Ten-Day Break Gives Revolution Opportunity To Rest And Reflect
Porter: "The long-term vision won't change but the short-term might, based on just knowing our group now after three months, so we had a lot of time to just reflect.”
The New England Revolution are wrapping up a ten-day break between games, their longest gap since the season began on Feb. 21. This period provided an opportunity for rest and reflection.
The Revs started the season with eight games in 26 days as they looked to balance the Concacaf Champions Cup with league play. They’re undefeated in Concacaf, going 3-0-1, and winless in the league, going 0-4-1.
Head coach Caleb Porter called the early stretch “a gauntlet” and “very difficult.” Having a break and regular training sessions provided some relief.
“You can see guys were chewed up mentally and physically,” Porter said. “And I think that's been a big part of the issue in the league. We haven’t been fresh or have had time to prepare.”
With games coming so quickly, it was hard to take a moment to breath. Porter noted that the coaching staff have been thinking about the team during the last ten days.
“It was nice to have a couple of weeks just to reset, recharge, and prepare,” Porter explained. “In a lot of ways, as a coaching staff, look at our group, we might have this vision of what we want to be and maybe we need to adjust that vision. The long-term vision won't change but the short-term might, based on just knowing our group now after three months, so we had a lot of time to just reflect.”
Last week, Porter told Zolak and Bertrand that the coaches were looking at making some adjustments. Having been with the players for a few months, Porter now has a better sense of his squad.
“We're tinkering a little bit,” Porter said on Thursday. “How, as coaches, can we bring more out of the group? Whether that's training different things or whether that's maybe tweaking our game model, our system, our formation, to kind of better highlight the guys that we have right now. So we've tinkered a little bit, which is good. You don't get the chance to do that when you have one day of training.”
The Revs now face another busy stretch as they’ll play four games in 13 days.
First up is Club América, who will come to Gillette Stadium for leg one of the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinals. The Tuesday night game will be a big test for the Revolution.
“I told the guys when we showed video on Club América, I told them that this is going to be one of the best teams you’ll ever play,” Porter said. “So, we have to believe we have a chance, and our guys do, but we know it’ll be very difficult and it's going to be a very good opponent. Can we get an advantage in this first leg? That's the key. Can we get an advantage going back to Azteca next week? That's the goal. The goal is to get an advantage.”