FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Revolution touched down back home in New England late Tuesday night after a month of valuable preseason training in Bradenton, Florida. The team competed in their fifth preseason match in the Sunshine State earlier on Tuesday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rowdies (USL Championship), finishing their time down south with a win and a current preseason record of 3-1-1.
The 90-minute match was split between two groups, with most of the first group of 11 seeing 70 minutes of play and the second group closing out the final 20 minutes. The Homegrown trio of Jack Panayotou, Peyton Miller and Noel Buck combined on the only goal in the Revolution's 1-0 win, 19-year-old Buck and 17-year-old Miller pairing to set up 20-year-old Panayotou for the finish.
“It was good. We played a whole new group. It’s important to push their minutes, and in theory we want everybody available for selection. To do that, we need everybody to be fit. It was great for that group to get 70 and they found a great goal, which I was pleased with,” said head coach Caleb Porter. “Overall, I think it’s a good performance out of a lot of young guys.”
The Revs now look to compete in their last match of the preseason campaign against Hartford Athletic on Saturday night, February 15, before the 2025 season opener the following weekend in Nashville. Saturday's game will be played at home at Gillette Stadium and will be available for streaming at revolutionsoccer.net, with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m.
“We made a lot of progress. We came together a lot quicker than I thought, and it’ll continue to come together,” explained Porter, who was somewhat surprised to see just how fast the team built chemistry, considering the addition of new 14 signings. With one last time to come together on the pitch before the Revolution head to Nashville to begin the season on February 22, the focus is still on developing those connections and becoming a unit.
“Just continuing to get a rhythm,” Porter said ahead of Saturday’s match. “When you plug in new pieces, that chemistry takes time. I want to see those connections, those pairings, that understanding, whether it’s the two central defenders, whether it’s the outside backs and wingers, whether it’s the two center mids. Everybody’s new, playing together.
“The nine [Leo Campana] the 10, Carles [Gil]. Really pleased so far, but we still need to develop that understanding, that rhythm, and that cohesiveness. So that’s really, for me, the most important thing. It’s another opportunity. We’ll be able to get two days, Thursday, Friday, we’ll play that game Saturday, and then we’ll have a full week for Nashville, to continue to dial things in.”
Porter has emphasized the importance of preseason games as an opportunity to learn, when the squad is less worried about the outcome of the match and more focused on building a strong foundation for the road ahead. With that in mind, after more than a month of preseason training, Porter admits “the guys are ready to play games that mean something.”
