Nacho Gil and Esmir Bajraktarevic Giving Caleb Porter a Headache (In a Good Way)

"This is good for me, and this is good for him, this competition. It gets the best of me, and it gets the best of him."

Photo Courtesy of New England Revolution

Caleb Porter has a real conundrum on his hands. The New England Revolution’s depth on the wing is leaving him with headaches when he is constructing his starting XI.

Now of course Tomas Chancalay’s name is written in pen in one of the two spots in Caleb Porter’s 4-2-3-1 formation. That leaves Nacho Gil and Esmir Bajraktarevic competing for the remaining starting spot. Gil has started both of New England’s Concacaf Champions Cup matches against Club Atlético Independiente while Bajraktarevic got the start in the MLS season opener against D.C. United.

Gil has enjoyed playing against the Panamanian side as he scored his first goal for New England since joining his brother Carles in a Revolution uniform. It was also his first competitive goal since March 2022. In the two games against CAI, the elder Gil tallied a goal and an assist.

The goal was a beautiful display of the chemistry that Carles and Nacho have with one another. The brothers combined for what was a play so beautiful the Revs watched it back at half time.

“He's been great since he's been here and obviously had some injuries that have always hindered getting that continuity on the field but again tonight he was great,” Andrew Farrell said of the goalscorer. “Getting that first goal, that play was unbelievable. We watched it at halftime seeing how we built up and the finish was great but just the build up how we built through the through the midfield and broke them and then the combination play on top of the 18. Obviously it will help his confidence going forward but it was an important goal to score first in this game, especially because they were gonna I think sit back and maybe try to hit us on the counter.”

Bajraktarevic tallied his first assist with the first team as he laid a ball off to Tomas Chancalay to give New England a 2-0 lead. The youngster’s skill was on display with a flurry of nutmegs after he came on in the 46th minute.

While it could be viewed as a problem for the head coach, competition is exactly what Porter wants.

“Yeah, I think it’s important to have competition in your squad,” the head coach said. “And ultimately, you want guys that when they get the chance, that they keep competing and saying, ‘I don’t want to be out, I want to be in,’ and we obviously have nice competition brewing with Nacho [Gil] and Esmir [Bajraktarević], and that’s great. That’s what I want. I want tough decisions in every position.”

The competition is also welcome from Bajraktarevic and Gil. Both players view the competition for minutes as something that will only help both players continue to improve.

“Well, in the end, he [Bajraktarevic] has a bright future,” Gil said. “He’s a great player. This is good for me, and this is good for him, this competition. It gets the best of me, and it gets the best of him. And it benefits the team overall. That's what we want.

“Yeah, I think we all have a really good relationship and I think it only brings good things because it just helps both of us play the best that we can,” Bajraktarevic added. “All of our goals are the same. We all just want to win with the team. It's a healthy competition.”

So it will be interesting to watch how the competition for minutes between Bajraktarevic and Gil develops. While fans might want to see Porter play the kids considering Bajraktarevic is riding high after getting called up to the U.S. Men’s National Team, if Gil continues to help the Revs score goals it will be hard to keep him on the bench.

But the fixture congestion that New England is about to deal with also makes the quality play from the duo much needed. After playing Toronto FC on Sunday, the Revs will return home on Wednesday evening to play LD Alajuelense in the first leg of the CCC Round of 16.

After that, New England will head on the road to face Atlanta United on Saturday, March 9 before flying to Costa Rica to play Alajuelense on March 14. It seems safe to assume that Bajraktarevic and Gil will continue to sway starts as Porter looks to preserve legs and not overwork his players.

But once CCC play is over, Porter will have to decide who will be his guy and get a run of starts. You can only go back and forth from the bench to the starting XI for so long.

Every competition needs a winner.