Revolution Battle Illness Before Inter Miami Game
Porter: "Listen, it’s no excuse, but it has been a tough 24 hours."
The New England Revolution had a turbulent 24 hours before facing Inter Miami CF as some team members struggled with illness. This impacted the game-day roster.
Aljaz Ivacic, Earl Edwards Jr., Esmir Bajraktarevic, and Dave Romney were unavailable due to illness. With only one healthy goalkeeper able to play—Henrich Ravas—the Revs signed second-team player J.D. Gunn to a short-term contract.
Head coach Caleb Porter explained after the game that two of the unavailable players were scheduled to start.
“It was a tough 24 hours for us, I’m sure you guys know that,” Porter said. “We lost two guys in the starting lineup [due to illness]. We had planned to start Aljaz in goal and Esmir on the wing, so we lose two guys literally right before the match. Then a couple guys on the bench as well, so that's not ideal.
“But listen, it's no excuse. It has been a tough 24 hours. Six guys out with injuries and then another five to flu. You prepare, great prep we had on matchday minus one, and then last night I learned that basically we are four or five guys down today, two that I was planning to start.”
Matt Polster and Mark-Anthony Kaye were also impacted but ended up playing. Polster featured for 60 minutes while Kaye contributed 81.
Porter complimented their efforts.
“We had two of our center mids that both were throwing up all night long,” Porter said. “We had, again, a couple of guys that just couldn't go like Esmir couldn't get out of bed. He said he couldn't walk. Aljaz was the same, they didn't eat.
“Matt Polster, he's just tough. He was able to push through it. For him to go, I think it was 60 minutes, he was in the ER from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. For him to play the game, essentially on nothing in the system or stomach, says everything about him.
“Mark got it a little sooner. He got it on Friday. We didn't know until game time. We didn't know who was going to be able to play, and we actually had guys drop off right before the game. David Romney came in sick. We had to send him home.”
Such uncertainty in the game's lead-up was disruptive as the Revolution spent the week working on certain tactics.
“It's not ideal,” Porter said. “We prep with Aljaz, we wanted to play out the back, and then all of a sudden, Ravas is in there, he didn't get the same reps. So, you can see a little bit of that at times, that it wasn't quite what we wanted in the attacking execution.”
If Kaye and Polster were sick, why didn't he start Harkes? Harkes is a better option than Kaye even when Kaye is healthy.
A rough 24 hours .Wake up Porter is been a rough 9 games for the fans!! Oh thats right its his team the fans don't count!!