With the team set to depart for Chicago tomorrow morning, today’s training session was the last before taking the field at Toyota Park on Saturday night. As such, there was one element of this morning’s workout - besides the weather - which made it very clear that the Revs are in the midst of the playoffs.

Penalty kick practice.

In an ideal world, the Revolution will win or draw on Saturday night and not have to worry about a penalty shootout, but that doesn’t mean that the team doesn’t need to be prepared for the possibility. (For those who don’t already know, Saturday night’s match will go to extra time if the Fire wins by one goal. If there is no winner after extra time, the series will be decided by penalty kicks.)

So, after the normal work for today’s session was concluded, the entire team crowded around one net and worked on shooting from the penalty spot, a staple of postseason soccer.

Of course, there was an entire session conducted before penalty kick practice. The players were divided into three teams after passing drills, and two played a small game of possession while the third worked on crossing and finishing. After each team had rotated through to play two possession games and work on crossing and finishing, the entire group came together for small-sided games, in which the third team served as neutrals around the outer edge of the field.

Tomorrow is a travel day, but also injury report day, so be sure to check the blog late tomorrow afternoon for the final update on who traveled to the Windy City and who didn’t …