New England Revolution host Houston Dynamo at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, August 8 (4:30 PM ET \/ 3:30 PM CT \/ 1:30 PM PT).<\/p>\n
Gillette Stadium doesn’t usually host a slow burn, but this one has the shape of a chess match rather than a shootout. New England Revolution sit third in the Eastern Conference<\/a> with 30 points from 17 games, their +7 goal difference the best marker of a side that has learned to grind out results even when the football isn’t pretty. Houston Dynamo arrive fourth in the West on 29 points, still firmly in the playoff picture<\/a> themselves, but a +1 goal difference tells its own story of a team that has had to work hard for every one of its wins.<\/p>\n Both clubs have shown they can lock a game down as easily as they can win one. New England’s past five swung from a 4-1 flourish over Atlanta United to a goalless stalemate with Toronto and a share of the spoils in a 2-2 scrap at Montreal, while Houston have leaned on efficiency more than volume \u2014 a 3-0 statement at home to Austin sandwiched between a 1-1 draw with DC United and a tidy 0-2 win at Sporting Kansas City. Put those tendencies together and this looks like a game settled by a single moment, not a flurry of them.<\/p>\n\n\n