With Saturday's stoppage time win against the surging Montreal Impact, the Crew vaulted from sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings into a tie with the Houston Dynamo for fouth place.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, the team is the master of its own playoff fate and is not distracted by the results of other teams in the playoff hunt.
"We're going to take care of our games. It doesn't matter what other teams are doing," Head Coach Robert Warzycha explained. "It doesn't matter what Chicago is doing. It doesn't matter what Houston does, or New York. We have to win our games. If we win our games, we'll be in the playoffs."
"We're worried about our games. They're the only games we truly can control, the outcome of our games. We can't control anything else," goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum added. "Obviously, you can hope for certain results. But at the end of the day, if you're thinking about other things and not what you can control, then you're not going to be successful."
The Crew heads to New England on Wednesday (7:30PM EST/ FOX Sports Ohio) in search of its fifth-straight win to extend the club's unbeaten streak to seven games. On the other end of the spectrum, the Revolution is winless in its last 10 matches. The Black & Gold will be wary of Jay Heaps' squad that is desparate for a victory on Wednesday evening.
"It's no different than going on the road against a team that actually has a 10 game winning streak, because both types of teams are dangerous," Warzycha said of the road battle. "[New England] is playing for professionalism They're playing for pride. They're playing for the fans."
The match concludes the most grueling part of the Crew's 2012 season of seven matches in a 21 day span. Gruenebaum says the Crew cannot overlook the Revolution with its sight set on the 10-day break ahead.
"[New England] is still a very dangerous team," the goalkeeper said. "They've always been, in my opinion, a very good attacking team. They're going to have their backs against the wall, so it's a very dangerous game for us. It's the last one of a long stretch for us before we get a few days off, so we really need to make sure we stay focused and come out with the right attitude. That's the only way we're going to win."
The Crew battled New England to a 4-3 victory in Columbus just 11 days ago, in which the Black & Gold fought back from being two goals down after the first 20 minutes. Gruenebaum and his teammates can ill afford to make the same mistakes on the road this time around against the Revolution.
"The important thing from that game is that we rebounded," Gruenebaum explained. "If that happens on Wednesday, we'll have to rebound again.
"We have to stay focused and keep playing our game."
