Zolak & Bertrand: Revs can’t afford rust after bye

Still in search of the season’s first win, the Revolution are ready to take the pitch at Gillette Stadium on Saturday to get the MLS campaign back underway after a rare bye weekend. What will it take to finally get the Revolution offense to wake up and start producing some goals? “I went to church on Sunday with the family. Hoping to get a little divine intervention for this game, a little help,” Porter joked today after Zo and Beatle asked him how he spent his bye weekend. Porter may have been looking to a higher power over the weekend off, but now he has to look for answers from within his 28-player roster, more than half of which he brought into the team since the end of 2024. The Revolution are getting ready for a pivotal early-season match against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday afternoon, a rare 2:30 p.m. matinee. The Revs will need to shake off the bye weekend rust quickly to claw out a result against the reigning Eastern Conference champs, who are off to a respectable 2-1-2 start (8 pts.). Zo asked Porter if he ever has to worry about players limping in a little sluggish after a few days off over a bye week. “These guys run eight to 10 miles a game, so if they did what we did back in the day – go have a few beers on a Thursday or go golf for four or five hours and have a six pack – you’re going to get injured,” Porter said. “It’s a whole different game these days and I think the culture of players is just different in general. They really take care of themselves.” “Our best player, Carles Gil, our captain, he has his own personal guy, personal trainer that he works with in the evenings. So no, I don’t worry as much anymore about what they’re doing off the field.” For Saturday’s Eastern Conference battle, the Revs have three regular starters – Ignatius Ganago, Mamadou Fofana, and Alhassan Yusuf – who have barely stepped foot on the training field in Foxborough after traveling to Africa for World Cup Qualifiers. McKone asked Porter whether he plans to slot them right in, or if he’ll be cautious getting them back on the field. “It’s very tricky, not ideal. It’s very unique to our sport as well, to lose guys. Sometimes you lose them for games as well,” Porter replied. “All the work we did for two weeks, they haven’t been part of that. We made a lot of good progress as a group, we worked hard in training, and now you have to reconnect them tomorrow [Friday].” “We’ve got to play the guys that we think can help us win, and we have some key guys coming back that we definitely need to use. But we get the five subs, so in some cases, maybe you bring a guy in at halftime and just use him for 45 [minutes].” No matter who the coach chooses to deploy, one fact remains the same – the Revs need to find a goal, and fast, to get this season on the right track. Tune into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff right here on 98.5 The Sports Hub. You can watch every MLS match on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app. Listen to the full segment! https://omny.fm/shows/new-england-revolution-audio/revolution-hc-caleb-porter-joins-zolak-bertrand-11/embed?style=cover