FOXBOROUGH — Winning breeds confidence, as the saying goes. Will it continue into this weekend?
The Revolution, fresh off Saturday’s 2-1 win over Minnesota United, returned to training Tuesday in search of win No. 2 of the 2019 season as they started preparations for their trip to Columbus.
New England plays the Crew at MAPFRE Stadium Saturday night (7:30 p.m.).
“(Saturday’s win) certainly gives us a little bit of a little bit of confidence going into the next game and, you know, no doubt the players will will look forward to train this week and we're going to look forward to a trip to Columbus," Brad Friedel said prior to training outside the Revs’ locker room Tuesday morning.
The second-year Revs manager praised the play of his side from Saturday, and he’s expecting competition for places in this week’s matchday squad to rise even further than it did last week, with several changes made.
“I stand by my comments that we have a very good squad, and everyone's going to want to get on that field. So we're really looking forward to this week in training, and then you know as the week goes on, we'll get closer to the nuts and bolts of how we're going to play,” he said.
Columbus currently sits second in the Eastern Conference table (3-1-1, 10 points), trailing D.C. United on goal difference. The Crew are coming off Saturday’s soggy 2-0 win over basement-dwelling Atlanta United FC, and will look to grab three points against the Revs while hoping the Black and Red of DC find themselves held by LAFC earlier in the afternoon.
And keep in mind: the Revs played Columbus in their own home opener four weeks ago. Friedel spoke of seeing the Crew’s “subtle nuances” and that adjustments are coming.
The Revs will train in Foxborough Wednesday and Thursday morning before flying to Columbus Thursday afternoon.
We’ll have more in this Friday’s edition of Soccer Weekend.
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Fans have complained about the lack of Revs players in the MLS Team of the Week, and on Monday, their prayers were answered.
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Revs loanee Brian Wright scored his first goal for Birmingham Legion on Sunday, a 3-2 Legion win over Louisville City. The goal was the match-winner.
They were all over the place, and that’s good to see.
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From around the league:
Who had the better panenka? ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/iALx3PYxTs
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 2, 2019