With the Red Bulls not playing an MLS tilt until June 23, and still smarting over having their eight-game unbeaten run snapped in their last league tilt, expect coach Mike Petke to use at least a fairly strong lineup when they face the New England Revolution in Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. U.S. Open Cup fourth-round tilt.
“It’s good to have almost everybody available,’’ said Petke, who gave his team a week off after their Vancouver game. “They needed a break; we had a front-heavy schedule with a lot of games, and it was important to get away physically and mentally, so these guys came back in good spirits.
“Workouts the last four days have been great. It’s going to be very tough game up in New England. The Revolution are on a nice run, playing some very good soccer. We have a gameplan to go in and play a certain way, and we’re confident if we do it, it’ll be a very good night.’’
Petke will take a strong team up to Wednesday’s game at Harvard University, minus captain Thierry Henry and centerback Jamison Olave, both of whom struggle dealing with the aftereffects of playing on artificial surface. But the Red Bulls are still smarting from their 2-1 loss to the Whitecaps, and are looking to regain the momentum they were enjoying before that defeat.
“That’s the good and bad of having a break, a break that you need, but you never want it to end the way we did,’’ said Petke. “But it was a good run beforehand and now it’s up to us to pick up where we were before the Vancover game.’’
They’ll face a Revolution team that has gone unbeaten in its last four and developed a quality attack, but is also nowhere near as rested as they are. New England fielded a strong lineup in Saturday’s scoreless draw with woebegone DC United, while the Red Bulls haven’t played since June 1.
“We trained really well since we’ve come back,’’ said winger Lloyd Sam. “As the manager said, they’ve been some of our best training sessions lately, so it seems like it’s all going according to plan.’’