Revolution, Sitting 2nd in MLS, Host Seattle Saturday at Gillette
The Revs are 46 points deep into a season that's starting to feel like something, and Saturday's tilt with Seattle is another chance to prove it wasn't a fluke.
Alright, let's talk about it. The New England Revolution sit 14-4-9 on the season, 46 points, good for 2nd in MLS. Second. In. MLS. I've watched enough bad Revs soccer in my life (I'm a Boston sports guy, I don't discriminate by sport when it comes to suffering) to know you don't just say that sentence out loud and move on — you sit with it for a second. Second in the whole league. Let that breathe.
Saturday night at Gillette, the Revs host Seattle Sounders FC, who come in at 9-8-9, 35 points. On paper this isn't a nail-biter for positioning — New England's way up the table and Seattle's got real ground to make up. But these two have history: the season series between them is tied at 1-1-3. That's a rivalry building in real time whether either fan base wants to admit it yet.
Three things I can't stop thinking about heading into this one
Carles Gil is just doing Carles Gil things. 12 goals and 8 assists in 27 matches, plus a club-leading 1,503 accurate passes. That's not just a stat line, that's a guy running the buffet at his own restaurant. When Gil's on the ball, I get the same feeling I used to get watching a good punt returner find a seam — you just know something's about to happen.
Dor Turgeman's been letting it fly. 60 total shots paces the Revs, and Matt Turner anchoring the back end with 102 saves is the kind of number that makes you feel okay leaving the couch for a Dunkin run in the second half. Not that I'd recommend it Saturday.
Seattle isn't walking in here a pushover. Albert Rusnák's got 12 assists and 48 shots in 25 matches, Paul Rothrock's got 5 goals in 22, and Jackson Ragen's pushing 1,294 accurate passes of his own. And look at their last five: draws against RBNY (0-0), at LA (1-1), at Colorado (3-3), then wins over Real Salt Lake (2-0) and Minnesota (3-1). Three draws in a row is a weird stretch, but they closed with two straight W's. This is not a team in freefall.
As for the Revs' own last five — it's been a rollercoaster, and I mean that as a compliment and a warning. A loss at LA (2-1), then wins at NYC (2-1), at Chicago (2-1), and at home over Orlando (4-2), before dropping one at Real Salt Lake (3-0). Three wins, two losses. That Orlando game, a 4-2 final, tells me this attack can go off when it wants to. That Real Salt Lake game, a 3-0 loss the other way, tells me there are still nights this group goes quiet. Teams chasing something real figure out how to have fewer of those nights.
How to watch
Kickoff is Saturday, October 10th at 7:30 PM ET, from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. It's on Apple TV.
Our take
I think the Revs win this one, and I think it's not particularly close if Gil gets the kind of service he's been getting all year. Seattle's a stubborn out — three draws in their last five says as much — but stubborn isn't the same as dangerous, and New England's got more firepower on current form. Give me the Revs, and give me a game that reminds everybody why 2nd in MLS isn't a typo.