{"id":29080,"date":"2014-11-05T00:15:29","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T05:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=29080"},"modified":"2014-11-05T01:22:44","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T06:22:44","slug":"revs-approach-2nd-leg-with-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=29080","title":{"rendered":"Revs Approach 2nd Leg with Caution"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

After Saturday\u2019s explosive performance at Crew Stadium, it would take a complete meltdown or a historic comeback to keep the Revolution from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. But don\u2019t tell that to coach Jay Heaps.<\/p>\n

Following his club\u2019s four-goal offensive flurry in the first leg of the Conference Semifinals, Heaps was already contemplating the challenge that awaited the Revolution in Sunday\u2019s return leg at Gillette Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we have a quick turnaround in a week\u2019s time to play the same team, and that\u2019s very difficult,\u201d Heaps told the media after the match. \u201cThe MLS Playoffs are difficult, because we have a physical game out here (in Columbus), and now we have to ramp it back up, and have another physical match on Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

How physical that match proves to be will be one storyline worth watching on Sunday. After all, the Crew, who need at least three goals to overcome the aggregate goal deficit, might be better off focusing their energy on crashing New England\u2019s net rather than pummeling their playmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we scored here (in Columbus),\u201d Jermaine Jones told the media after the match, \u201cwe know it will now be difficult for them to come out and win that game in New England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only two teams in recent MLS history have overcome multiple-goal deficits to advance on aggregate: the 2003 San Jose Earthquakes and the 2004 Kansas City Wizards, both of whom rebounded from two-goal ditches to prevail. But both comebacks were completed within the friendly confines of the each club\u2019s home park. <\/p>\n

One aspect of Saturday\u2019s match that kept the Revolution from breathing a little easier going into Sunday\u2019s contest was Federico Higuain\u2019s stoppage time penalty strike, which came as a result of a handling call on Jose Goncalves inside the area. But after the match, Heaps stopped short of saying that it changed the dynamic of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cYou got to play out the series and hopefully we take care of business of home.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ensure that the Revolution take care of business on Sunday, veteran Chris Tierney said that they\u2019ll have to cast the aggregate goal advantage aside. Instead of resting on their laurels, they\u2019ll have to adopt the same approach seen last week, and go for the jugular. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe mindset is the same as it was coming into today – which is (that) it\u2019s a 0-0 game,\u201d Tierney told the media after the match. \u201cWe always want to win, especially when we\u2019re at home, so we\u2019re not going to sit back and just defend our lead and try not to concede; we\u2019re going to expect to win the game at home and we\u2019re going to prepare this week to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revs may be in the driver’s seat going into Sunday’s return leg, but don’t expect them to take the remaining 90 minutes lightly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Shuttleworth-22.png?fit=482%2C256","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29080"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29080"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29084,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29080\/revisions\/29084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}