Last season's Supporters' Shield winners have a chance to match their longest unbeaten run from a year ago, as the New England Revolution welcome FC Cincinnati to Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
New England are currently holding onto the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer and have not lost a domestic affair since April, while the Orange and Blue are narrowly above them in the table, even on points (24), but with one more win in this campaign.
Match preview
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Last Sunday, the Revs showed us another side that we have rarely seen since Bruce Arena took over, looking solid and compact on the back end, while failing to concede many quality scoring opportunities against Vancouver in a 0-0 draw.
It is unusual to see this potent attacking team without a goal over 90 minutes, but that has now happened on two occasions in the 2022 regular season, two fewer than what they had in their record-setting campaign of 2021.
Over the past year, this team have been gutted by significant departures in numerous positions, though you might not know it given how well their new recruits have stepped up.
Adam Buksa led them in goals last year and this season before signing with Lens in Ligue 1, while all-star goalkeeper Matt Turner is now with Arsenal and Tajon Buchanan left for the Belgian champions Club Brugge, having tallied nine goals and five assists for the Revs last season.
To remain competitive with all of those key losses, currently only five points back of first in their Conference, says a lot about the New England scouting staff, who have done a marvellous job at replacing those talented players with some equally high-quality individuals.
With points in six consecutive MLS affairs in Greater Boston, the Revolution have managed to erase the thought that they may have regressed a lot from a year ago.
Even though they have continuously come away with points, Arena's team still lack that killer instinct, while struggling to put a match to bed, conceding seven times this season within 10 minutes after tallying themselves.
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Speaking of teams who struggle to put their opponents away, Cincinnati have done their share of that throughout the campaign and they did it again this week.
On Wednesday, to the surprise of many, maybe even themselves, Cincy were three goals to the good after 30 minutes, but in the end, they became complacent and had to find an equaliser in the final 20 minutes to pick up a point against New York City FC (4-4).
While they have only faced New England twice away from home, Gillette Stadium will always have a place in the history of this franchise, as the Orange and Blue collected their first-ever MLS road victory there in 2019.
Pat Noonan has worked his magic on the sidelines in Cincinnati, leading them to a club-record for wins (seven) while also one result away from eclipsing their record for points in a regular-season campaign which was set in 2019 (24).
FC Cincinnati have two of the six players in the league with 12 or more goal contributions this year, as Luciano Acosta (14) and Brandon Vazquez (12) have formed quite the tandem in what has been easily their most encouraging campaign since entering MLS.
Watching Cincinnati games might be a good idea if you love wide-open play and lots of scoring, as 10 of their 17 matches this year have produced three or more goals.
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Team News
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Djordje Petrovic collected his first clean sheet in a Revs uniform last week, stopping six shots in what was his fourth MLS start.
Gustavo Bou had a game-high eight shots versus the Whitecaps, one shy of the most in his MLS career, while reigning league MVP Carles Gil had four efforts to go along with six chances created.
Damian Rivera made his first appearance since May 21, Dylan Borrero started for a sixth successive encounter, Jon Bell led them in terms of clearances (seven), duels won (six) and aerials won (five) and Wilfrid Kaptoum collected his 30th career MLS cap in the regular season.
On Tuesday, New England signed midfielder Tommy McNamara to a two-year contract extension with an option for 2025, although he will not be available on Sunday because of a yellow card suspension, while Matt Polster (head), Henry Kessler (leg), Brandon Bye (leg) and Sebastian Lletget (leg) are all out through injury.
Brenner became the first player in the history of FC Cincinnati to score a hat-trick in a domestic encounter, as he has four goals in his last two games, while Roman Celentano made the fifth all-time penalty kick save for the Orange and Blue, and Alvaro Barreal has two goals this season against New England in all competitions.
Ronald Matarrita continues to recover from his ankle surgery, while Dominique Badji and Junior Moreno are unlikely to feature because of leg injuries.
Noonan inserted one new face in his starting 11 versus the Pigeons, as Acosta replaced John Nelson in midfield, while Yuya Kubo was on the sidelines against New York after previously missing an extended amount of time with a knock.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Jones, Bell, Farrell, DeLaGarza; Maciel, Kaptoum; Borrero, Gil, Boateng; Bou
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Celentano; Powell, Hagglund, Murphy, Blackett; Cruz, Medunjanin, Barreal; Acosta; Vazquez, Brenner
We say: New England Revolution 3-2 FC Cincinnati
We saw this week how far Cincinnati have come under their new coach, and, at the same time, how far they still have to go to be an elite team in this league, as they still lack structure on the back end, allowing the most goals in the Eastern Conference (30) this season.
By no means are the Revs the most rugged defensive unit out there, but we expect their attacking depth collectively will be just a cut above Cincinnati.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
