Caleb Porter Discusses Giacomo Vrioni's First Goal of 2024

Porter: "Sometimes, it takes one goal to open the floodgates, so I'm hoping that will be the case.”

Giacomo Vrioni scored his first goal of 2024 in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Alajuelense. Head coach Caleb Porter is hoping that more goals are on the way.

Vrioni joined the New England Revolution in July 2022 as a Designated Player. He has since collected 11 goals and five assists across all competitions.

On Thursday, Vrioni came off the bench in the 57th minute. He got his goal in the 81st minute when he took on a defender and put a strong shot past the goalkeeper.

“Honestly, we knew we were going to rotate Tomas [Chancalay] and him [Vrioni] at the nine position,” Porter said about I've seen this quite a few times when a guy sometimes doesn't start, the pressure is off, they go in and get a goal, and now I think he's full of confidence. Sometimes, it takes one goal to open the floodgates, so I'm hoping that will be the case.”

The goal was a big one for Vrioni because he hadn’t scored since the game against the New York Red Bulls on Aug. 30, 2023. It was also the first goal he’s scored for the Revs away from Gillette Stadium.

“It was a great goal too,” Porter said of Thursday’s strike. “I think when you watch that, you see what we see, those type of goals, on the training ground. We see the skill and the finishing quality that he has.

“It's now up to him mentally to put it together in the games and be consistent. But sometimes, again like I said, it's just about getting a little bit of confidence. That kind of starts the process of him, hopefully, getting more and more goals in this league.”