The New England Revolution will be battling
for their playoff lives when they travel to take on the Columbus Crew on
Sunday night to close out the Major League Soccer regular season.
The Revs are one of six teams that have a shot at the final two playoff spots
heading into the final weekend, with a number of different scenarios getting
them in the playoffs. If New England is the only team tied on 39 points to win
this weekend, they will qualify. If it wins and Colorado wins, New England
must hope that Toronto does not also win unless. If the Revs win and Colorado
loses or ties, the only way New England will not qualify is if Dallas and
Toronto win.
New England (10-10-9) is coming off a scoreless draw vs. Chicago in their last
MLS fixture.
"We can't rely much on teams. I mean, we're going to have to pray for some
things to go our way [to make the playoffs]," New England midfielder Shalrie
Joseph said. "And we're going to have to beat Columbus at their place, which
is going to be a hard game for us in general, but that's how our playoff games
have been for the last two or three years. It's been do-or-die for us for the
last two or three games and [vs. Chicago] we only got a point, but we'll see
where that takes us."
One advantage for New England is the Crew will be playing for nothing on
Sunday. Thanks to Chivas USA's loss at mid-week, Columbus clinched its second
straight Supporters' Shield and the top overall seed in the MLS Cup playoffs.
"Some guys are going to play, some guys aren't, but we're going to try and win
the game," Crew coach Robert Warzycha said. "It doesn't matter what Chivas
does. The Champions League is very important. We are pleased that we are
playing in the competition but we're happy all the games are out of the way
and we can concentrate on the league. We accomplished our goal, which is to
get to the next round."
The Ohio club is coming off 1-0 loss to D.C. United in its last league
fixture.
"We can bounce back from this game, we have a game against New England at
home," Warzycha said.
The Crew (13-6-10) will be without Emilio Renteria because of a suspension,
and defender Chad Marshall because of a knee sprain. New England will be
without defender Chris Albright, midfielder Steve Ralston, and forward Taylor
Twellman, while midfielder Jeff Larentowicz and goalkeeper Matt Reis are
probable with injuries.
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