St. Louis CITY SC make the trip to Gillette Stadium as the visitors in a bid to make their statement in the MLS against New England Revolution. This Sunday's matchup will be anything but just another game. Interesting storylines, coupled with recent adjustments on both teams, might make this matchup an important one in the playoff race, especially for Caleb Porter's squad, who desperately need a home win.
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A Story of Trades and Returns
This will be the first-ever meeting between St. Louis CITY SC and New England Revolution, but there's already a fascinating backstory thanks to a summer trade window swap. Defender Henry Kessler joined St. Louis, while Tim Parker moved from CITY SC to New England. Kessler, having turned out 98 regular-season appearances for New England, is now looking to nail down his spot at St. Louis. Meanwhile, Parker made his name at CITY SC with clutch goals and will look to do more of the same for the Revolution.
This trade gives the showdown an added flavor as Kessler and Parker lead their new clubs into what is turning out to be one of the hottest games of the season.
St. Louis Chasing Their First Road Win
St. Louis stands at a curious juncture in the MLS, and from the looks of their in-season win of 2-1 against the LA Galaxy, it would appear that this team is regaining the confidence shaken by an in-and-out season. This defeat of the Western Conference leaders seemed to be a major leap forward for CITY SC, who hadn't won a game since July. With goals from Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel, they hope to carry this momentum into the next match.
There's just one glaring issue for St. Louis: they have yet to win on the road this season. It's a problem the team carries with them, and the chance to break this winless streak comes against a New England Revolution team that's also struggling, having lost their last two games and looking far from solid at home.
Revolution in Crisis, But Still a Threat
The New England Revolution find themselves in a very unfortunate rut. Coming in with 8 wins, 15 losses, and 2 draws, Caleb Porter's men know they desperately need to get back to winning ways if they have any hope of keeping their playoff hopes alive. The last couple of weeks have been very unkind to the Revolution-first, a brutal 5-0 loss to Montreal, and then another 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake.
Yet, the Revolution are far from being out of hope. They're getting key players back, including forward Dylan Borrero, who already had an assist in his first game back from injury. When Borrero reaches the level he's known to be at, he could very well be the differentiator New England needs to finally get over the hump and take three points off St. Louis.