Caleb Porter Calls For "Tougher Mentality" After Inter Miami Loss

"We got to smell the game better. We got to be more street smart"

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

When you go up against an opponent such as Inter Miami and Lionel Messi, one mistake or poor decision can change the outcome of a match. If you switch off for one second, your opponent will make you pay. The Revolution got an up close look at that on Saturday evening.

Messi was superb as always. His two goals and an assist are a common stat line for him that other players would dream of.

His second goal in particular was like watching a master craftsman at work. In the blink of an eye, he bolted towards net and Sergio Busquets was able to find him in on goal. Soon after, the greatest player in the world tucked it past Henrich Ravas to give Miami the lead.

But New England entered the locker room at half with all to play for. With illness ravaging the team and the giants of MLS as its opposition, a draw would have felt like a win while a win would have felt like a miracle considering the team entered Saturday’s match 1-6-1. Sadly for Revs fans, a collapse was what ended up occurring and the club is now 1-7-1.

“You know, I made the point to the guys if you look when it was one-one and for me it can go either way and I want at one-one to go our way,” head coach Caleb Porter said after the match. “We need to have a tougher mentality at one-one. We're at home and yeah they have all these guys they’re talented, they're top of the league, but I still think that's a game that we can we can go two-one and win it.”

The head coach then went on to point out a poor decision from Henrich Ravas as an example of the Revs’ mental errors. Ravas tried playing a ball long to Nacho Gil but the attempt failed and soon after Miami found a crucial goal.

“I just thought there were some poor decisions at one-one,” the head coach continued. “A simple one right before we gave up the goal is, you know, we're absorbing a little bit, ball goes into Ravas and we force a counterattack, try to punt it into Nacho [Gil], he's three versus one. They score a minute later so we got to smell the game better. We got to be more street smart and that was a great moment, ball in his hands, breathe, relax, fall on the ground, open up let's play a little bit. We try a counterattack punting to Nacho, one of our smallest guys. They're right back at us, they score a minute later. We got to be smarter in our decision-making, it's really key.”

While New England might deserve some grace considering the illness that ravaged the team, this has been an issue for the entire season. Even when the team has been at its best, one mistake has cost them three points.

When you are going up against teams such as Miami or other MLS Cup contenders, these instances simply can’t occur. Athletes are humans not robots, but the Revolution simply haven’t performed well enough this season.

New England had a chance to turn its season around against Miami. A win could have been the rallying cry that started a run to the playoffs and maybe even more.

But now it just seems like observers had their concerns about the club confirmed. This team performed like one that is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and has no intentions of elevating up the table.

While Curt Onalfo and Porter are surely looking to make changes come the Summer Transfer Window, it could be too little too late.