New England Revolution Seeking Continuity
"That consistency and that continuity has been a big reason why we’ve been competitive in every game and why we’ve been one of the better defensive teams in the league.”
The New England Revolution are about to embark on the second half of the Major League Soccer season and if they can get healthy it could be a much improved conclusion to the campaign.
New England’s backline has been the consistent brightspot so far in 2025. At this point of the year in 2024, the Revolution had allowed 30 goals. This season, it is a measley 19.
The defense has largely been healthy with the likes of Peyton Miller and Brayan Ceballos the only players who have truly struggled with injuries. Additionally in the midfield, Alhassan Yusuf has started in every single MLS match for New England this season.
While the likes of Mamadou Fofana, Aljaz Ivacic, and Ceballos are getting credit for the Revolution’s defensive success, the Nigerian midfielder is also desrving of some praise. Yusuf does a great job of being the first line of defense in the midfield, executing crunching tackles and doing his best to stop attacks before they truly can get started.
Head coach Caleb Porter highlighted Yusuf’s impact on New England so far this season.
“I think he [Yusuf] has had a great season,” Porter said. “He’s a very consistent player on both sides of the ball, a really good mentality. He’s very well-rounded, good going forward, good at keeping the ball for us, moving the ball, and good defensively in duels. He’s a very well-rounded player and a good fit in MLS. At the back, our back three, our wing backs, and our two holding midfielders, that consistency and that continuity has been a big reason why we’ve been competitive in every game and why we’ve been one of the better defensive teams in the league.”
One of the areas of the pitch that has been the least stable is the attack, an area where New England has struggled to remain consistent. Leo Campana, Tomas Chancalay, and Ignatius Ganago have all dealt with their own injury issues. Additionally Luca Langoni has been sidelined but he wasn’t being utilized since the Revs switched to a 5-3-2.
Porter noted that when New England had been performing its best, it had continuity up top with Ganago and Campana. While the Cameroonian remains sidelined, Campana and Langoni will be available for the match against Nashville.
“Obviously, we’ve had some different pieces in the two striker positions, so I think that has affected a little bit of the chemistry recently,” Porter said. “When we won four games in a row, we had a really good chemistry that had built between [Ignatius] Ganago and [Leo] Campana. Then, you lose Campana and you’re developing a bit of a different chemistry with [Tomás] Chancalay. And then you lose Ganago, and now you’re developing a little bit of a different chemistry with Chancalay and someone else. We’re gaining that chemistry with those front guys. A lot of it is making sure we have runs in the box and that we get the service in the right spots.”
Heading into the back half of the season, New England needs to have all of its cogs functioning properly. It has shown that it has the capability to have one unit performing successfully but if the Revolution want to make the playoffs and contend in the East, it needs to perform well throughout all phases of the game.