Revolution Look to Tame Lions in Curtain Raiser to Swans v Saints Game

 The Revolution vs. South Africa Lions game has been selected by the AFL to be the curtain raiser for Sunday’s Sydney Swans vs. St. Kilda Saints at ANZ Stadium. Coach Matt Bishop summed up the experience, “The game against South Africa is a fantastic opportunity for the squad to play a game with such high stakes at a state of the art venue, one that most Australians will never get.” An additional highlight on the day will be a visit by US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich who will address the team prior to the game and perform the coin toss.

The Lions defeated the Revolution in the 2008 cup in a tightly contested match by a score of 8.10 (58) to 5.6 (36). Key forward Bryan Dragus hasn’t forgotten that loss, “The upcoming game vs. South Africa is the biggest so far; we lost to them in 2008 and haven’t forgotten. We’ll be looking to avenge. We are a different team. We are not under estimating South Africa and are diligently preparing for what will assuredly be a tough match. Playing at ANZ is potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity...we are going in very fired up and hungry for a win.”

Revolution Vice Captain, Andrew Werner shared his keys to the game, “Obviously it is very exciting to play on such a big stage, to have all the eyes of the tournament and international footy on the game. Hopefully the boys will draw motivation from that and raise their level of play. Biggest challenge will be finding rhythm early; I expect both teams to have nerves. Ball ups will be a big factor as it will determine possession. We will have advantage with height, but are expecting South Africa to be a fast, skilled team.”

On the line will be a spot in the top four with the semi finals scheduled to be played at Royal Park in Melbourne next Wednesday.