FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – When the 2024 Major League Soccer schedule came out back in December, many New England Revolution fans would surely have had their eyes drawn to late June, when the team would be facing the defending Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup winners on back-to-back weekends. Maybe their immediate response to seeing those fixtures was to get a bit nervous, but, with last Saturday’s 2-1 road win over FC Cincinnati out of the way, first-year head coach Caleb Porter says he’s looking forward to the challenge of facing one of the league’s best teams for the second time in a row, this time in the form of the Columbus Crew.
To make things even more interesting, the reigning champions also happen to be the team Porter most recently coached before joining New England, and this Saturday’s faceoff with the Crew will be his first against his former club. As the coach who put the second star on the badge for the Black and Gold, Porter said that he now relishes the opportunity to be on the other side and take on one of the top teams in the country.
“Really, really fond memories of my time there, but I’m really, really pleased to be in New England right now,” Porter said after training on Tuesday. “I’m excited about the future of this club.”
For the present moment, that future starts and ends with Saturday’s game against the Crew. In between a match that saw defender Xavier Arreaga make the MLS Team of the Matchday – not to mention Porter himself named as the week’s best coach – and a week that will see the Revs play three games in eight days, Porter’s singular focus is on the game to be played at Gillette Stadium this coming weekend.
“We’ve got to keep winning," he said. "We’ve got to keep working hard in training and focus on Columbus. That’s it. There’s still room for a lot of improvement.”
He added that the recent run of success has been helpful for building confidence in the team, but that the next game was the most important one at the end of the day.
“I think it’s more about staying hungry than anything,” Porter said of the team’s way forward. “We’ll keep the knife between our teeth and keep pushing, keep improving in training, and keep working hard. Obviously, it helps, too, when you’re playing a really good team; the guys didn’t need any motivation going into Cincinnati, they knew they were playing a very good team that we had to play well against.
“Same goes for Columbus – obviously, MLS Cup champions last year, and a lot of quality. They’re coming off a 4-0 shellacking [over Sporting Kansas City] and they’re a very difficult team to play. But I think it’s another game where hopefully we can show that we’re good enough to beat a team like Columbus.”
And when it comes to his personal history with the Crew, Porter said that he had only positive memories of a successful time in charge of Columbus, but that a win against them this weekend would be a special success of its own kind.
“I’m proud of my time in Columbus,” he said, “and proud of being a part of an MLS Cup championship team, one of the three that they have. To be able to put a star on the badge, that was special. I gave all I had to the club while I was there, even in the years where we didn’t win MLS Cup …
“I can’t wait to play against Columbus,” he added enthusiastically, “because, again, I like playing the best teams, and this is definitely one of the best teams. You really find out what your group’s made of. And I think it’s a great follow-up to Cincy, you know? Can we do it again?”
