Banged Up Revs Try to End Slide

Club Sits in Third with Revitalized Chivas On Deck

September 11, 2008

By Sean Donahue

Who: Chivas USA at New England Revolution
What: MLS Regular Season
Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Mass.
When: Thursday, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2)

Just over two months ago the Revs were sitting comfortably atop the MLS standings with a seven-point lead. Now, however, with only one win in their last nine matches, the Revs have fallen into third place in the Eastern Conference and sit five points out of first.

Khano Smith and the Revs face Chivas USA Thursday. (Photo credit: Joyce Furia)

In need of a win to turn things around and start building some momentum with seven games left until the playoffs, the Revs may not be up against the ideal opponent when they face a revitalized Chivas USA at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night.

Chivas, who struggled through much of the season thanks in part to injury problems, have gone unbeaten in their last four games. However, the team is still without several key players due to injury, including striker Maykel Galindo, midfielder Rafael Wicky, and defenders Alex Zotinca and Lawson Vaughn. With midfielder Jesse Marsch, goalkeeper Zach Thornton, and defenders Claudio Suarez and Carey Talley all also potentially out, the team will be far from their best XI. The suspensions of Alecko Eskandarian and Sacha Kljestan won't help either.

Though the Revs have injury woes of their own, with strikers Adam Cristman and Kheli Dube still out, Steve Ralston and Kenny Mansally could both potentially return to action on Saturday. Gabriel Badilla, however, is away on international duty, and Amaechi Igwe is suspended.

Still, the Revs can hardly say they are worse off than Chivas as far as unavailable players go and the fatigue factor isn't as much of an excuse either, with Chivas being just as busy over the last three weeks. The home team should hardly need much motivation either, after back-to-back embarrassing 4-0 losses this past week.