Revs Preview: New England takes winning streak into desperate Toronto

Through nine games, there has been no better defense in the MLS Eastern Conference than the New England Revolution’s.

Caleb Porter’s side has allowed just seven goals, tied with Vancouver for the fewest in the entire league.

After struggling to score their first several outings, the Revolution are finding the back of the net, and that defense is finally converting into wins for the club. In perhaps their best performance, New England blanked first-place Charlotte last week, winning 1-0 in the Queen City.

Before that, Charlotte was undefeated at home, and had scored 13 goals in their five matches at Bank of America Stadium.

The victory gave the Revolution a three-game winning streak, but due to their slow start, the team is still only in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

“I think we’ve defended well all year,” Porter said. “I don’t think much has changed there. When you look at the entire year, and really look at every game, there has not been a game we haven’t defended well. Nothing really has changed there.

“I think the difference is we found that first goal, and that’s really the only difference. I still think we need to find more goals and we need to create more chances. There are still a lot of areas we can improve in, but we need to be hungry going into this games.”

On Saturday, New England will travel to face Toronto who currently sits in 14th in the conference, but who Porter knows will be plenty dangerous.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Porter said. “Sometimes you play a team that is really desperate to win, and that’s the toughest opponent to play. They are going to want to get their first win at home. We feel like when we played Charlotte, they were a team that maybe was going to be a little complacent. You’re not going to get that with Toronto.

“They are fighting for their lives, so are we frankly. We’re in 10th and I told the guys today we have to keep moving up. To do that, we need to be focused and hungry. If we’re focused and hungry, then we’ll have a chance to win the game. If we’re not, then we have no chance of winning this game.”

That fear of complacency has certainly stuck with the Revolution’s players. Even with goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič who is coming off a MLS Team of the Matchday performance and his third straight shutout.

“Yes, we won the last three games and had three clean sheets, but we are still not where we want to be,” Ivačič said. “I know we are still in 10th place, so we are not in the playoff zone or higher in the table, and that’s where we want to be. To achieve that, we need to win the next one and the next one, and that’s the mentality we need to have.”

In Toronto, New England is facing a team in the bottom five in goal scoring in the league this year.

While the Reds haven’t put it all together in recent years, they still have incredibly lethal attacking players. Although they’re getting up there in age, the club still has Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne, and Jonathan Osorio.

“In this league, there’s no easy games and we play on the road, so it’s going to be a tough game,” Ivačič said. “They have some great individuals like Bernardeschi and Insigne, they can change the game in one moment if you’re not careful.

“But as I said, in this league it’s a little different. Every game is tough. The table is not really showing who is good or who is not good. Every team is good, and any team can beat you. We need to be 100 percent ready to play.”