With a point under its belt, Minnesota United has a renewed sense of confidence after last weekend’s draw in Colorado. The Loons will now head out east to face the New England Revolution, with both teams in search of their first win of the season. Here are three things to keep your eye on this week.

Minnesota Men

When the Loons and Revs kickoff this weekend, the Land of 10,000 Lakes will be well represented. Between the two clubs, as many as four Minnesota natives could be on the pitch at the same time — Brent Kallman and Ismaila Jome for Minnesota and Teal Bunbury and Cody Cropper for New England.

Bunbury is a MLS veteran with nearly 200 appearances for Sporting KC and the Revs. He grew up in Prior Lake and attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s where he developed into a top prospect. He has won the U.S. Open Cup and MLS Cup in his career and was a big part of New England’s MLS Cup appearance in 2014. He has come off the bench twice in 2017, so expect to see him in the closing minutes on Saturday.

Cropper came to New England last season after several years in regular England. The Maple Grove native signed his first professional contract with Southampton in the Premier League in 2012. He played with the Saints for a few years then joined MK Dons FC in the Championship before coming back stateside. He has been a starter for U.S. Youth National Teams, and has seen time with the Men’s National Team, too. With the departure of Bobby Shuttleworth to Minnesota, he has stepped into the starting role for the Revolution and should be between the posts this weekend.

Coming off a fantastic MLS debut last week, Kallman has made a space for himself in the Loons lineup. With such a short bench from injuries and call-ups, Jome could also get in on the action. Though he has not been in the match day roster this year and had limited time in the preseason, this could be the time to shine for the young man from Brooklyn Park.

Missing in Action

The Minnesota lineup will have a few new faces in the mix this weekend. National teams call-ups, injuries and a red card have pulled seven players from the Loons. Rasmus Schuller, Kevin Molino, Francisco Calvo and Johan Venegas will all be with their various national teams for World Cup qualifying matches and friendlies. John Alvbage and Bernardo Anor are still healing up from injuries they suffered earlier in the year, ruling them out of the lineup as well. Finally, Justin Davis was given a red card in the second half of last week’s match in Colorado, earning a one-match suspension.

On the other side of the pitch, New England has been untouched by call-ups and is relatively injury free, leaving it with a full-strength squad to host the Loons. It will certainly be a test of Minnesota’s depth, and a trial by fire for some of the less experienced players at this level. Head Coach Adrian Heath will need to get a little creative with his roster, shuffling players around and possibly giving a few new guys their MLS debut.

Strike First, Strike Hard

Something the Revs do well — and will need to do if they want to beat Minnesota — is attack early and get on the board first. In both matches it has played, New England has had a majority of its chances in the opening 30 minutes, which happens to be when Minnesota has conceded most of its goals.

The strategy allows a team to overwhelm its opponent early when its players have the most energy, getting ahead on the scoreboard and forcing the other team chase your lead for the rest of the match. However, failing to get a goal in that timeframe leaves a team exposed later on. Their players will be tired and the opposing team will be able to push back and force them into a defensive shell, making a sustained attack difficult. This is where the Revs tend to struggle.

They threw men forward early against Dallas and were able to get ahead in the first ten minutes. After that point, the Revs managed just one shot for the rest of the match and watched their lead disappear thanks to a brace from Dallas’ Maxi Urruti. The week before was very similar. The Revolution attacked early, but this time couldn’t break through. After the opening half hour, it took another 30 minutes for them to generate their next shot, while Colorado had already scored and gone on the defensive.

Minnesota will need to take advantage of the Revolution’s late-match struggles to get points on Saturday, but first it will have to survive the opening salvo.