New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 14
Gillette Stadium — Foxborough
June 2 - 7:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Their winning streak was snapped at four, but the New York Red Bulls extended an unbeaten run to five following a 0-0 draw with the Philadelphia Union last Saturday. They head up I-95 to face a New England Revolution team that rallied late to secure a 1-1 draw with Atlanta United Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium.

The Revs are 4-2-2 at “Fortress Foxborough” this season and the Red Bulls have historically struggled there (6W-21L-7D), but they pulled out a 3-2 victory there last July on a 90th-minute winner by Gonzalo Veron.

The Red Bulls have won three straight games against the Revolution. The last time New York won four straight games against New England was from September 7, 2001 – July 20, 2002, per Opta.

New England Revolution

After conceding the late equalizer in a 3-3 draw in Vancouver last week, New England (5-4-4) netted the tying goal two minutes from full time in a 1-1 draw with Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta United Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium.

Brad Friedel went back to a 4-2-3-1 formation on Wednesday with Antonio Delamea replacing Claude Dielna centrally and Chris Tierney starting on the left of a back four and Scott Caldwell partnering with Wilfried Zahibo in central midfield.

After conceding Josef Martinez’s league-leading ninth goal of the season in the 23rd minute, Teal Bunbury leveled from the penalty spot in the 88th minute for his seventh goal of the season. It matched his highest goal output in a season for the Revs (set last season) and is two goals off his best output in his second season with Sporting Kansas City in 2011.

“We want to get three points, so I wouldn’t say it feels like a win,” Bunbury said after the game. “Atlanta’s a good team, they have a lot of key players, but we kept pushing and we got a point. We’ll assess this game and good thing we have a game in a couple of days against the Red Bulls, who are another great team and another great matchup, an Eastern Conference rival and we’re going to be looking to get three points in that game as well.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Luis Caicedo, D - Claude Dielna
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Isaac Angking (illness); QUESTIONABLE: F - Juan Agudelo (hamstring injury), D - Chris Tierney (knee injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Matt Turner — Andrew Farrell, Antonio Delamea, Jalil Anibaba, Gabriel Somi — Scott Caldwell, Wilfried Zahibo — Luis Caicedo, Diego Fagundez, Cristian Penilla — Teal Bunbury

Notes: The Revolution have conceded one goal per game at home this season. New England conceded 0.9 goals per home game last year, tied for the fifth best rate in the league. … New England have conceded 19 goals this season, all of which have come from inside the box. They are one of three teams to concede 100% of their goals from inside the box (Chicago and FC Dallas).

New York Red Bulls

On a steamy Saturday night in Harrison, Jesse Marsch rolled out an unchanged starting XI from the side that defeated Atlanta United, 3-1, the previous week, but the Red Bulls played to their first draw of the season, and were a bit fortunate to get that, in a 0-0 tie with the Union.

Tim Parker cleared a shot off the line in the first half and CJ Sapong rolled his penalty kick wide of the net in the second half, while Bradley Wright-Phillips had a goal called back for offside.

Now, New York (7-3-1) turns the page to face a Revs team that plays quite similarly to them.

“They are a little bit of a mirror image of us,” Marsch said on Wednesday. “They like to press, they like to play in the other team’s end, they look to force mistakes and force turnovers – then capitalize on them.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: D - Fidel Escobar, D - Michael Murillo, D - Tim Parker, M - Tyler Adams
Injury Report: OUT: D - Kyle Duncan (torn ACL), QUESTIONABLE: GK - Luis Robles (knee injury), M - Marc Rzatkowski (calf injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Ryan Meara — Connor Lade, Aaron Long, Aurelien Collin, Kemar Lawrence — Marc Rzatkowski, Sean Davis — Florian Valot, Kaku, Daniel Royer — Bradley Wright-Phillips

Notes: Wright-Phillips has four headed goals this season. No player finished the 2017 regular season with more than five headed goals. … New York has won three straight road games in MLS play, tied for their third-longest such streak in team history. The team record is five, set from June 3-July 15, 2000.

All-Time Series

Overall: New England Revolution 29 wins, 115 goals … New York Red Bulls 26 wins, 117 goals … 15 ties
At New England: Revolution 21 wins, 66 goals … Red Bulls 6 wins, 42 goals … 7 ties
Last meeting at New England: New England Revolution 2, New York Red Bulls 3 (July 5, 2017)