Henry Kessler A Blast From Past

"He's hard, he's tough, he's good in the air, he likes to defend, and he likes to get clean sheets."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The game of soccer seems to always be evolving but when it comes to being a center back there is only one thing you have to do well, defend.

Luckily for the New England Revolution and head coach Caleb Porter, that is something that center back Henry Kessler is quite good at. The 25-year-old has appeared in five MLS matches and hasn’t been carded. Kessler also has recorded 28 recoveries while winning 19 duels.

“Yeah, I think he's been good,” Porter said of Kessler. “For me, I like his game. I think he's kind of an old school, throwback, center half. He's hard, he's tough, he's good in the air, he likes to defend, and he likes to get clean sheets. You saw in the game [at Club América], we didn't really have a second right back, so we had to cycle Nick [Lima] and DeJuan [Jones] to 45 for Tuesday to make the game work. And then same thing with Jonathan Mensah out, we had to kind of rotate Kessler and [Dave] Romney in the left center back position. Those were programmed subs in the game, but I think Henry is a very solid player for us and will continue to be.”

Kessler belongs to one of the deepest positional groups on the roster. With veteran center backs Andrew Farrell, Dave Romney, and Jonathan Mensah, the 25-year-old will have to stay on top of his game to maintain a spot in the starting XI.

Saturday’s match will be a homecoming for the center back who was born in New York. While most teams dread playing New York City FC at home, Kessler doesn’t mind playing on a baseball field as much.

“I'm really excited to be playing in New York City,” he said. “I love going home, great city where I was born and raised, so I'm looking forward to it.”

On top of playing soccer in a baseball stadium, NYCFC plays on quite a small pitch both in length and in width. That means that Kessler along with the rest of his Revolution teammates will have to be on their toes as the game can be flipped on its head at a moments notice.

“You just have to be smart,” Porter said. “Everything happens a little quicker because it's a shorter field, so like the transitions both ways happened quicker and you get to goal quicker. So, we have got to be mindful of that on both sides of the ball. It's very narrow, so there's not a ton of width in the game. So how do you create some width? You have to do it in different ways than normal. Set pieces become more of a factor as well. Even things like long throw-ins and our service in the box, you have got to make those adjustments. Typically, when I've played New York City FC, we have actually lined the pitch a little bit. Like tomorrow, when we shape up, we will actually try to lay down discs in the same dimension of their pitch, because it's just a lot more narrow and shorter than any pitch in the league.”

The Revolution are in desperate need of momentum as they only secured their first MLS win a week ago. After a depressing dismissal by Club America in Concacaf Champions Cup play, a win on the road and against an Eastern Conference opponent would boost their spirits.

Maybe the hometown hero will help New England get its season back on track.