New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps had a bit of a selection dilemma in central midfield ahead of Saturday night's match against the Seattle Sounders. With Clyde Simms and Shalrie Joseph both healthy, he had to decide whether how to shuffle his midfield around to accommodate the two of them, and simultaneously keep Benny Feilhaber, who prefers to play centrally, in the lineup.
In the end, Heaps elected to move Feilhaber back out wide and play Shalrie and Simms as the middle pairing in a 4-4-2. The move has forced Kelyn Rowe out of the starting lineup and back to the bench, while Lee Nguyen remains the starter on the opposite wing.
Florian Lechner will make his second start of the season at right-back in place of the injured Kevin Alston. Lechner's last start was in Dallas, where he was lucky not to be punished by the pace of Fabian Castillo and Brek Shea. Despite that poor outing, Lechner was instrumental in the Revs' comeback against Toronto last week, notching his first MLS assist on Chris Tierney's equalizer.
Also notable: Blake Brettschneider starts over Diego Fagundez up top, and Sainey Nyassi is making his first appearance in the 18 this season, taking a spot on the bench.
On the Seattle side, head coach Sigi Schmid has dealt with the absence of Fredy Montero by going to a single-striker formation. However, it looks like Eddie Johnson will be supported by Mauro Rosales, who will probably drop into the hole behind Johnson and look to dictate the attack from an advanced position. Interestingly, designated player Alvaro Fernandez will begin the match on the bench.
Lineups
Revolution: Matt Reis; Lechner, Stephen McCarthy, A.J. Soares, Tierney; Nguyen, Joseph, Simms, Feilhaber; Blake Brettschneider, Saer Sene
Bench: Shuttleworth, Barnes, Fagundez, Nyassi, Guy, Rowe, Cardenas
Sounders: Andrew Weber; Zach Scott, Adam Johansson, Patrick Ianni, Marc Burch; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Andy Rose, Alex Caskey; Eddie Johnson
Bench: Meredith, Cato, Fernandez, Gonzalez, Hurtado, Levesque, Ochoa
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