New England Revolution Preparing In Panama
New England Revolution Preparing In Panama
"It’s a new era for us with Caleb."
The New England Revolution arrived in Panama on Monday as the club’s first match of 2024 inches closer.
New England will kick off its season in Concacaf Champions Cup play as they face Panamanian side Club Atlético Independiente on Wednesday. For Revolution head coach Caleb Porter, CCC is yet another opportunity to bring a trophy back to Foxboro.
“We're excited to be in the [Concacaf Champions Cup],” he said. “You obviously are in this tournament because you've earned the right to be in, so that's a credit to the team last year and the success that they've had. We're a club that wants to compete for trophies every single year and there's multiple competitions that we have the chance to do that this season. So, we're excited to start our season with this game tomorrow against the champions of Panama, [Club Atlético] Independiente. We have respect for our opponent, and we're going to put out a strong lineup to hopefully get off to a good start in the first leg.”
The last time that the Revolution were in this continental tournament, they suffered a disastrous defeat to Pumas in the quarterfinals. After defeating the Mexican club 3-0 at home, New England was blanked 3-0 on the road. The match went to penalties and Pumas was victorious.
Captain Carles Gil is excited to get the competition underway.
“For us, we have many competitions this year,” Gil said. “We’re excited to play many. It’s our first game. Every time it’s very exciting to play the first game with a new season. It’s a new era for us with Caleb. We’re very excited and ready. It’ll be very hard tomorrow to play here but we’ll try to get a good result and finish it at home.”
With it being New England’s first match of the season, it will be interesting to see how the Revolution look. This is not the case for Independiente who already has a handful of games under its belt.
The heat will likely play a factor as it is significantly warmer in Panama than New England. When you add in the Panamanian club’s playing style, New England is in for a test on Wednesday.
“We’ve seen video of them,” Gil said of his opponents. “Once we knew that they’d be our opponent we knew it’d be difficult. In addition to the conditions, very hot, they’re a team that’s very intense, very strong. They’ll make it difficult. We know it’s two games, but our intention is to get a good result here.”
To make matters worse, it does appear that New England could be shorthanded heading into the match. Henry Kessler missed the last two preseason matches and Porter stated that the center back had suffered a hamstring strain that kept him sidelined.
“Yeah, Henry [Kessler] had a mild hamstring strain,” the coach responded when asked about Kessler’s status by The Blazing Musket. “He's been out the last couple of weeks, but he's been working back into training and the last two training sessions he's been full strength. So, probably for this game, it's a little bit tight for him to factor in, but we're hoping that maybe he can be available for some minutes in DC.”
With Kessler appearing to be ways away from being ready to play 90 minutes, Andrew Farrell appears in line to start. Nick Lima is also likely to be the starting right back for the foreseeable future or until Kessler is healthy.
Wednesday’s match is a chance for the Revolution to start their season on a high note. After the disaster that was 2023, a positive start seems to be the medicine that bruised and battered fans in New England need.