Championship-caliber teams are required to win multiple games in a row, according to Revolution defender Darrius Barnes. Fresh off a home win last Saturday over the Houston Dynamo, New England (2-3-1) will have the opportunity to put together its first winning streak of the season when it travels to Chicago (0-1-5) for a 4 p.m. Saturday match.
“It’s not enough to get a win here and then the next game take a couple steps back and lose,” Barnes said. “To prove you’re a championship-caliber team, you need to put three, four wins together.
“The game against Houston was the start of that and hopefully in Chicago we can build on that.”
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Barnes will play a huge role in the match after captain Jose Goncalves left last Saturday’s 2-0 win with a right quadriceps injury. After Barnes was inserted for the defender, the back four were able to maintain the shutout.
“Jose’s our captain, he’s our top guy, he was last year’s MLS Defender of the Year, but it kind of shows the system and camaraderie is good, and everyone in the back line specifically, everyone likes each other and gets along and that certainly helps,” said defender A.J. Soares.
“[Andrew] Farrell is an excellent player and I know he’s going to do a fine job and Darrius is obviously a top, top-level defender and he’s always going to do a great job.”
Both teams have struggled this season. New England had been shut out in four of its first five games before goals by Jerry Bengtson and Kevin Alston propelled the Revolution past Houston, their second home win of the season. After Chicago dropped its season opener, the Fire’s last five games have resulted in draws.
Despite that, Chicago, led by first-year head coach Frank Yallop, should prove to be a test for the New England defense. Led by the striker duo of Quincy Amarikwa (team-high three goals) and reigning MLS MVP Mike Magee, the Fire are tied for the Eastern Conference lead with nine goals.
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“It’s kind of a mini-turning point in the season for us,” Soares said. “Hopefully [the game] springboards us forward and shows that we can win against good teams and hopefully just takes the momentum forward and puts together more results that we should be putting together.
“We know we’re a good team and we really should be further up the table than we are.”
Zolan Kanno-Youngs can be reached at Zolan.Kanno-Youngs@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.