New England Revolution Hoping to Start 2025 Off Strong

“You never know completely how long it's going to take. The good news is we have five and a half weeks of preseason, so that's the best time to integrate players."

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The New England Revolution had a poor start to the 2024 season that followed them throughout the campaign, with a revamped roster, the squad will be looking to ensure that it doesn’t make that same mistake.

New England lost four straight matches to begin the MLS season. These defeats included the season-opening 3-1 loss to D.C. United that saw Giacomo Vrioni get sent off in the first half along with Ian Harkes in the second half and a 4-1 loss to Atlanta United.

The Revolution are now down in Florida as they begin a five-week-long preseason. There are plenty of new faces — 11 so far to be exact — which can make getting off to a good start difficult. Players need to adjust to a new style of play while the holdovers from the 2024 roster will need to build chemistry with their new teammates.

But head coach Caleb Porter believes that the players New England acquired in the offseason will make the transition easier.

“You never know completely how long it's going to take,” Porter said on Tuesday. “The good news is we have five and a half weeks of preseason, so that's the best time to integrate players. If you have all your guys in preseason, that goes a long way. Obviously, if you pick the right players, then they integrate a lot quicker. If you're developing [past] guys to play the way you want to play, it's not always natural. We feel like every player that we've added, it will be much more natural for them to transition and integrate into the way that we want to play, because they're already doing those things, or they have the qualities and the strengths to play the way we want to play.”

One of the most important additions to New England’s roster is Leo Campana. The No. 9 will be looking to be the antithesis of now former Revs striker Giacomo Vrioni; a consistent scoring striker who makes the most of his chances.

Campana is ready to get to work and stressed the importance of competing as a team with speaking with reporters on Tuesday.

“Obviously, it takes time,” Campana said regarding the process of adjusting to a new team. “That is why we are in preseason. That is why we are all together here in Sarasota. I think we have a lot of games before the MLS [season] starts. So, it will be good, those games prior to MLS, so we can have good connections and be a team. That is the most important thing – to be as a team and to compete as a team. And obviously, I know we will do good things.”

While a lot of the responsibility when it comes to unifying a team falls on Porter, Carles Gil will also play a major role. The Revolution captain is apart of a select group of players that remains from New England’s 2021 Supporters’ Shield winning side.

Gil — along with Matt Polster and Andrew Farrell — will play a key role in helping players adjust to life in New England on and off the field.

“Our goal is clear, it’s to be a competitive team,” Gil told reporters. “We weren’t last year. Like you said, there are many new faces. I think it’s a very important preseason for everyone, for the experienced players who’ve been here many years to help these [incoming] players to be happy here and have a good preseason. I hope we can have very good chemistry altogether and build a very good team.

“We have many training sessions and many preseason games to build a good team and to be ready for Nashville,” Gil later added. “Obviously, when you have new faces, you need to be together. We’re going to be here one month, so we’ll spend time together and get to know each other. That will be very important for the new players. For me and for the players like Andrew [Farrell] and Matt Polster, we’re trying to help everyone be happy here and help everyone reach his best version.”