OUT: DF Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear/bone bruising); FW Taylor Twellman (concussion); QUESTIONABLE: FW Edgaras Jankauskas (L adductor strain); PROBABLE: GK Brad Knighton (Lumbar disc irritation); FW Kenny Mansally (L ankle strain); GK Matt Reis (R leg contusion) ... KANSAS CITY WIZARDS - OUT: GK Eric Kronberg (shoulder surgery); MF Kevin Souter (sports hernia surgery); DOUBTFUL: MF Matt Marquess (knee strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: NE: Jay Heaps, Kenny Mansally ... KC: Matt Besler; Jack Jewsbury, Claudio Lopez
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: NE: Darrius Barnes, Jeff Larentowicz, Pat Phelan, Wells Thompson ... KC: Davy Arnaud, Roger Espinoza, Herculez Gomez, Santiago Hirsig, Lance Watson
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (37 meetings):
Revolution 11 wins (1 shootout), 46 goals ... Wizards 18 wins (1 shootout), 56 goals ... Ties 8
AT NEW ENGLAND (19 meetings):
Revolution 5 wins (1 shootout), 25 goals ... Wizards 9 wins (0 shootout), 32 goals ... Ties 5
• The Revolution have defeated the Wizards just once all-time at Gillette Stadium in league play. The Wizards won the first meeting there, 4-2 on July 13, 2002, and have gone 6-1-5 all told. The lone Revolution victory came Aug. 2, 2007, a 2-0 victory.
• The Revolution have won four of their last nine trips to Kansas City, with a pair of draws, beginning with a 3-2 win at Arrowhead Stadium on June 2, 2004.
• This will be the fourth meeting of the season between the clubs. The Wizards won 3-1 in Kansas City in league play on June 13, then the teams met 11 days later in the second of three games in Group B in SuperLiga 2009. The teams played to a scoreless draw in their first meeting in Foxborough.
• In the SuperLiga encounter, the Revolution went down a man to Michael Videira's ejection, but still took the lead through Kheli Dube in first-half stoppage time. But an own goal five minutes from the end gave the Wizards a share of the points.
• Coaches record: Steve Nicol vs. KC: P22 W5 L9 D8 ... Peter Vermes v NE: first game
THIS SEASON (MLS)
6/13: KC 3, NE 1 (Arnaud 19; own goal 36; Hohlbein 39 - NE: Joseph 28)
7/11: NE 0, KC 0
• The teams met for the first of their three meetings in less than a month on June 13 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, with the Wizards coming away with a 3-1 victory.
• The home side nosed in front on 19 minutes. Davy Arnaud finished off a neat quick passing sequence through the heart of the Revolution defense, tapping home a Claudio Lopez pass from close range for his fifth of the season.
• But the Revolution were level nine minutes later. A corner was cleared back out to the left and Steve Ralston swung in a pinpoint cross to the far post where Shalrie Joseph headed it off Kevin Hartman and into the side netting for his fifth goal of 2009.
• The game then exploded. Emmanuel Osei was sent off by referee Ricardo Salazar after striking out at Lopez, and two minutes later the Wizards took the lead. A Herculez Gomez shot was saved by Matt Reis, but the rebound hit a retreating Jeff Larentowicz and bounced into the New England goal.
• The Wizards put the game away three minutes later. Josh Wolff's header from a corner kick was saved by Reis, but the rebound was headed back across goal by Jimmy Conrad, and Aaron Hohlbein snuck it to poke it home from close range for his second goal of the season.
• On July 11, the teams played to a scoreless draw at Gillette Stadium, their third meeting in less than a month.
• Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis made a career-high 11 saves to ensure the teams would share the points. The Wizards held out for the last nine minutes after defender Lance Watson was shown a straight red card by referee Baldomero Toledo.
• Here's Nicol's team (4-4-1-1): Matt Reis - Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Emmanuel Osei, Steve Ralston - Sainey Nyassi, Pat Phelan, Jeff Larentowicz, Kenny Mansally - Michael Videira (Nico Colaluca 59) - Kheli Dube (Edgaras Jankauskas 46). Substitutes Not Used: Stephane Assengue, Gabriel Badilla, Brad Knighton
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-1-3-2): Kevin Hartman - Lance Watson, Aaron Hohlbein, Rauwshan McKenzie, Matt Besler - Santiago Hirsig - Michael Harrington (Michael Kraus 56), Jack Jewsbury, Herculez Gomez - Josh Wolff (Abe Thompson 85), Claudio Lopez (Kurt Morsink 83). Substitutes Not Used: Jonathan Leathers, Matt Marquess, Boris Pardo, Graham Zusi
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution won for the third consecutive match, defeating the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 at Gillette Stadium last Saturday evening. The Revolution have 33 points from 21 matches, having now moved into third place in the Eastern Conference, just six points behind the division-leading Columbus Crew.
LAST MATCH
• The Revolution were coming off back-to-back wins and four wins in their last six games, while the Earthquakes had won two of their last three after a dramatic home defeat of Kansas City the week before.
• The Revolution grabbed control of the match with two goals in a six-minute span in the second half. In the 68th minute, a long goalkeeper clearance was flicked on by Shalrie Joseph and Steve Ralston raced unimpeded into the area to get on the end of it, looping a shot over goalkeeper Joe Cannon for his seventh goal of the season.
• Then in the 74th minute, Wells Thompson received a pass on the right flank, cut inside across the top of the area and curled a magisterial shot inside the far post for his second career MLS goal.
• The Earthquakes pulled a goal back in stoppage time when Ramiro Corrales hooked in a cross from the left flank and Salvadoran international Ramon Sanchez stooped to direct a header inside the near post for his first MLS goal.
• Revolution head coach Steve Nicol made one change to the team that defeated Real Salt Lake 3-1 the Sunday before at Gillette Stadium. Steve Ralston returned to the lineup, in place of Michael Videira.
• Here's Nicol's team (4-4-1-1): Matt Reis - Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Emmanuel Osei, Jay Heaps - Wells Thompson, Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Mauricio Castro (Sainey Nyassi 57) - Steve Ralston - Kheli Dube (Pat Phelan 62). Substitutes Not Used: Gabriel Badilla, Brad Knighton, Kenny Mansally, Chris Tierney, Michael Videira
TEAM NEWS
• While Nicol made just one change from the team that started the game in Salt Lake City, the game turned after the hour when Nicol made two moves, sending on Sainey Nyassi and Pat Phelan in place of Mauricio Castro and Kheli Dube. The moves were designed, Nicol said, to aid the Revolution's hold up play with midfielder Shalrie Joseph shifting into a target role.
• "We were trying to get a lot more numbers up," Joseph said. "Our problem in the first half, and a little bit to start the second, was that when we got the ball up into the attacking third, it wasn't sticking."
• Joseph's reinsertion as the spearhead of the attack was once again the key to the Revolution finding the back of the net.
• "Shalrie makes a big difference. Kheli worked his butt off up there and was challenging everything, but I guess he doesn't have the body to win balls over their center back, who's a big guy," Ralston said. "Shalrie was able to do that. He was able to hold the ball for us, and it made a big difference. On that specific play, I just tried to time it right and get off the center back's back shoulder. And the ball just sat up perfectly for me."
• The Revolution have won three games in a row for the first time since May 11-24, 2008. "When you get to this stage in the season, it's about results. You don't get any points for playing silky soccer and losing games; you get points for winning at this stage of the year," Nicol said. "If we can play well at the same time, then that's fantastic -- and we want to. We're not going out there every week to kill the game between now and the end of the season. We want to go and play well. But at the end of the day, it's about results."
• For Thompson, it was just his second league goal, scoring during the 2007 season. He also scored a goal for the Revolution in the 2007 U.S. Open Cup Final.
• "I've been teasing Wells (Thompson) for a couple of weeks that he actually didn't know he was left-footed. In practice one day, he was hitting great balls with his left, crossing perfect balls. But on his right ... I just don't think he realized - he's (25) years old -- that he's been playing his whole career as a right-sided player and he's left-footed. It was a great finish," Steve Ralston said. Said Thompson: "I guess one thing I've been trying to do is shoot a little bit more, and it worked out. I'm just happy it went in. I was a little surprised myself I guess you could say."
• After starting the opening nine games of the season, Thompson had made just one start - when he was pressed into service at left back at the LA Galaxy on July 4 - until featuring in the first XI the last two games.
• "It means a lot. I've been struggling a lot recently and haven't gotten the time I wanted to get, so to have the opportunity to start the last couple of games, I wanted to show the coaches that I am capable of playing and can be a starter," Thompson said.
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
The Kansas City Wizards lost for the fourth game on the trot - all by shutout - in a 1-0 home loss to Real Salt Lake last Saturday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Wizards have 21 points from 21 matches, sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, 18 points behind the first-place Columbus Crew.
LAST MATCH
• Real Salt Lake were coming off another stunning victory at home, this time a 4-0 rout of Chivas USA, while the Wizards had lost three in a row, all by shutout, and had won just once since mid-May.
• RSL scored early and made the single goal stand up. Robbie Russell carried forward up the right flank, sliding a pass inside to Andy Williams, and he slid a square pass to an unmarked Pablo Campos at the spot, who turned home the simple finish for his second goal with Real and second in as many weeks.
• Real were reduced to 10 men in the 42nd minute when Ned Grabavoy, but the Wizards couldn't break through and saw their scoreless streak extended to 424 minutes, just three shy of the club's all-time record.
• Wizards interim head coach Peter Vermes made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes the week before. Matt Besler and Adam Cristman came into the team, in place of Rauwshan McKenzie and the injured Josh Wolff.
• Here's Vermes' team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Lance Watson (Jonathan Leathers 74), Matt Besler, Jimmy Conrad, Michael Harrington - Herculez Gomez (Chance Myers 64), Santiago Hirsig, Jack Jewsbury, Claudio Lopez - Davy Arnaud, Adam Cristman (Zoltan Hercegfalvi 46). Substitutes Not Used: Roger Espinoza, Aaron Hohlbein, Kurt Morsink, Boris Pardo
TEAM NEWS
• The Wizards current scoreless streak was set in the 2000 season, from June 24 to July 22. Their last goal in league play was the wonder strike from beyond midfield by Claudio Lopez on July 25 against the LA Galaxy.
• "The only thing you can do is keep working on finishing and keep working on trying to build those chances up through the run of play and through the way we play," Vermes said. "At some point, we have to get that goal. We need to be more a part of the game management itself. There are a lot of pieces of the game that we need to have better game management around."
• Since taking over, Vermes has kept much of the system and personnel the same when possible, but still has seen his team outscored 4-0 in his three games in charge.
• "We're tentative. We're a second late offensively, and everything else falls apart from that perspective, so everything else is a second late, and that's part of the situation that we're dealing with," he said.
• Chance Myers, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 SuperDraft, made his season debut, coming on for the final 26 minutes. After playing in seven of the first nine games in his professional career, injuries limited him to just three appearances from the first of June on a year ago, his last outing a full 90 minutes on Sept. 7 at Houston.
• "It feels good to get back on the field. I need to make my money. It felt good to be back in there and get my legs going again. I just tried to isolate myself on the right side and get some early service into the box and flood the near post," Myers said.
• Since the 3-1 victory against New England at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on June 13, the Wizards have won just one of 12 matches in all competitions with four draws. They have scored six goals over that stretch - with three of those coming in a wild U.S. Open Cup third-round match against the USL-1 Minnesota Thunder.
• "It's still a work in progress. I know people get tired of hearing that, but that's the reality of things," said Herculez Gomez. "It's disappointing because a lot of that is just battling and heart. It's a shame that we have to kind of get punched first and then react instead of coming out and us doing the swinging and taking it to them."
