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The New England Revolution is welcoming D.C. United to Gillette Stadium Saturday night at 4 p.m. ET. The Revs will be attempting to return to their winning ways after dropping a painful 1-0 result to FC Dallas. United, on the other hand, will be attempting to continue a good run of form that has seen them crush Dallas, 4-1, and draw Seattle, 0-0.
New England needs to recapture the form and the hunger that made them so effective against Los Angeles two weeks ago. As the home side, they need to seize the initiative quickly and try to get points on the board. D.C. has a wealth of attacking options, but it will be key for the Revs to neutralize reigning MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario, who pulls the strings from midfield, as evidenced by his two assists against Dallas. Without Shalrie Joseph (suspended), that duty is likely to fall to Clyde Simms.
As noted above, United has a lot of attacking threats. Nick DeLeon is making a case for Rookie of the Year, while Maicon Santos and Danny Cruz have all gotten in on the scoring act. Designated Player Hamdi Salihi has yet to get off the mark but he, too, is a dangerous player that the Revs defense needs to watch. If the whole United offense gets clicking, New England will be in for a long night in front of the home crowd.
The Revolution injury report is rather full this weekend, although most of those listed are only probable. Kevin Alston, Matt Reis, and Clyde Simms are expected to feature despite nursing injuries this week, while Benny Feilhaber was upgraded to questionable for his peroneal strain. Zak Boggs and Sainey Nyassi are still on the disabled list, but they are joined in the "Out" column by Florian Lechner (metatarsal fracture) and Jeremiah White (headache).
New England trails the all-time MLS series with DC, sporting a 23-25-8 record since the league's founding. However, the Revs hold a distinct advantage in Foxboro, with a 15-9-4 record at home, including a 9-3-4 mark at the Razor.
The match will be televised live on CSN, while 98.5 The Sports Hub will have the radio call.