Caleb Porter Praises Aljaz Ivacic and Xavier Arreaga

Porter: "These are guys with quality. These are guys that have experience. They have talent and you can see it right away if you know the game.”

Photo Courtesy of the New England Revolution

New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter likes what he’s seen from newcomers Aljaz Ivacic and Xavier Arreaga.

Ivacic, 30, signed as a free agent after being with the Portland Timbers from 2019-23. Arreaga, 29, was acquired via a trade with the Seattle Sounders, the club he was with since 2019.

Arreaga made his Revolution debut in last weekend’s 4-1 loss to Inter Miami CF. Ivacic was scheduled to do the same until he was sidelined with an illness.

Ivacic and Arreaga both started in this weekend’s 1-0 win over the Fire.

“I think it's easy to see his talent,” Porter said of Ivacic. “Him and Arreaga, I said it, these are guys with quality. These are guys that have experience. They have talent and you can see it right away if you know the game.”

Ivacic’s best moment came in the 73rd minute when he made a highlight-reel stop on Xherdan Shaqiri’s free kick. It was one of two saves that the Slovenian made to help the Revs secure their second shutout of the year.

Porter noted that Ivacic’s soccer IQ was on display throughout the game.

“You can see with [Ivačič], the way he manages the game,” Porter said. “No one taught him that. He's learned that growing up probably since he was five years old watching games, and he just understands the game, how to manage it, when to kick, when to play, when to slow it, when to speed it. He's athletic too, so he can fly a little bit, so a great addition for us. He gave us a lot of confidence today.”

Arreaga has played all but one minute since joining the Revs.

Against the Fire, he was 39/47 on accurate passes, 2/2 on tackles won, 2/5 on ground duels, and 3/3 on aerial duels. He also had two shots, 11 clearances, four interceptions, one recovery, and three passes into the final third. All stats were taken from FotMob.

After committing three fouls in the first 17 minutes, the Ecuadorian international didn’t commit another infraction.

“Arreaga, he's a man,” Porter said. “Again, you won't notice him as much because he's a central defender, but go back and watch all the little plays he makes – when he steps in and get a piece of a guy and nicks a tackle, or gets up and heads the ball out, or even just the way he communicates.”

“When we scored the goal, he came over to me and said, ‘Don't screw up the subs.’ (Laughing) So, that just says everything about him. He’s been in games, he wants to win, and he was joking when he said it, but it's kind of a reminder. I thought, ‘[expletive], I better not mess up.’ (Laughing)

“At the end, that's what you need. You need leaders. You need leaders.”

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While Ivacic and Arreaga are primarily tasked with getting shutouts, Porter also recognized they were useful during build-up play.

“It does help when you have guys like Aljaz and Arreaga because both of those guys are very good on the ball and they are smart players,” Porter said.

The Revolution are now 2-7-1 on the season. On Saturday, they will look for another positive result when they visit the New York Red Bulls.