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Revolution-Toronto FC Preview

May 22, 2009 - 7:42 PM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

New England (2-2-4) at Toronto FC (3-3-4), 4:00 p.m. EDT

Toronto FC and the New England Revolution will both be seeking their first MLS victory of May when they meet on the shores of Lake Ontario on Saturday, but there's a legitimate chance neither will get it.

Each club has already played to four ties this year, and the Revolution have tied Toronto FC in both of their previous visits to BMO Field. With his team playing on the road, New England coach Steve Nicol said his team may try to focus on defense, and Toronto has managed just four goals in six home games.

"To be honest, I don't know what to expect," Nicol said. "We don't really want to go away from home and have such an open game because the crowd will get behind them and push them further up. So we want to keep it tight."

New England is 3-0-2 all-time against Toronto, but the banged-up Revs (2-2-4) haven't been having much success lately. They haven't won since April 4 against FC Dallas, getting outscored 11-3 while going 0-2-3 the last five weeks.

Still playing without top striker Taylor Twellman and starters Chris Albright and Mauricio Castro, Nicol's club is coming off back-to-back 1-all draws against Chicago and Colorado.

The Revs will look for a better start than they got last Saturday against the Rapids, who scored in the third minute before New England's Steve Ralston tallied the equalizer later in the first half.

Ralston and Shalrie Joseph, both typically midfielders, have been teaming up to head the Revolution's attack, which ranks last in MLS with seven goals.

"The bottom line is that they're both good soccer players, they've both got good soccer brains and when we have guys playing together who know what they're doing, it can only go well," Nicol said.

New England could get goalkeeper Matt Reis back from a one-game absence due to a concussion, and he'd attempt to hold Toronto FC without a goal for its second straight game.

Toronto (3-3-4) lost 2-0 at home to Chicago last Saturday, falling to 0-1-2 in three league games since beating Kansas City 1-0 on April 26. The defeat was the first for interim coach Chris Cummins since he took over for John Carver on April 26.

"We're not going to go the whole season undefeated, we're not going to do that," Cummins said. "Nobody likes losing, but I'm not going to walk around with a sad face. I'm going to pick everyone up for the next game and nice and bright and bubbly."

Cummins' club, which is 2-2-2 at home, has already lost as many matches at BMO Field as it did all of last season, when it finished 6-2-7 there. Toronto has already been shut out twice at home, and has not scored more than one goal in any of its six home games.

The status of 20-year-old Toronto FC defender Nana Attakora is unclear after he sustained a mild concussion last week.