Revolution Game Planning For Dallas Amid Absences

Porter: “I am putting out a lineup of guys that I think are brave, guys that I think can get the job done"

Photo Courtesy of the New England Revolution

The New England Revolution are preparing for Saturday’s home game against FC Dallas while dealing with a long list of injuries.

Absences have recently forced the Revs to alter their formation and personnel.

The team typically lines up in a 4-2-3-1 but they’ve also used a 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 during this difficult time.

“It’s not ideal, but you have to look at your group,” head coach Caleb Porter explained. “Obviously, without Carles [Gil], without Dylan [Borrero], without Giacomo [Vrioni], the group changes, the system changes, the execution of your preferred game model changes. So, it’s about finding a solution.”

When asked on Wednesday if any of the injured players will be back this weekend, Porter said, “I don’t expect to have many guys back, no, unfortunately.”

Our own Sam Minton asked for an update on Friday, to which Porter said, “What I can tell you is we will have everybody back by Montreal [on August 24]. That gives us a good feeling in those last 11 games, knowing we will be back at full strength [like] when we were rolling. But I expect in this game to get a result.”

The striker position is an area of interest as Vrioni, who leads the team with eight goals, missed the midweek game due to a calf injury.

Bobby Wood was called to make his first league start of the year, contributing 57 minutes. The veteran, who did play 58 minutes in a Concacaf Champions Cup game on Apr. 9, has only accumulated 122 league minutes in 2024.

Marcos Dias, whose 20 goals are the most in Revolution II history, is an option.

While Dias has been available for the last three Revs games, he only played against the Seattle Sounders. MLS rules state that a second-team player is limited to four Short-Term Agreements and two appearances.

19-year-old Homegrown Malcolm Fry, who has come off the bench in the last two games, is another possibility.

“This will be [Dias’] fourth call-up, so he is done after this game,” Porter said. “And that’s all competitions as well, which is ridiculous, that rule. So yeah, we would expect him, again, to be utilized.

“But I also thought Malcolm Fry did pretty well. He has done well with his minutes. I thought he was lively. He had one moment [on Wednesday] where he skinned a guy and got a good chance on goal.

“But Marcos is a forward, and Bobby we know can’t play 90 [minutes], but I was pleased that Bobby got a good run, 55 [minutes].”

While no team ever wants to deal with absences, Porter and his staff are doing all they can to develop a game plan to secure a positive result before the Leagues Cup break.

“I am putting out a lineup of guys that I think are brave, guys that I think can get the job done,” Porter said. “We do have some guys that didn’t play in the last game, because of rotation, that we can insert. So, we do have some fresh legs and some energy coming back into the team.”

After a 2-10-1 start to the season, the Revs won five of six. They’re now on a three-game losing streak.

“It’s an important match,” Porter said of Saturday’s game. “We need to stop the bleeding a little bit. Obviously, we understand we have not gotten results in the last three games. We were in a very good run of form prior to that.

“Obviously, everybody knows we have some guys out that are aligned with our results dipping. But for me, this game is about getting the job done. No excuses.

“We know we have the Leagues Cup, then a break following this, so it would be really good to get some points in this game and set up that stretch run.”