Idle Strong

Twenty-five days ago, New England played their last league match verse the LA Beckhams. After that 2-1 victory the Revs were seven points clear of Columbus who had played three less games than the Revolution. Since that time the Crew have taken only five points in four matches. Now the Revs are two points clear and have a game in hand on Columbus. With a win this weekend Columbus would move top of the table by a point, but would have played three more league games than the Revs.

RSL is now the inform team in MLS, but still sit six points behind New England as the third highest point total in MLS. They have played 19 matches (two more than the Revs). With RSL's current form, it is possible that they could pose a threat.

Chicago seems to be the only other team within shouting distance right now, and they are still 7 points behind on the same amount of games. They have recently acquired star American striker Brian McBride, but he will not report to the team until after the Olympics. The match on the 9th verse the Revs and Chicago is going to be very key. New England could potentially put Chicago out of the Supporters Shield race with a victory over the Fire.

The rest of the teams in MLS seem to be treading water. No team has made a significant push in the last month. Toronto, and LA are really struggling. DC had been idle for Superliga after their blistering league form. However, they followed up a disappointing Superliga performance with an equally bad showing against Houston last week. Dallas and Chivas have been mediocre, and have lost key players to transfers. Kansas City and Colorado continue to be underachievers this season, and don't look to be contenders.

Does this mean that the Revs only real competition for the Supporters Shield will be RSL, Columbus and Chicago? It would seem so at this point. New England has a very busy month coming up, but with the rest of the league refusing to try and gain ground on them things look to be working out for the Revs without even playing a game in over a month.