After winning an exciting match at their new home, Avaya Stadium, the San Jose Earthquakes go back on the road, this time facing the New England Revolution. In their first three matches, the Revolution have not been able to score and have a record of 0-2-1. Since the return of Dominic Kinnear to San Jose, the Earthquakes, however, have seemed to find this confidence they have always had but never really had a plan for.

The Earthquakes are boasting a 2-1-0 record in three games with their first win coming on the road against the Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink Field. But, unfortunately, with the slew of national team call-ups this past week, Fatai Alashe, who scored the inaugural goal at Avaya Stadium last week will not be available. These two teams have met six times in five years with the most recent being a Revolution defeat last March at Buck Shaw Stadium.

In the last five matchups between these two teams, dating back to May 2011, the Earthquakes have a 3-2-0 record with 5 goals scored, while the Revolution have a 2-3-0 record with 4 goals scored. Unfortunately for the Revolution, the start to this season has come slow and they have not been successful. Their first point came from a draw last week with the Montreal Impact. The Revolution’s scoreless draught is dating back to last season and currently sits at 325 minutes. The longest a team has gone without a goal was when Toronto FC started the 2007 season and went 383 minutes without a goal.

I’m sure Revolution fans want to see them score a goal or two (or more) and have to be asking themselves “Will this finally be the week we get to celebrate a goal?” This will be Kinnear’s 25th game coached against New England, and he has a 9-7-8 record in those previous 24 games. Meanwhile, Jay Heaps has coached two other matches against San Jose and has a 1-1-0 record.

The big question for San Jose fans is “Can their team bring this newfound energy to Gillette Stadium and be successful?” The big question for New England fans is “Will the Revolution finally be able to find a way to get the ball behind David Bingham and into the back of the net?”