Nearly three weeks after Revolution II’s successful 2026 season came to a heartbreaking end following a 2-1 loss to Columbus Crew 2 on October 17, The Blazing Musket got the chance to catch up with Head Coach Pablo Moreira to discuss his first year at the helm of the club, the Pro Player Pathway, and a slew of other topics.
Revolution II’s ultimate goal is cultivating the next crop of prospects for the first team. It’s been in full swing recently, with Judah Siqueira ascending to the first team on August 27, while names like Javaun Mussenden received a short-term loan agreement and Makai Wells has become a frequent presence in first-team training.
“It’s something you get to see, a maturation process, right in front of you," Moreira said. "Seeing someone you invested in and someone you’ve seen day in and day out. You’ve seen how much hard work they put in. To see all that pay off and to do it the right way, with professionalism, with class, with humility, it’s a huge perk of the job.”
While thrilled to see players evolve as professionals, Moreira is equally excited about them growing as people. While there’s the talent development aspect of the job, Moreira also knows there’s also the results side of things. He highlighted it as a unique part of coaching at the MLS NEXT Pro level.
“Ultimately, as a coach, I have to look at the performance aspect of it," he said. "Then there’s the results aspect. In this league, you really get to hone in on both of those. With a developmental team, you really have to understand that they have to look at the performance, and then they also have to understand that, regardless of the performance, there is that next phase of getting results, no matter what.”
After highlighting the positives, Moreira admitted the issues from the playoff loss weren’t new to the club.
“For me, it was a very good performance, but ultimately, that was kind of the tale of the season," he said. "You have to understand when you want to create and when you want to be the ones who are deciding the game. You have to be clinical, and you have to stay honed in, and that’s what we’re trying to do here because that echo is the same sediment with the first team. We want them prepared for that.”
While losing in the opening round stings for everyone at the club, it stings a bit more for Moreira, who spent time with the Columbus Crew before arriving in New England. Moreira revealed members of the Crew organization reached out after the loss to commend him for Revolution II’s work this season.
“For me, it was tough. It’s obviously an old club, but with that said, the GM and Technical Director texted me shortly after the game," Moreira said. "That felt great because they recognized how we play the brand we play, and they were very complimentary to us.”
While 2026’s playoff loss is incredibly disappointing and heartbreaking, Moreira believes it will be an incredible learning experience for his young squad.
“Ultimately, we don't get the result in this stage of the season," he said. "That’s all that matters, and that's a huge learning experience for them, and they have to go through that. You have to as a professional. What I love about this is that there’s no tomorrow. It’s one experience you learn from, but man, it cuts deep because you got to sit on that. So, it’s something that will fuel us.”
While many would rightfully take the time to ease the sting of an early playoff loss, Moreira and Revolution II returned to action shortly after.
“The very next day we had off, and since the day after, we’ve been training like we’re getting prepared for the sprint season," he said. "We have a hunger to this team, and we’re going to continue to push forward so that next year, it’s a different story.”
While there were a lot of highlights, one of the biggest highlights of the 2026 Revolution II season has been the development of Academy midfielder Logan Azar, who won 2025-2026 Revolution Academy Player of the Year following outstanding seasons with the Under-16s and Revolution II.
"We brought him into preseason because I came in December, watched all the Academy, and did the same in January," Moreira said. "Logan caught my eye in early January, and he came to preseason with us. So, that was the first glimpse. The next glimpse was him coming and training with us full-time.”
The season was Moreira's debut as a permanent head coach. Moreira said he was not surprised by the transition to the developmental league, but admitted it confirmed his belief in the level of play and how beneficial MLS NEXT Pro can be for Major League Soccer.
“I wasn’t necessarily surprised," he said. "Everything just confirmed that this is a high-level league with high-level coaching. Clubs are putting a lot of money in this because they view it as a huge investment, and I think this will help the league grow.”
While some would view a move from MLS to MLS NEXT Pro as a “downgrade”, Moreira says it’s something he absolutely needed.
“I’m loving the situation I’m in because this is what I needed," he said. "I needed to be a Head Coach. Being a first-team top assistant for 11 years is one thing, but this is a different world in terms of being a Head Coach.”
Moreira went on to explain how his first year at the helm of Revolution II taught him a lot about his coaching style. He also got to learn from Revolution head coach Marko Mitrovic. Moreira highlighted how everyone in the organization from top to bottom is connected and united in the goal of building something special in New England.
“You want to talk about vertical integration, it’s not just a word," Moreira said. "It truly is what this club is. It starts with Brian (Billelo) and Curt (Onalfo) building that. I think they’ve built something based on values and proper culture, and from there, everyone wants to just do best for the club. CT (Chris Tierney) and Marko (Mitrović) have done a great job instilling that culture that everyone is following.”
While Moreira spent plenty of time highlighting Mitrovic, he spent even longer praising someone whose coaching presence will intensify in the coming months, club legend Andrew Farrell, who will assume full-time coaching duties in the Academy when his illustrious playing career ends following the 2026 season.
This past offseason, Moreira attended a coaching conference with Farrell. The experience has Moreira confident that the MLS veteran will transition well to the coaching side of the game.
“I think he’s going to be an excellent coach," Moreira said. "He knows the game of football, he sees it through a pure lens. This is the type of person that’s going to have a huge imprint on all the young, high-potential kids we have here. He’s going to be a great addition to the Academy.”
When it comes to what the squad could work on ahead of the 2027 MLS NEXT Pro Sprint Season, Moreira wants to improve the mentality of his squad. While Moreira believes his squad executed well on the field, he noted how the club needed to improve mentally.
“We’re talking about that gray area that can’t be quantified," Moreira said. "We need to work on the mentality, not letting up. Obviously, that coincides with how you’re playing on the field, but it starts with the mentality.”
Moreira admitted that the mentality issue came back to bite New England at times in 2026.
“The way we lost those games and the playoff loss versus Columbus was a perfect picture of what we saw consistently," he said. "Us dominate the game, us have more shots, us have more dangerous chances, us have more touches, us have more expected goals, and ultimately, you don’t come out with the victory. That’s a mentality piece of, ‘okay, they scored a goal, how are we going to react? Our reaction is to attack again or are we feeling sorry for ourselves?” I know it sounds simple, but that’s a mentality thing that takes a lot of experience and going through to change it, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Moreira has already been at work tackling that issue, revealing Revs II have been training since two days after their playoff loss to Columbus and plan to keep at it until Thanksgiving. Moreira and New England Revolution II will let the football talk starting in February 2027 when the club embarks on the 2027 MLS NEXT Pro Sprint Season through May, before the MLS NEXT Pro calendar shifts to a Summer-to Spring calendar in July.
