Matchday one didn’t go the way the New England Revolution planned, as they lost 4-1 to Nashville SC at Geodis Park on Saturday night.

The visitors were down two goals within 16 minutes and three by halftime. Leo Campana got one back in the 47th minute, but Nashville regained their three-goal advantage two minutes later.

It wasn't an ideal outing, but the Revs know that one game doesn't determine their season.

"One of the things that's important is your last result sometimes emotionally feels like it defines you, but it doesn't," assistant coach Michael Morris said. "Our collective work so far is what we've been looking at. We know that wasn't ideal, but we have the behaviors inside of us that we've seen all throughout preseason that we want to continue to leverage and lean on, especially as we build into another away game against [Red Bull] New York this coming weekend.”

Morris recognized the quality of their last opponent, noting they’ve had 18 months to build an identity under head coach BJ Callaghan.

He also believes there are things the Revs can do to produce a better outcome in their second game.

"I think we really want to respect ourselves a bit more," Morris said. "And in terms of the way that we want to play, I think we can build pressure with a little bit more intensity and clarity on the opponent when they're building up.

"Ultimately, we went into that game [against Nashville] feeling like we had a lot of solutions. We suffered a goal early and now it's about, ‘How do we just build the mentality in the group?’'’

"If an adverse situation happens, it's just about the next action. When you move on immediately and it's the next action, it's finding the intensity and the togetherness and moving together as a group and just dealing with it. Because getting punched in the face – it's your choice on how you deal with it."

The Nashville game gave fans their first glimpse of the Revs under head coach Marko Mitrovic.

Two players who saw a lot of time in 2025–Alhassan Yusuf and Ilay Feingold—were late-game substitutes. When asked if he sees those as week-to-week decisions, Morris answered in the affirmative.

"Some of it is, we're getting through preseason and we're trying to
figure out the different lineups and how things are going to work," Morris said. "We have so much belief in Ilay and Yusuf. That was just one moment, one match.

"Ilay has had a very good last two days of training, and I think Yusuf has had a very good week. It’s a very, very long season to see how they're going to continue to perform and how the squad evolves and what it looks like.”

The new coaching staff also deployed Dor Turgeman on the right wing, a shift after he played his first three MLS games up top in a two-striker setup.

Morris said that Luca Langoni coming off an injury was "a little bit" of a factor, though he also believes Turgeman can be effective out wide.

“What I love about Dor is he's such an attack-minded player," Morris said. "And there's things that we've seen in training where he scores goals and he goes on these dribbling actions that are just very unique and special.

"So for him, it's also being able to embrace the defensive side of the game. Leo [Campana] has been in a good spot up top. It's another opportunity for Dor to develop different aspects of his game, but also bring his attacking actions from outside to in to hopefully create goals and assists for himself, but then also be able to defend with the right intensity from the front.”

Morris had positive news on Brayan Ceballos and Mamadou Fofana, who both missed the season opener. Ceballos (hamstring) and Fofana (green card) were full participants during Wednesday's training session, while Peyton Miller (calf) worked on the side.

Fofana, who stayed fit in France by following the advice of the Revs' physical trainers, arrived back in Massachusetts on Friday. The centerback is eager to get back on the field.

“We just started the season," Fofana said. "Unfortunately, we lost the first game, but we still have more games, so we have to focus. We have to watch [last weekend's] game, and then we have to improve. But [Mitrovic] was positive, and now we just have to keep working and win games.”