{"id":12536,"date":"2012-06-01T22:24:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-02T02:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=12536"},"modified":"2012-06-01T22:27:14","modified_gmt":"2012-06-02T02:27:14","slug":"beware-of-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=12536","title":{"rendered":"Beware of Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Revolution defender Kevin Alston will likely be kept busy against the Chicago's stealth attack. (Photo: Chris Aduama\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

When the Revolution open up their three-game season series with the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night, a rivalry will be renewed.<\/p>\n

Playing in tight and high emotion matches throughout the years in both the regular season and playoffs, there may be no greater and more classic rivalry in Major League Soccer than that between the Revolution and the Fire.<\/p>\n

But after coming off a dreadful penalty kick loss to the Harrisburg City Islanders in Open Cup play, the stakes are high for the Revolution. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want the players to learn from it, but I want them to move on quickly,\u201d head coach Jay Heaps told revolutionsoccer.net. \u201cThey have and we\u2019ve already started thinking about the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking Tuesday’s Open Cup loss into account, the Revolution are now winless in their last three (0-2-1). Needless to say, the Revolution sure could use three points on Saturday night to resume their climb in the Eastern Conference Standings.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the Revolution, they have begun to accomplish Jay Heaps\u2019 goal of turning Gillette Stadium into a fortress. The Revolution are currently 3-1-1 at home, a record that should be very possible to hold up against the Fire, who are just 2-3-1 on the road.<\/p>\n

“If we can get a win and start building momentum here,” Chris Tierney told revolutionsoccer.net. “We\u2019ve got another one at home in two weeks time, so the more wins we can string together, the better the team will play and the better we\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a wild card involved in Saturday night\u2019s game, however. Chris Rolfe, who left the Fire in 2010 to join Aalborg of the Danish premier league, has returned and will likely make his 2012 debut. Rolfe was a Revolution killer in his former career with Chicago and earned the team\u2019s award for most goals in a season in 2005 and 2008.<\/p>\n

Rolfe, paired with the speedy Dominic Oduro, who currently leads the team with four goals, will be a difficult combination for the Revolution defense to handle. But while the Revolution are looking to defend against the Fire\u2019s speed and precision in the attack, the best defense could be a good offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey counter with numbers and they counter in tight spots,\u201d Heaps told MLSsoccer.com. \u201cWe have to make sure we keep the ball and make them work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saer Sene is currently clicking on all cylinders, scoring in three consecutive games. He currently holds the team\u2019s scoring lead with seven goals, and is behind his childhood hero Thierry Henry by two goals. <\/p>\n

Getting the ball on Sene’s foot might be the most effective way to break Chicago’s back line. But doing so will be easier said than done, as Chicago will likely have their eyes on Sene.<\/p>\n

The best way to free Sene is to maintain control of the midfield and pressure Chicago\u2019s backline. The offensive efforts of Lee Nguyen and Benny Feilhaber will be key, though Shalrie Joseph will need to step up and help facilitate the attack.<\/p>\n

But if Chicago thwart the Revolution attack, they will likely use the speed of Rolfe, Oduro and Nyarko to launch a counter attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to be smart,\u201d Tierney said. \u201cThere are going to be times to go, for sure. But we’re constantly thinking, \u2018What if?’ If the ball turns over, are we in a good spot to defend? Hopefully, more times than not, the answer’s going to be ‘yes’ this weekend. As long as we cover each other well and realize that when one goes, the other covers, I think we’ll be in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fire come to Gillette Stadium on Saturday looking to extend their 10-game regular season unbeaten streak against the Revolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12538,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Kev30.png?fit=457%2C255&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12536"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12545,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12536\/revisions\/12545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}