Coming off a road win in Montreal, the Philadelphia Union will return home to face the New England Revolution in a game with Eastern Conference rankings on the line. Kickoff at PPL Park is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST( TV: The Comcast Network).

“We have a very good New England team coming in on a week’s rest." Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin said in his press conference on Wednesday. “A team and a coach that I respect a great deal in Jay Heaps; They’re organized, they’re tough to play against, and they have a lot of dangerous attacking weapons.”

In their first matchup in April, despite a 1-0 halftime lead, the Union fell to the Revolution 2-1 thanks to a goal and an assist by New England substitute Teal Bunbury. Since April, the Revolution, whose only two wins on the road came in April against Colorado and Philadelphia, have only picked up two points in eight games on the road.

With their win on Saturday, the Union now sit just one point behind the Montreal Impact for the final playoff spot, as well as seven points behind this week’s opponent, New England. However, despite only being a point from the playoff red line, the teams above the Union have multiple games in hand, including New England. This is the reason that the Union will have to be aggressive, pick their spots to counter attack and take all three points. At this point in the season, especially against a team above them in the MLS Eastern Conference standings, one point does no good for the Union.

On his tactics, Curtin said his team’s “key to the match” on Saturday will be, “look to really win the transition game going from offense to defense quickly, and vice versa, defense to offense quickly.”

In good news for the Union, there are players returning to the side ahead of Saturday’s match. Winger Andrew Wenger, who has been out with a concussion since the middle of July, has been cleared to play by the doctors. In addition to Wenger, Vincent Nogueira, who returned last Saturday as a 24-minute substitute, could also be healthy enough to start alongside Brian Carroll or Michael Lahoud.

The dilemma of two spots for the trio of Lahoud, Carroll and Nogueira poses Curtin a risk-reward situation. In the last few games, with Lahoud and Carroll as the two holding midfielders, the Union defense has been stronger. However, if Nogueira can start the game and give the team 60 minutes, he should and will most likely start. Nogueira’s ability to start the counter attack that Curtin sees as a key to the game cannot be matched by Lahoud. With Nogueira, there is some let off from the defense of Lahoud. Despite this, in a game where the Union need three points, that is a risk that Curtin must take to keep any attempt at a playoff berth alive.