REIS HOPES FOR REPEAT PERFORMANCE
Goalkeeper Matt Reis will be hoping he can replicate his performance from SuperLiga 2008 in this year's edition of the tournament, as the Revolution's backstop was named the State Farm Portero Supremo (Supreme Goalkeeper) last year ... Reis was crucial to New England's title-game triumph, as he stopped 12 shots in regulation and extra time before stopping a pair of penalty kicks in the shootout to lift the Revs to victory ... the veteran netminder finished the competition first in shutouts (3), goals against average (0.56), save percentage (.848) and saves (28).
