New England Revolution "Upping the Standards" Ahead of Game 2

“We've been upping our standards a lot more"

Photo By John McGloughlin

The New England Revolution will have to play much better on Wednesday if they want to keep its season alive.

After a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union in Game 1 of the first-round series, the Revs are on the ropes. If they suffer defeat once more, their season is over.

In Game 1, New England struggled to score and committed too many mistakes. The back line struggled to defend the strong Union attack and young goalkeeper Jacob Jackson looked very much like a player who was in his first playoff match.

Ahead of the match, Jackson spoke to The Blazing Musket about the preparations for the match.

“Oh, it's been good,” the goalkeeper said. “I think it's looking pretty good. We're training hard, as much as we can to get ready for the game.

“Its been an excellent week of training and hopefully we can continue going up until the game,” Jackson later said.

But it will take more than a good week of training to beat the Union. New England will need to perform at a higher level to keep its season alive.

“We've been upping our standards a lot more,” Esmir Bajraktarevic said. Obviously, the last game didn't go well so everything in training is game speed and we're just preparing the best we can.”

While the Revolution will need to play better, the Union will be missing a key defender in Jakob Glesnes and Kai Wagner’s status is unknown after he was accused of allegedly making racist remarks to Revolution striker Bobby Wood.

But the attack of Mikael Uhre, Julian Carranza, and Daniel Gazdag remains. The back line will need to stand strong and have an excellent match if they want to stay in the hunt for an MLS Cup. Jackson will also need to have an improved effort if the Revs want to stand a chance.