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Wells Thompson will most likely get a start for the Revs Saturday. (Photo credit: Joyce Furia) |
With just three games left, however, the Revs do not want to head into the postseason in bad form. Those three matches, starting with a trip to Kansas City on Saturday, are all against teams still fighting for a playoff spot, which almost certainly guarantees the Revs won't have it easy in any of them.
"We don't want to crawl into the playoffs," said Revolution captain Steve Ralston. "We want to go in on a high note and play well and get some good results."
While the Revs do not have a chance at first place at this point, they must fend off a challenge from the Chicago Fire to hold onto second place. The Fire currently sits just one point back from the Revs in the standings and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. Finishing second would give the Revolution the second leg of the first round and potentially overtime and penalty kicks at home.
"Some teams prefer the first game at home, but right now we definitely want to be a second seed and wrap up second in the overall standings," said Shalrie Joseph. "We have got to start picking up points and that's got to start [on Saturday]. [Last week] we only got one and we need three to solidify our playoff spot."
If the Revs are to pick up three points in Kansas City, they will have to do so without the services of 19-year-old Gambians Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi, who were both called up to represent their nation in World Cup Qualifying. Otherwise, the Revolution, with the exceptions of Adam Cristman and Doug Warren who are both on the season ending injury list, are healthy heading into Saturday's match.
The absence of Nyassi, means the Revs will need to make a change to the starting lineup they put out last weekend. Should the team stick with the 3-5-2 formation, Wells Thompson seems the likely replacement, though Mauricio Castro, who came in for Nyassi off the bench last week, is another possibility. Whoever fills in will need to provide better service than Nyassi did against Salt Lake if the Revs are to put Kansas City's backline under pressure and get forwards Taylor Twellman and Kheli Dube opportunities to score.
Kansas City, meanwhile, sits just a point out of the final playoff spot and will be also certainly be looking for a much needed win on Saturday. While the Wizards have been very poor on the road this year, they do hold an impressive 7-2-4 record at home. The Wizards enter the match with only one injury concern, forward Claudio Lopez, who is questionable with an ankle sprain.
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