BRADENTON, Fla. – The New England Revolution will take another important step in their 2018 preparations on Wednesday morning when they’ll battle the New York Red Bulls in their first preseason match under new head coach Brad Friedel.
Just nine days into camp, Wednesday’s preseason opener offers the Revs their first opportunity to implement the philosophies Friedel’s been instilling at training into a game situation, while it’s also a major test of fitness after an intense start to camp in Bradenton.
“It’ll be the first time they’re playing 11-v-11 against other competition, and it’ll be the first time that we formally lay out the formation – or one of the formations – that we’ll want to play with,” said Friedel. “It’ll be the first time for a lot of things in that regard. It’s the first time they get to open up their legs on a full-sized field with competition and without breaks.”
Multiple players have used the term “professional” to describe the way camp has been run, and there’s been plenty of buzz about the all-energy style of the training sessions with Head of Fitness Anton McElhone building the players towards full fitness.
While players will likely max out around 45 minutes on Wednesday, it’ll provide an important base for the next six preseason matches as the Revs push towards the 90-minute mark through the next five weeks.
“The first [game], I don’t want to say it’s getting the cobwebs out, because the cobwebs are definitely out by now,” said Friedel. “But it’s also getting some of them up to speed to play 45 (minutes) and maybe a touch more for one or two of them, which is never an easy thing when you’re coming into preseason.”
Juan Agudelo, Kelyn Rowe and Cody Cropper are all expected to be available for selection on Wednesday after returning from a three-week camp with the U.S. National Team on Monday night, while offseason signings Cristian Penilla and Isaac Angking will likely see their first action with the Revs.
Fellow offseason addition Gabriel Somi could also get a brief runout, though Friedel said it’ll depend on how Somi feels on limited training time after arriving from Europe over the weekend.
Kickoff is set for 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. There will be no live stream of the match, but you can follow live Twitter updates at @NERevolution and @jeff_lemieux, while we’ll also provide full postgame coverage and highlights.
