Concacaf Champions Cup | Round One | Leg 1
New England Revolution at Club Atlético Independiente
Wednesday, February 21 | 8 p.m. ET
Estadio Universitario FC | Llano Marin, Coclé, Panama
Watch: FREE on Tubi (English), TUDN (Spanish)
Listen: 1260 AM Nossa Radio (Portuguese)
CURRENT FORM
New England Revolution
2023 MLS Season | 5th in Eastern Conference (15-9-10, 55 pts.)
Last Appearance in Concacaf Champions Cup | 2022 (QFs)
The Revolution’s MLS regular season campaign will begin on Saturday night with a visit to D.C. United, but first they’ll kick off competitive action with a midweek trip to Panama and a meeting with Club Atlético Independiente in Round One of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup. The Revs qualified for this year’s edition of the tournament via their sixth-place finish in last year’s overall MLS table, and they return to the competition for the second time in three years, having reached the quarterfinals in 2022 before falling to Pumas UNAM in a penalty shootout.
Wednesday night’s match officially begins a new era in New England as head coach Caleb Porter takes the reins in 2024. The two-time MLS Cup champion and 2013 MLS Coach of the Year has spent the past six weeks of preseason implementing his game model and building a strong cultural foundation, and now the Revs will look to translate all that work onto the field in competitive action.
Club Atlético Independiente
1st in Liga Panameña de Fútbol Group B (2-1-2, 8 pts.)
Last Appearance in Concacaf Champions Cup | 2019 (QFs)
CA Independiente, three-time defending champions of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol, qualified for Concacaf Champions Cup by reaching the semifinals of the 2023 Central American Cup. This marks the club’s second appearance in Champions Cup, having reached the quarterfinals in 2019 on a run that included a 5-1 aggregate win over Toronto FC and a 2-1 home victory over Sporting Kansas City before an eventual loss on aggregate.
Currently five games into the Liga Panameña de Fútbol campaign, CAI sit atop Group B with a record of two wins, two draws and just one loss, outscoring opponents 8-5 along the way.
KEY PLAYERS
Revolution midfielder Carles Gil
Even under new leadership New England’s attack is once again expected to revolve heavily around captain and talisman Carles Gil, as it has since his arrival in 2019. Porter on Monday described the 31-year-old as “one of the best players” and “one of the most professional players” he has ever worked with throughout his lengthy career, noting his work ethic and positive attitude on and off the training ground.
The 2021 MLS MVP is coming off what was statistically his best season as a professional, racking up 11 goals and 15 assists in 32 appearances last season. An MLS All-Star each of the last three years, Gil’s 26 goal contributions in 2023 were the second-most in a single season in Revolution history.
CA Independiente forward Víctor Ávila
With 13 goals in just 18 games during the 2023 Clausura season, Víctor Ávila claimed honors as the top goal scorer and was named Most Valuable Player of the competition while helping CAI to a third straight title. The 25-year-old Panamanian previously played for San Francisco FC and Veraguas Club Deportivo (both in Panama) prior to joining CAI ahead of the 2022 campaign.
Ávila is off to yet another hot start in 2024, having already registered three goals through the first five games of the season to sit just one goal off top spot in the league scoring charts.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter
"We're very excited to be in this tournament and we're not taking this game lightly. We're not taking our opponent lightly. It's five weeks into our season, so we want to use these games to continue to improve. We're in a transition phase with a new coach and some new players, but the team is getting better every single week and I really like where we're at five weeks in. Ultimately, we're going to put out a strong group again to hopefully get ourselves in a good position for the second leg. We know we have a league game also on Saturday, and the priority this week is to get off to a good start in the [Concacaf Champions Cup] and also in the league. So, we've got a deep roster, and we have multiple guys on the team that can play at a very high level and everybody's 90 minutes fit. So, we're looking forward to the match tomorrow.”
New England Revolution midfielder Carles Gil
“For us, we have many competitions this year. We’re excited to play many. It’s our first game. Every time it’s very exciting to play the first game with a new season. it’s a new era for us with Caleb. We’re very excited and ready. It’ll be very hard tomorrow to play here but we’ll try to get a good result and finish it at home.”
“We’ve seen video of [Independiente]. Once we knew that they’d be our opponent we knew it’d be difficult. In addition to the conditions, very hot, they’re a team that’s very intense, very strong. They’ll make it difficult. We know it’s two games, but our intention is to get a good result here.”
