Soccer Weekend: Into the Blue Hell we go to see old friends

With such a short turnaround from Wednesday to Saturday — and with Sporting Kansas City, the Revolution’s next opponent, resembling an emergency ward’s waiting room — it would have been impossible to gauge tendencies of the Wizards through a film review. With the exception of Gianluca Busio, SKC’s 16-year-old phenom who has scored in three straight matches, we have no idea what players Peter Vermes will throw out there against New England Saturday night (8:30 p.m. ET).

But we are, of course, hoping to see two familiar faces when the Revs head to Children’s Mercy Park, a.k.a. The Blue Hell.

Yup, it’s the day we’ve waited for since January.

Saturday is, of course, the Kelyn Rowe/Krisztian Nemeth Revenge Game. Nemeth found himself transferred out of Foxborough last Aug. 6, while Rowe — a former No. 3 selection of the Revs in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft — found himself shipped to Colorado before the Rapids sent him to Kansas City in the Edgar Castillo deal in December. And with a rash of injuries, we’re expecting both to play against The Boys In Blue.

Here’s the list of SKC players who are expected to be unavailable against New England for Saturday:

Midfielder Roger Espinoza (knee, out 2-3 months)
Defender Matt Besler (hamstring strain, out 2-4 weeks)
Defender Rodney Wallace (hip, out 4-6 months)
Defender Jimmy Medranda (knee)
Defender Jaylin Lindsey (knee)
Striker Erik Hurtado (knee)
Defender Andreu Fontas (questionable, hip)
Midfielder Gedion Zelalem (questionable)

In seeing them while studying New York Red Bulls a couple of weeks ago, I can tell you SKC is a rather aggressive bunch when in attack. But that attack has suffered somewhat as of late, thanks to the injury bug. Can they rediscover their form against the slumping Revolution?

Last weekend, Sporting found itself shellacked by somehow surging San Jose, 4-1, six days after drawing with New York, 2-2. SKC hasn’t come away with a full three points since March 30, when Nemeth dropped a hat trick against Montreal. Nemeth is tied for the team lead in scoring (four goals) with Scottish import Johnny Russell, who has good pace usually on that right-hand side and a powerful right.

Since then, Sporting has been bounced from the CONCACAF Champions League (10-2 on aggregate to Monterrey of Liga MX) and have only claimed two points in three league matches. So we’re expecting SKC, with the struggling Revs (2-6-1, 7 points, 10th in the East) coming to the Blue Hell, to give it a solid go and get back into the thick of things in the West.

A win for New England Saturday can see the Revs go as high as eighth place in the East, while a win for SKC can see it go as high as sixth in the West.

A Revs win would be the first for New England at Children’s Mercy Park since September 26, 2014, in the run to the Eastern Conference postseason title.

Also other action in both the league and in a Boston focus this weekend:

Orlando City will visit Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon to take on New York City FC, while Toronto FC hosts Portland; in addition, FC Dallas hosts San Jose, while Philadelphia travels to Vancouver; Atlanta United hosts Colorado, while New York Red Bulls host FC Cincinnati. Houston hosts Columbus in the only other Saturday game.

On Sunday, Montreal hosts Chicago, Minnesota United hosts DC United (1:30 p.m., FS1), Seattle hosts LAFC (3:30 p.m., ESPN), while LA Galaxy hosts Real Salt Lake.

In the USL Championship, Hartford Athletic is at North Carolina FC, while Birmingham Legion hosts Loudoun United FC. Both games are on Saturday.

The NPSL gets underway this weekend — well, the Northeast Conference, I should say — with Boston City FC traveling to the University of Hartford to take on Hartford City FC, starting at 7 p.m. Greater Lowell does not get started until next weekend, when it travels to Hartford. Hartford, though, will have a game against BCFC next Saturday, so they’ll play back-to-back games on back-to-back nights.

And in England -- Boston loves the Premier League! -- Liverpool plays Huddersfield Town this afternoon; Saturday sees Tottenham Hotspur hosting West Ham in a London Derby at 7:30 a.m., Fulham hosting Cardiff City in a relegation scrap, Crystal Palace hosting Everton, Southampton hosting Bournemouth, Watford hosting Wolves, and Brighton Hove & Albion hosting Newcastle United. On Sunday, Leicester City hosts Arsenal, while Burnley hosts Manchester City. In addition, Manchester United hosts Chelsea with the opportunity to stay locked in for Champions League next fall.

A couple of notes headed into the weekend:

Could we have two new teams in the six-state region to support soon?

On Thursday night, we learned that former US women’s national teamer Kristine Lilly has joined forces with Mohegan Sun to put a new NWSL team in Windsor, Conn., just to the north of Hartford on Interstate 91. If approved, the team would have a New England moniker, and would start play next spring.

And Friday morning, WPRO (AM 630/99.7 FM) reported Pawtucket may be the site of a new USL Championship squad which would play at McCoy Stadium after the PawSox head to Worcester. The potential project is one of six that Commerce Rhode Island is looking at, with minor league baseball and independent Atlantic League baseball also in the running for the McCoy site.

Two quick thoughts/questions to ponder: Would the New England NWSL team have rights to the entire six-state region, which would cut off a return of the Boston Breakers? And what do we think is the best use of McCoy? Do we want to keep baseball there, or do we want to see a USL club doing things right?