Revs Head to Chicago Minus Key Starters

New England Needs Others to Step Up

April 3, 2008

By Sean Donahue

Who: Revolution at Fire
Where: Chicago
When: Thursday, 8:00 p.n. (ESPN2)

The New England Revolution are headed to the Windy City without Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston, the two players on the current roster who have had the most success against the Fire.

Injuries to the Revs all-time leading scorer and assister leave the team without two players who have contributed a combined 17 goals and 10 assists in past meetings between the two teams. Steve Nicol will be forced to make some adjustments to the lineup and the team will likely have to rely even more on the youth that helped lead the team to a dominating 3-0 victory against Houston on Saturday.

Sainey Nyassi

Revs' midfielder Sainey Nyassi will see plenty of time for the Revs Thursday. (Photo credit: Joyce Furia).

The Revs will be aided by the return of Khano Smith from International duty with Bermuda. And it seems he will likely slot back into his spot in left midfield with Honduran Mauricio Castro moving into the middle to fill in for Ralston. Of course Nicol has the players to switch to a 4-4-2 formation with 19-year-old Amaechi Igwe or newcomer Chase Hilgenbrinck starting at left back, but that seems unlikely given the Revs success on Saturday in a 3-5-2. Again the Revs will look to Kenny Mansally and Adam Cristman to take over the scoring duties in Twellman's absence.

Chicago, meanwhile, started its season off on the road against Real Salt Lake. Salt Lake controlled much of the match and a took a late lead on a Bakary Soumare own goal, only to see Chicago tie it up in stoppage time with an impressive strike from their designated player, Cuauhtemoc Blanco. With no major absences for the Fire, the team should be able to put out their best lineup on Thursday, but if their performance over the weekend was any indication, there are certainly some weaknesses the Revs should be able to exploit.

For Salt Lake, it was some poor finishing from its young strikers that prevented the team from taking a larger lead before Blanco's goal. If the Revs can create as many chances as Real did Saturday in Utah, it will be up to the Revs own young forwards to find the back of the net.

Should Mansally and Cristman deliver, and Castro prove himself capable of filling Ralston's shoes, the Revolution defensive midfield tandem of Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz should be able to limit Blanco, the Fire's offensive sparkplug, to few opportunities. Sainey Nyassi, the Revs Man of the Match against Houston, will need to use his pace to defend the similarly speedy Justin Mapp. If he can contain him, Fire forwards Chris Rolfe and Chad Barrett will have a tough time creating chances.

If that happens, the Revs will likely find themselves on their way to their second victory of this young season.

The match can be seen live on ESPN2 at 8:00 PM on Thursday.

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