Porter on Zolak & Bertrand: Revolution a “notch better” every week
They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. After 10 games of the MLS season, New England Revolution Head Coach Caleb Porter is seeing that firsthand. The Revs’ manager has preached the importance of steady progress and stringing together positive performances to help dig themselves out of a deep hole in the MLS standings. Last weekend, the Revolution gave Porter exactly what he was looking for with a 1-0 shutout victory over Chicago Fire FC.
Before another away test this weekend at the New York Red Bulls, Porter joined Zolak & Bertrand on 98.5 The Sports Hub on Thursday to break down the takeaways from Saturday’s win.
“I think it’s a byproduct of us training, getting better, improving,” Caleb Porter said of improved performance from his side. “We played well in the match. That’s actually more important to me than the result, because if we play well, we’re going to get results. We just have to stick with this mentality.”
After a scoreless first half, Revolution forward Tomás Chancalay blasted home the game-winning goal with a left-footed strike from long distance. The 25-year-old Argentinian striker has finally found his scoring boots, with goals in back-to-back MLS games for the first time since his arrival last summer.
On the defensive end, goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič provided the steady presence in the back that the Revolution have been missing all season. The 30-year-old from Slovenia logged three stops in the shutout, including a spectacular denial of Chicago midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri’s free kick attempt in the 72nd minute.
“We made a switch with the goalkeeper. We added Aljaž, a very experienced goalkeeper, from Portland,” Porter said. “He led the league in saves in 2022. He has a lot of confidence and experience. It’s really helping in giving our team confidence as well. He made a great save late in the match that preserved the win.”
Per Porter, the winning formula for the Revolution is a relatively simple one, and the 10th-year MLS coach believes they may not be as far away as the team’s record would indicate.
“You need a goalkeeper to make saves. You need your strikers to score goals. You need your center backs to head balls out of the box,” Porter said. “The old ‘do your job’, as you guys know very well. We’re starting to get guys that are doing their job.”
The Revolution will look to make it two wins in a row when they battle the Red Bulls in New Jersey on Saturday night. New York, under the direction of their own first-year head coach in Sandro Schwarz, fell to Inter Miami CF in a 6-2 defeat in Fort Lauderdale last weekend.
“They are a good team,” Porter said. “I think they are one of the better teams in the East. They’ve had a lot of draws recently, but they’ve only lost one game in the last six. We need to keep stacking up results. We’ve had another good week of training, so I’m confident we’ll be a notch better than we were last week.”
Saturday’s match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Red Bull Arena and airs live on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app in English and Spanish. Listen to the Revolution’s local radio call on 98.5 The Sports Hub HD2, with Brad Feldman and Charlie Davies in the booth.
Interview: Caleb Porter with Zolak & Bertrand
