CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – The record snowfall currently blanketing the Northeast hasn’t slowed down the New England Revolution’s preseason preparations. Of course, that’s because the club has spent the past two weeks training under clear skies in Casa Grande, Arizona.
The Revolution’s extended stay in the Grand Canyon State is coming to a close, however, as they’ll head home on Friday. They do so happy with the progress they’ve made through the early part of preseason, as they’ve taken significant steps toward building a fitness base and increasing their sharpness.
“It was a really good trip for us,” said Chris Tierney, in the midst of his seventh preseason with the Revs. “We got a lot of hard work in. It wasn’t easy – a lot of fitness – but it’s been a really good trip.
“We’re further along with our system and how we want to play, so we can really just get to work on refining things and improving our sharpness and I think we did a really good job of that this week.”
Double sessions and a focus on fitness were the themes while in Casa Grande, but the Revs also played their first two preseason friendlies. Charlie Davies and Sean Okoli scored in a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake, while the Revs dropped a 2-0 decision to Vancouver Whitecaps FC during a day trip to Tucson.
Head coach Jay Heaps opted for a similar approach in both matches, playing a first-half lineup featuring many of New England’s 2014 starters, before using an entirely different second-half group consisting mainly of newcomers and unsigned players fighting for roster spots.
“Certainly the first group is what we’re looking for in terms of our cohesion and in terms of our sharpness as a group,” Heaps said. “But on a tactical level, we can do more things and we’re a little bit sharper in how we play.
“The second group is more guys that we’re looking at in terms of fighting for spots. There are four or five guys out there that are non-contracted guys that are basically trying out for our squad. We want to see them in a tough environment.”
That process will continue as the Revs now head to Foxborough for a week of training, before returning to Arizona – Tucson, this time – for the Desert Diamond Cup from February 15 to March 1.
With another major storm expected to dump more snow on New England throughout the week, the Revs will be limited to indoor training sessions inside the Dana-Farber Field House. But Heaps expected such limitations and has a plan in place to make next week a bridge between the two Arizona trips.
“The focus will be a little bit on smaller and sharper things because we’re in a tighter area,” Heaps said. “But we’ll continue to progress the fitness and then we look forward to getting back out here (to Arizona) for a couple more weeks.”
