Revs vs. New York Red Bulls: Match Preview

The Revs are coming off of a 1-0 away loss to FC Dallas last Saturday Night. They will again face another very tough opponent on the road Friday Night. The Revs will be playing the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. The match takes place at 8:30 PM EST. The game will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel, and also can be heard on 98.5 The Sports Hub HD 2.

The Revolution (3-6-4, 13 points), in their last match got beat 1-0 to the FC Dallas. Marvin Chavez scored in the 69th minute on a great shot that got by Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis. That goal was enough to give FC Dallas the victory. The Revs continue to struggle with scoring, and will need to improve their offensive play if they plan on beating the Red Bulls.

The New York Red Bulls (4-2-7, 19 points), come into this match off of a disappointing draw against the Columbus Crew at home. The Crew scored a goal in stoppage time to equalize the match, and leave the game with a 1-1 draw. The home team will be looking for all 3 points against the Revs.

The Revs do have injury concerns for this match. According to Revolutionsoccer.net, here are the injuries for the club.

Probable: Zak Boggs (MCL Sprain)

Out: Benny Feilhaber (ankle sprain), Marko Perovic (knee sprain)

Key players to watch in this match-up for the Revs are Rajko Lekic and Zak Boggs. These two players up front need to start scoring goals for the Revs. Lekic, after a promising beginning to his Revs career has only scored once in his short career with New England. The Revs desperately need more production out of the Danish striker. Zak Boggs actually showed some serious promise in the last match against FC Dallas. However, he as well needs to start finishing better to help solve the offensive woes the Revs currently have.

Key players to watch for the New York Red Bulls are Thierry Henry and Luke Rodgers. These two strikers are excellent scoring threats, and the Revs defense will have their hands full. Henry has already scored 6 goals, and has 3 assists. He still has serious skills at the age of 33 years old. Rodgers has scored 5 goals, and has 3 assists. If the Revs contain Henry they will still need to stop Rodgers if they expect to win this match.

This game is another extremely difficult match-up for the Revs on the road. The Red Bulls are currently second in the Eastern Conference.  To win this match the Revs will have to play an almost perfect game.

However, the Red Bulls will be without several key players that will be in action in the Gold Cup. The players not available for this match include striker Juan Agudelo, midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, and defender Tim Ream.

Even with those Red Bulls players away on International duty, this match will be very difficult for the Revs to come away with all 3 points. The combination of the Red Bulls scoring ability, and the Revs struggles offensively lately, just might be too much to overcome. I am expecting the home team to win this match. I am predicting a 3-1 loss for the Revs against the New York Red Bulls.

This article was originally posted on Bosfans.com  .