First Look: DC United

By Baxter Colburn
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Updated: March 8, 2016

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

The New England Revolution (0-0-1, 1 point) play their first match in front of the home crowd Saturday against longtime rival DC United (0-1-0, 0 points) at 3:00pm in a rematch of last year’s knockout round encounter, which the Black and Red won 2-1 to advance to the conference semifinals.

Saturday’s match is the first of three regular season contests between the MLS originals this season, but the only one at Gillette Stadium. Following Saturday’s match, they’ll meet again at RFK Stadium on Apr. 23 and Jun. 22.

Here’s a few things you need to know about the Saturday’s knockout round rematch.

-New England enters the match fresh off a dramatic, last-gasp 3-3 draw against the Houston Dynamo, a game in which Daigo Kobayashi scored in the 93rd minute to rescue a point for the Revolution. Diego Fagundez and Charlie Davies also tallied for the Revolution.

-Fagundez earned MLSSoccer.com Team of the Week honors for Week 1, thanks to his third-minute wonder goal and two assists.

-United stumbles into Saturday’s game following a devastating 4-1 loss to the LA Galaxy, who scored four unanswered goals during the second half. Newcomer Lamar Neagle scored the sole United goal.

-Said DC coach Ben Olsen after Sunday’s defeat: “We are a work in progress, but there’s a lot of good going on with this group. The spirit’s right and we’ll respond in the right way. We’ll take the good and fix some of the bad and move forward.”

-As far as the Revolution-United series goes, DC has won three of the last five meetings, including the knockout round clash. The locals haven’t beaten United in regular season play since May 24, 2014.

-The last time United came to Foxborough, a nine-man Revolution eked out a 1-1 draw on May 23, 2015 in a match that saw Lee Nguyen and Chris Tierney both get sent off early in the second half.

-Prior to the start of the season, the Revolution and DC orchestrated a trade that sent former Leeds United keeper Charlie Horton, whose discovery rights were held by New England, to the Nation’s Capital for allocation money.

-In addition to Neagle and Horton, some other new faces on the United roster include Patrick Nyarko (trade from Chicago), Marcelo Sarvas (trade from Colorado), and Luciano Acosta (loan from Boca Juniors).