Even Without Caleb Porter, Saturday Won't be Different for New England Revolution

"Not a lot changes, I just can't be in the locker room during the game."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

After his postgame comments after a 2-2 draw, New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter will be suspended for the club’s upcoming match against Orlando City. While losing a head coach might seem like a major impact, Porter stressed that not a lot will change without him on the sidelines.

w the team will approach the coaching responsibilities on Saturday:

“Not a lot changes, I just can't be in the locker room during the game,” he said. “We do our prematch meeting in the hotel anyways, so that won't change. I'll do the same meeting I always do before the game, talk about the tactics, game plan, all that. I've been a part of the entire prep this week. We will go through all the subs like we always do, before the game, kind of the scenarios of what will happen. [assistant coach] Blair [Gavin] does a lot of the video at halftime. So, we won't miss a beat at all. The only thing is you just won't see me up on the sideline yelling and screaming, and the players don't need that anyways, so we will be fine. There will be no change at all; everybody's role will stay the same.”

Porter then added that Pablo Moreira will be the acting head coach.

While not a lot will be changing from Porter’s perspective, fans will notice at least one change in the starting XI. Boston.com’s Hayden Bird noted that Will Sands was in a walking boot during training on Thursday. Bird asked Porter for an update on the left back’s status and revealed that it appears that he will miss a couple of weeks.

“Will [Sands] did hurt his ankle a little bit two days ago, so he is looking unlikely for this game,” Porter said. “I can give you some more updates as we are clearer on the timeline. It is a pretty unique injury, but it is looking like he is going to be out for the next couple weeks. We are hoping to get him back, obviously, after that. I am telling you what I know, which is we don't have a clear timeline yet.”

Porter also mentioned that Brandon Bye won’t be a factor in Saturday’s match and that New England hopes the right back can feature in some aspect next week.

The Revolution will also be bolstered by the return of Alhassan Yusuf and Xavier Arreaga from international duty. With these players only just returning, their potential to start or even feature at all remains unclear. Porter did say that Yusuf will travel with the squad to Florida for the match against Orlando City and later added that he potentially won’t be in line to start until New England’s match against Charlotte.

This weekend’s match against Orlando is yet another crucial match for the Revolution. After dropping points against St. Louis CITY SC — only walking away with a single point — New England needs a win on the road.

“Obviously, an important game,” Porter said. “It's a big week. We have three games this week. Obviously, it is really important that we make up for the two points we lost last game. Our mindset is to go on the road at Orlando and to take a result, to take three points, hopefully. We know it won't be easy. They are a good team, but our guys have trained really hard, and they definitely have kind of an edge and a chip on their shoulder to go and make up for the last game.”