Victories have been a long time coming for both the New England Revolution and visiting Atlanta United ahead of their Eastern Conference matchup Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.
With the two-month midseason break in the past, picking up a long-awaited three points will be at the forefront for both clubs.
New England (8-5-2, 26 points) came out of the break with a scoreless draw against Toronto FC on Wednesday. Head coach Marko Mitrovic’s club sits tied with the Chicago Fire for third place in the East and will be out for its first win since May 16.
New England’s Will Sands and Peyton Miller each scored second-half goals in the first meeting with Atlanta, a 2-1 Revolution road win on April 22.
“I think they look very different than they did when we met them the first time in Atlanta,” Mitrovic said. “They always had very good organization on the field, both attacking and defending, but I feel they have a much more positive energy and togetherness and they are playing with higher intensity.”
Carles Gil’s five goals lead New England, while goalkeeper Matt Turner — fresh off his World Cup stint for the U.S. men’s national team — is coming off his fourth clean sheet of the season.
Atlanta (3-10-3, 12 points) hasn’t won since a 3-1 home triumph over CF Montreal on May 2, but appears to be making strides in the right direction. Despite recording just 12 total shots to Charlotte’s 24, Atlanta earned a point with a 2-2 draw on Wednesday — marking the club’s best offensive showing since the Montreal win.
The next step for head coach Gerardo Martino’s group would be to post just its second win away from home this year.
“I think what we’d like to see is our team to have more aggressiveness and to keep attacking,” Martino said. “I think in the second half (against Charlotte) we had the conviction to stay organized and were able to come back.”
Atlanta’s 16 goals are the fewest in Major League Soccer and the team has netted just five goals in eight road matches. Alexey Miranchuk’s five goals pace the low-scoring club.
–Field Level Media
