FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Away days can sometimes be as much about logistics as they are about the actual game. Gone are the days when MLS teams were flying commercial, of course, but gameday – the whole weekend, really – still comes with an itinerary to follow and ultimately a plane to catch.

So, it didn’t come as a surprise that the postgame press conference after the Revolution’s thrashing of CF Montréal had to be kept to a tight schedule, with midfielder Carles Gil only available for a few quick questions after head coach Caleb Porter spoke. The team had to fly back to New England that night, and that plane wasn’t going to stay on the tarmac any longer than it needed to.

Before taking off, though, the squad was able to take a moment on the plane that felt worlds away from the cold realities of flight itineraries and security lines: standing as captain (of the club, not the flight) at the front of the plane, Gil announced the award of the match ball to newcomer Luca Langoni, with the young winger being recognized for notching both a goal and an assist in his brief debut. The air was one of camaraderie, joviality, and celebration.

And then Gil made what was perhaps a bit of a bold claim: “Now, Luca is going to talk in Spanish, and Dylan [Borrero] is going to translate in English!”

The group erupted in laughter and cheers; the vibes, as they say, were immaculate. And that’s a really good sign; as important as things like box scores and training performances are, not to mention 5-0 road wins, all members of a team need to be on the same page if they’re going to move toward the same goal. With an uphill battle of a playoff push still ahead of them, the players are sharing not only in the work of winning games, but in the simple joy of being teammates.

Porter spoke to this dynamic after training on Tuesday. The two-time MLS Cup winning coach has only been in Foxborough since the start of the year and, as with any change of leadership, it took some time for everyone to bed into their new system and build these new relationships. Now, Porter feels that the group is firmly his, and he is firmly theirs.

“I've been with the group eight months, so these are my guys now,” he said. “Whether I chose them or not, I have made them my guys and I will continue to be loyal to them. With that, there's been some guys that haven't made it, right? Unfortunately, players in and players out, that's a part of making the team your own. But I've grown to love all these guys. I trust them. I believe in them. We have got a very good team here. We are going to have a good end of the year. I believe we can get in the playoffs and make a run. The future looks bright.”

The group also had the opportunity on Tuesday to come together and be reminded that soccer truly is the most important of the least important things. Brock Nowicki, a pediatric cancer fighter from Rhode Island, got to watch the day’s training with his family, being honored with a speech from the coach and a tunnel from the players as things got started. Porter said that those kinds of reminders went a long way for him and the team.

“It puts it in perspective,” he said. “Obviously, we're pushing for the playoffs this year and it's been a long season. Our guys have kind of ground through a lot of ups and downs … But it is great to be reminded that life is bigger than a soccer match. To hear Brock's story, the journey he's gone through having brain cancer and having to get chemo and radiation, a little three-year-old dealing with that, his family – his mom, his dad, his brother, and his sister having to deal with that. Life is definitely bigger than soccer and it is good to put it in perspective, to see his journey and to see this little boy who has now come through it, and he's living a normal life. He is a Revs fan and we were able to make his dream come true today.”

Defender Will Sands, who himself has only had a few weeks to settle in with the group, agreed that Brock’s visit was powerful for him and the whole group.

“It's really special,” he said. “It’s an incredibly inspiring story. He’s been through something that most of us probably will never experience something like that. Just the toughness that he shows is an example to all of us. So, it's very inspiring and I’m honored to wear the kit that he designed.”

And Sands, despite not arriving long before Langoni, has been as supportive and excited for the player as any other member of the squad. A close examination of the goal La Langosta scored to close things out against Montréal shows that Sands, from the back line, had his hands in the air for Langoni’s shot before the ball even left his boot, such was his confidence in the new signing.

“Just the way the game was going,” Sands said with a smile, “the momentum and knowing Luca – I haven't known him for that long, but seeing what he can do in practice, [it’s] not a given, but I was pretty confident he was going to put that one away.”

When you have the individual talent and the roster-wide depth that the Revs now do, confidence in one another is just about the best thing a team can ask for to complete the recipe for success. All indicators point to an abundance of team spirit in Foxborough, and only time will tell how valuable that will be this weekend in Utah and in the weeks to come.