New York City FC vs. New England Revolution | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

New York City FC vs. New England Revolution
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 28
Yankee Stadium — Bronx
Sept. 5 — 7 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

With just one win in their last six games and quickly dropping out of Supporters’ Shield contention, a shorthanded New York City FC is hoping a return to Yankee Stadium will provide a needed boost when they face a New England Revolution side that is winless in nine straight and free-falling out of playoff contention.

NYCFC are coming off a disappointing 2-1 loss against Columbus Crew SC, the 10th time in the last 11 road games they’ve conceded two or more goals, while the Revs drew the Portland Timbers 1-1 at Gillette Stadium.

The teams met March 24 in Foxborough, playing to a 2-2 draw. Diego Fagundez and Juan Agudelo gave New England a lead in each half, but Ismael Tajouri-Shradi struck for a second-half brace to secure the road point.

New York City FC

On a night the New York Red Bulls fell to the Montreal Impact, NYCFC (14-7-6) failed to make up ground on their rivals and suffered a seventh loss in 14 road games Saturday night at MAPFRE Stadium.

Tajouri-Shradi opened the scoring in the 53rd minute with his team-leading 11th goal of the season, but for just the second time this season NYCFC lost when taking the lead as Harrison Afful leveled from distance through traffic and Justin Meram followed two minutes later with the winner.

“We played like we were frightened,” Dome Torrent said. “When that happens, you lose control. When you lose control, you have to run a lot and you don’t have the ball and you have to defend.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Tommy McNamara, M - Alex Ring
International duty: D - Maxime Chanot, M - Rodney Wallace, M - Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, M - Ebenezer Ofori
Injury Report: OUT: M - Yangel Herrera (ankle surgery), D - Cedric Hountondji (hamstring injury), D - Alex Callens (knee injury), M - Jesus Medina (hamstring injury), F - Jo Inge Berget (adductor injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Sean Johnson — Anton Tinnerholm, Sebastian Ibeagha, Ben Sweat, Ronald Matarrita — Alex Ring, Kwame Awuah, Maxi Moralez — Jonathan Lewis, David Villa, Valentin Castellanos

New England Revolution

The struggles for New England (7-10-9) continued Saturday night at home and in many ways it was the same old frustrating story for coach Brad Friedel as the Revs conceded a late equalizer off a set piece in a 1-1 draw with Portland.

Scott Caldwell put the Revs in front in the 58th minute, but Lawrence Olum leveled for the visitors 12 minutes later, redirecting a flicked on corner kick as New England fell six points below the playoff line with eight games to play.

“Disappointed, yeah, but we’re also learning a lot about the players learning a lot about what’s happened here the last few years, learning the mentality of a lot of the players,” Friedel said. “We want winners. I’ve said it many times and we’ll have winners here. That’s how it’s going to be. The staff and myself won’t accept things of this nature for long. Once you have your squad together, you persevere through the season and then ultimately you’ll change personnel come the next season and we’ll aim to be better.”

Suspended: M - Luis Caicedo
Suspended after next caution: M - Kelyn Rowe, D - Antonio Delamea
International duty: M - Zachary Herivaux, D - Gabriel Somi
Injury Report: OUT: D - Chris Tierney (torn ACL)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Matt Turner — Andrew Farrell, Michael Mancienne, Jalil Anibaba, Brandon Bye — Wilfried Zahibo, Scott Caldwell — Cristian Penilla, Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez — Teal Bunbury

All-Time Series

Overall: New York City FC 3 wins, 13 goals … New England Revolution 4 wins, 15 goals … 3 draws
At New York City: NYCFC 2 wins, 8 goals … Revolution 1 win, 7 goals … 2 draws
Last meeting at New York City: New York City FC 2, New England Revolution 1 (Aug. 20, 2017)