New England brings a two-match winning streak into its home date with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass. But head coach Caleb Porter says his squad has plenty of work to do as it nears the season’s halfway point.
The Revolution (4-10-1, 13 points) are in last place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind Nashville for the final playoff spot.
“The confidence is high but the hunger needs to also be there,” Porter said. “It’s really important that we continue to fight and grind and claw and scrap for every point that we can get. Every game. That’s been the message this week … we can’t relax. We have to keep fighting.”
Vancouver (7-5-4, 25 points), which is fifth in the Western Conference, is the first club that New England has played from that conference this season.
“It’s kind of nice to play a new opponent, someone you don’t see often,” Porter said. “I’d prefer to play a weaker team from the West than Vancouver because they’re a very good team, but yeah, it’s nice to mix (the schedule) up.”
The Revolution come in off a 1-0 victory over the visiting New York Red Bulls last Saturday with Emmanuel Boateng scoring the winner in the 81st minute. Goalie Aljaz Ivacic, signed April 23 after being waived by the Portland Timbers, made five saves for his second clean sheet of the season and was voted the MLS Player of the Matchday for Matchday 19.
“If we want to make playoffs we need to start winning and we did that lately,” Ivacic said. “Now we have to continue to climb the table and get to where we want to be.”
Vancouver also carries a two-match win streak after defeating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on June 1 on Damir Kreilach’s goal in second-half stoppage time. Scottish midfielder Ryan Gauld had two assists and leads the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists.
“Obviously a big win for us,” Gauld said. “We know we didn’t play our best game (that night), we were far from it. But after the load of games we’ve had lately, it was nice to end it with three points.”
The Whitecaps, who are 4-2-2 (14 points) on the road this season, had last weekend off but play five of their next six MLS contests away from home.
–Field Level Media
