BRADENTON, Fla. – The New England Revolution were back in action on Monday afternoon against Houston Dynamo FC in the third game of the 2025 preseason campaign. After 120 minutes of play, the Revolution walked away with a 3-3 draw, splitting 60-minute intervals between two groups of players.

With three weeks of preseason training under their belts, fitness levels were put to the test for Monday's match, which showed plenty of promise for the New England attack as the chemistry continues to build.

“I’m really happy with the minutes we were able to get,” said head coach Caleb Porter. “It’s a hot day. It’s only a little over three weeks into the preseason and for us to be able to manage a 60-minute clip at a pretty high level, especially for about the first 50 [minutes] or so of it. I thought our quality was excellent on both sides of the ball.”

Revs attack shows spark with three quality goals

With three goals on Monday and many more chances created, Porter and the players were pleased with the attack they were able to build against Houston. Scoring two goals in the first 60 minutes and one after the lineup switch, the Revs were able to maintain an even playing field against Houston. Opening the scoring in the 25th minute was Leo Campana, a new addition to the Revolution roster for the 2025 season.

“It felt good. Obviously it is why I am here – to score goals,” explained Campana. “I am hoping to score many more. It is my part, as I say, to score as many goals as possible to help the team get as many points as possible, as well.”

Campana’s finish came off an assist from winger Luca Langoni, who is with New England in preseason for the first time after joining the roster in August of last year.

“In the first two games you can see we are defending really well and maybe wanted a few more chances,” explained Porter, who was pleased by the number of opportunities created by the attack. “We worked a little more on the attack, so that comes to life even more.”

The Revolution were able to score two more goals after Campana, with Alhassan Yusuf’s goal in the 48th minute and Marcos Dias’ 97th-minute strike.

Camaraderie developing rapidly on Revs' rebuilt roster

With 14 new players joining the Revolution roster for 2025, the main objective this preseason has been to focus on building connections and coming together as a team. With so many fresh faces, chemistry was expected to build with time, but after just three weeks, Porter and the team have been pleasantly surprised by the bonds they have already been able to form.

“When you have a group of guys that have a good attitude and work hard, that makes it much easier,” said Porter. “They really enjoy being together. They enjoy being around each other. They’re developing strong relationships and I think that’s showing in our chemistry on the pitch.”

For goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič, who is beginning his first full season with Revs, the energy in preseason has been great. “We are here for one month, so we are together 24 hours a day. It is good that we will get to know each other, but the guys are really nice guys off the field which is most important,” he explained. “The atmosphere is amazing, and then it clicks on the field even better.”

Campana commented on the growing chemistry, as well, especially when it comes to playing with Luca Langoni and Carles Gil in the attack. “It just takes a little bit of time for me to learn how Carles moves and how Luca moves in the final third of the pitch. I think we are all complementing [each other] really well, so I am really happy for these connections with them.”

With a little more than a week left in Florida and less than three weeks until the season opener in Nashville, the Revolution will continue prioritizing unity as they move forward toward the season.

Looking ahead to Atlanta

The Revolution will take on Atlanta United FC in their next preseason match on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 8). With the game available for streaming, the Revolution are heading into the contest with an attitude more closely resembling a dress rehearsal for a regular season match, with hopes of a marriage between the work they’ve put in to both their attack and defense.

“We put the guys in a situation today and versus Atlanta [on Saturday], where we’re going to play aggressive. We’re going to try to do the right thing, be brave,” explained Porter. “We’ll have some mistakes to correct and this is the time of the year to correct those things and clean those things up.”

For Ivačič, he is looking forward to continuing the preseason campaign to develop a season-ready fitness. “It is still the preseason, so we are still building everything. Some games we are playing tired a little bit, which is okay. Maybe the result is not what we want, but we are getting ready for the season and everything that matters is the first game against Nashville and then going forward,” he said. “So, if we need to sacrifice a little bit of those games here in order to be in better shape, then it is fine.”

Fans will be able to stream the friendly against Atlanta on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET online at revolutionsoccer.net.