New England Revolution vs Kansas City Wizards Match Preview
Kansas City travel to New England in a desperate bid to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Wizards need to not only beat New England, but they also need Colorado to lose later that night if they are to remain in contention for the last weekend of play.
The Revolution are eliminated from the playoff race and will have to cope with the suspensions of Cory Gibbs and Pat Phelan for this game. Goalkeeper Matt Reis is a long term absentee and Marko Perovic is also struggling with a hamstring injury.
Despite their injury doubts New England will have gained some confidence from a 2-1 win in Houston last time out, and their fans can look forward to some entertainment as they aim to go out swinging. “This weekend we’re just going to start creating chances and push a lot of people forward,” said midfielder Shalrie Joseph.
The Wizards will have pressure to win and their desperation accompanied with the attacking ‘nothing to lose’ mindset of the Revolution could make this the game of the weekend. Davy Arnaud and Teal Banbury scored in midweek and will be out for more goals, while English winger Ryan Smith could return from injury.
PREDICTION: New England Revolution 2 Kansas City Wizards 3. The Wizards win a magical shootout, and then turn into Galaxy fans as an LA victory would keep hope alive.
New England Revolution vs Kansas City Wizards Match Report
New England defeated Kansas City 1-0 at Gillette Stadium. The visitors bungled chances to score and lost due to poor decision making from their keeper.
Midfielder Shalrie Joseph scored the winner in the 31st minute, after goalie Jimmy Nielsen drifted too far outside his box to defend and was punished for it. All Joseph had to do was find the empty net.
Wizards midfielder Kei Kamara missed two good chances in the game, and the visitors should have been called for handball in the second half after defender Matt Besler committed the error.
Both teams will miss the playoffs. New England were already out of the running, but Kansas City had a slim chance going into the match that vanished with the result.
