{"id":19167,"date":"2013-04-27T12:44:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T16:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=19167"},"modified":"2013-04-27T12:45:55","modified_gmt":"2013-04-27T16:45:55","slug":"five-questions-revolution-vs-union-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=19167","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions: Revolution vs. Union"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo:<\/a>

(Photo: Chris Aduama\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

What is it about the Union?<\/p>\n

Since entering the league three years ago, they\u2019ve gone through two different managers, signed and \u201ctraded\u201d away a disgruntled star, traded away and then traded for one of the best players, adopted a funny-sounding hashtag, fallen short of the postseason twice and along the way, have been one of the most unpredictable clubs in MLS, both on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, the Revolution still haven\u2019t found a way to beat them.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s giving up a late goal not once, but three times in their last four, witnessing a star player implode in the midst of a shellacking, or conceding a three-goal halftime lead, the fact is the Revolution have spent more time shaking their heads in disgust against the Union than, perhaps, any other team in the conference.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to call Saturday\u2019s game against the Union a must-win game for the Revolution, especially this early into the season. There\u2019s still plenty of soccer to play between now and Oct. 22, and a loss or draw doesn\u2019t doom the Revolution to another long winter.<\/p>\n

But a win would serve as a beacon in a season that\u2019s starting to grow dark after a bright start. A win would restore the hope that many of the players, coaches and supporters held that this is club isn\u2019t only improved from last season\u2019s edition, but one that is capable of reaching the postseason.<\/p>\n

On paper, there\u2019s nothing special about Saturday\u2019s game. Frankly, it\u2019s just another regular season conference clash. But given all that\u2019s transpired both on and off the pitch, a victory could prove to be a game-changer, and could very well signal that the Revolution are not on their way toward becoming the Amanda Bynes of MLS.<\/p>\n

Hollywood references and facepalms asides, let\u2019s look at five other questions to ponder going into Saturday\u2019s clash.<\/p>\n

1. Besides getting an own goal, what is it going to take to score against the Union?<\/strong> No doubt Jay Heaps has been studying up and trying to find the answer to this query all week. In looking at the team\u2019s last matchup on Mar. 16, it appears that the Revs best opportunity may come from the set piece. The Union aren\u2019t the strongest side defensively, and are prone to fouling near the 18. In a sense, they might as well be asking the Revolution to score from the set piece. It\u2019s about time the Revs answer.<\/p>\n

2. What will Juan Toja\u2019s role be?<\/strong> Last week, we saw Toja relegated to the bench after a spell of weird, and often unhinged, soccer from the creative Colombian. Whether it was due his play or injury (he was listed as questionable for the NYRB game) isn\u2019t entirely known. What is known is that Toja looked like a different player when he came on after the hour against the Red Bulls. Instead of scoffing at opportunities and giving the ball away, he remained composed and collected, and helped grease the gears. No doubt he\u2019s capable of this at a moment\u2019s notice, but after last week\u2019s showing, Heaps may be tempted to have the midfielder come off the bench again.<\/p>\n

3. What impact will A.J. Soares\u2019 injury have on the backline?<\/strong> After spending the bulk of the preseason getting on the same page as offseason addition Jose Goncalves, the heart of the defense was certainly strong in the first five games. There was cohesion, and as a result, the Revolution racked up four shutouts along the way. But now that Soares is out for Saturday, Stephen McCarthy faces the unenviable task of upholding the defense\u2019s early-season reputation. We saw some interesting moments last weekend where McCarthy looked very much like a player who hadn\u2019t played an MLS minute since last autumn. But with a full week\u2019s worth of training with the first unit, he shouldn\u2019t look as out of place. Count on him to step up big against the Union.<\/p>\n

4. How will the Revolution perform in what\u2019s expected to be an emotional home crowd?<\/strong> Saturday\u2019s game marks the club\u2019s first home game since the Boston Marathon bombings, so there\u2019s sure the sentiment seen in NY last week is sure to spill over. After a 4-1 humbling, the Revolution need to find a way to feed off the energy that the crowd will bring and use to their advantage. The Revolution can\u2019t afford to get caught up in the moment, though. They cannot allow early goals to leak through, or another team to put up a four-spot, especially at home. That said, mental toughness, perhaps more than anything else, will be the key this weekend.<\/p>\n

5. If Jerry Bengtson falls short on his chances early, should Heaps take him off for Saer Sene?<\/strong> There\u2019s little evidence to suggest that the Honduran isn\u2019t trying to find the back of the net. He\u2019s getting into good spots, and has found the bulk of the team\u2019s best chances. But so far, that\u2019s only yield him one goal so far. With scoring at a premium, especially with the Revs stuck inside a five-game winless streak, it might be time for Heaps to send a message to Bengtson: score or step aside for someone else to. Sene is progressing as the weeks go by, so if there\u2019s still a zero under the Revolution\u2019s side of the scoreboard, it may not be the worst idea to take off Bengtson in favor of Sene.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: With our friend Brian O’Connell about to embark on the married life, the Five Questions and Five Things We Learned features will return shortly after he comes back from his honeymoon on May 10.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve got your Five Questions hot and ready for Saturday’s clash against the Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19172,"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\/2013\/04\/Simms-19.png?fit=481%2C256&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19167"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19167"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19178,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19167\/revisions\/19178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}