The New England Revolution dropped points at home yet again, drawing 1-1 against Toronto FC. Their northern neighbors have been one of the weakest teams in the league this season but given the Revs’ home form, any opponent is a difficult opponent these days.
Head Coach Caleb Porter opted for the 3-5-2 formation. The Revs were missing key players due to injury, notably Leo Campana, Ignatius Ganago, and Matt Polster. New England came out in the first half with their typical defensive, cagey style of play. They were neither threatening nor threatened; all told it was a boring half of soccer.
As has happened, the away team got the first goal at Gillette. This time, it was a counterattack that found the Revs trailing 1-0 with 15 minutes to go. The attacking depth on the bench was thin, to put it nicely. The only player available was Revs 2 forward Sharod George, who made his MLS debut.
Now chasing the game, the Revolution finally started playing with urgency. They were rewarded in the 90th minute when Luca Langoni’s deflected shot found the back of the net. It was only the second goal of the season for La Langosta. Gillette Stadium erupted, the Foxboro Faithful rewarded for their efforts to cheer on the Revolution in the dying minutes of the game.
When the whistle blew for full time, the club finally recognized what we have all seen for weeks now. The season is over.
Head coach Caleb Porter has officially been fired by the Revolution. Assistant coach Pablo Moreira will take charge for the remaining four games of the 2025 campaign.
Porter’s tenure in New England was marked by a series of low points. The Revolution had one of their worst seasons ever last year, both statistically and by the eye test. Lest we forget the demolitions by Columbus and Club América.
Things did not get better this year despite an overhaul of the roster.
While the results have been terrible, and changing the head coach was necessary in my opinion, I don’t think you can say that Caleb Porter didn’t try. He gave a lot of time, energy, and effort to the team.
His tactics simply didn’t work.
I know that many of us, heck maybe all of us, were not fans of Porter’s style of play even before he got to New England. It is ultra-defensive, boring to watch, and ultimately ineffective in this version of MLS.
Despite any initial hesitations we had when he was hired, I don’t believe that the majority of fans wanted him to fail when he took the job.
He was our head coach. We wanted him and the team to succeed. If we had to pay the price of unentertaining soccer to win, so be it.
By the end, all of us knew he needed to go. In fact, a lot of us thought a change should have been made last offseason.
That brings me to Curt Onalfo and the decisions made by the front office.
I do not think you could have pivoted harder, in a more opposite direction, than going from Bruce Arena to Caleb Porter. Arena hated talking about tactics. You got the sense he let the guys run out there and do their thing. He joked with the media and never gave long answers to questions. He preferred an attacking team with pace and lethal forwards in front of goal.
Curt Onalfo must have known that he was getting the polar opposite in Caleb Porter. Porter was cordial, sometimes confrontational, with the media. He gave long, winding answers to questions. He was focused on the game model, very tactical in his approach. He preferred a slower, more controlled game that most of the time would be decided by a single goal.
So why then was he hired?
When Porter was hired, we were told that he was the best person for the job. He had the best resume, with two MLS Cups. The Revs had a talented roster and he could bring them to glory.
In my mind, it never added up. I think the proof came last offseason, when almost the entire roster was overhauled. The roster we had been told was a playoff-caliber roster was not, in fact, a good fit for Porter.
Onalfo decided to give Porter another year to bring in his own players and instill his style of play. Despite getting his players, the team never took off this year. Rather, they have been stuck in first gear.
While Onalfo claims that the roster has improved, that the Revs have more talented players than before, he must also acknowledge that there are holes in the roster he constructed. How many games have the Revs had only one attacking sub available? Or no attacking subs? How many big player signings have missed significant time due to injury?
What is the balance of the blame? Is everything on Porter? Or should Onalfo shoulder an equal amount?
Change is needed in New England. Caleb Porter departing is certainly the start of a new chapter in the history of the club, but I am worried the issues run deeper than the head coach.
I hope the future will bring a head coach who can make the most of the roster they have. I don’t know that we can trust Onalfo to find the right fit, given what happened last time. Maybe he has learned a lesson about fit and style rather than relying on a resume.
I hope the next head coach can win games at home and get the Revolution back into the playoffs. Then maybe we can start talking about fighting for trophies.
While I have to hope, I truly don’t know what to expect. Will a new head coach and offseason signings be enough? Are the Revs actually that close to getting things right, or are we much further away from contention than Onalfo proclaims us to be?
MLS continues to make huge strides forward. The talent and depth on the teams above the playoff line is significant. The Revolution have a tall mountain to climb to be relevant in this league again.
In dark times, there are often more questions than answers. This is certainly a dark time for the Revolution, and unfortunately, I have more questions than answers.
Normally I'd say a sporting director should get a second chance at hiring a head coach. I think Onalfo lost that chance when he doubled down on Porter and got him a completely new roster. That was the equivalent of him getting (and wasting) his second chance. Combine this with him completely overhauling the team with over a dozen multi-year deals and still ending up with a roster that is so obviously flawed tells me clearly he is not the right person to lead this team.
I remember being at the home opener (FREEZING!). They kept passing the ball back and forth around the backline. There was zero urgency. It was so boring. I was compelled to yell out "COME ON, LET'S GO!!!". And then here I am, late in the season, still waiting for this urgency and attack to come but never materializing.
Very frustrating to watch other teams do the thing you know your team needs to do. Like having composure in the attacking 3rd and setting up chances. The players often look like they don't practice together. They're rarely on the same page.