Changes Are Coming For New England Revolution

"This is a mature group right now. It’s reaching the end of a cycle. I don't want to say it's the end of this cycle, but it is reaching the end of the cycle for some of these guys."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution have underperformed for a majority of the 2024 MLS season. When failures occur, it is a time for reflection and review. For New England, the winds of change are descending on Gillette Stadium.

Injuries have ravaged the Revolution. Tomas Chancalay is out for the season while the likes of Nacho Gil, Carles Gil, Giacomo Vrioni, Dylan Borrero also being sidelined for significant portions of the campaign.

When stars are forced to miss time, it ripples through the entire roster. The best ability is availability and Revolution head coach Caleb Porter wishes he had more available options at his disposel.

“I don’t like to point out guys too much, but sometimes I do, good and bad, sometimes. It’s for a reason. But I thought Matt [Polster] and Ian [Harkes] today were outstanding,” Porter said after Saturday’s win. “You know, Ian had a little kind of hip – he missed a training this week, and we didn’t know if he would be available. He was like, ‘No way I’m missing.’ You just like that, because there had been some guys that are out and they’re out, and you think they’re back in, and you just love guys that want to be in. I thought he and Matt were outstanding today, and Matt has put in the most minutes of anyone on our entire team. So, I’ve said it – when you talk about what’s the issue, it’s not a training load issue. It’s are you a player that’s available and durable? We’ll look at that at the end of the year, because it’s really important. Matt Polster, he is just always available, every training and every game. We need more guys like that. Ian Harkes has been available every training and every game, for the most part. You see Xavi [Arreaga], he is very durable. He is always available. So, we need more of those type of guys. We have more of those type of guys, then we can train a little harder, then we can execute a little bit better in games, and then we’re bulletproof. That’s how you keep guys healthy, when we’re training all the time and playing all the time. When you get injuries, it’s because they’re in, they’re out, they’re not completely trained, and now they’re playing minutes or sprinting when they weren’t training hard. That’s how you get injured. The teams that I’ve had over the years that have been healthy, every guy is in training every single week. Everybody is playing every single minute of every single game. I had in 2020 when we won the MLS Cup, my center backs played all 34 games, 90 minutes every game. That’s what you need. So, I just love those two guys in particular, because they are always available.”

While it can’t be pointed as a reason behind the injuries to players such as Tomas Chancalay and Dylan Borrero, the Revolution are a relatively old roster. New England has 14 players over the age of 29.

Porter mentioned that he desires to have a younger roster in 2025.

“It is great for me to have young players that are good enough, and if they're good enough, I'll play them,” he said. “We’re going to keep adding young players. You look at our roster right now, we have 14 players over 29 years old. That's just where we're at. This is a mature group right now. It’s reaching the end of a cycle. I don't want to say it's the end of this cycle, but it is reaching the end of the cycle for some of these guys. Maybe that's next year, or the end of the year, maybe it's this year, but we need to get younger in terms of our succession planning. We are going to be adding some young players in this window and a lot of young players in the offseason as well.”

New England appears to be on the precipice of acquiring Luca Langoni, a winger from Boca Juniors. While only 22 years old, Langoni has a long injury history which raises questions about how he will hold up on the Gillette Stadium turf. It acheives Porter’s desire to get younger, but if he struggles to stay healthy, that will all be for naught.

But come 2025, it seems like the Revolution roster will look a lot different than the team fans have watched in recent years.