D.C. United has faced two cagey opponents at home this week, and despite Orlando’s bus-parking and Portland’s more refined counter-attacking gameplans, the Black-and-Red have scored 7 goals in their last 180 minutes of soccer. That changes today, as Brad Friedel’s New England Revolution have shown no interest in playing a defensive brand of soccer. They press, they get in your face, and they take risks. It might not be elegant — they’re arguably the most physical team in MLS — but the Revs are definitely not playing for 0-0.
Friedel needed to find a way to differentiate his team from the Jay Heaps Revolution sides of the past, and their place in the playoff race (currently 4 points behind the Philadelphia Union and Montreal Impact) is mostly down to how well this worked in the spring.