Morning Sports Update
“Even the top teams are enhancing their roster all the time, in every window.”
The Revolution’s summer transfer window: The Revolution are 6-6-6 through 18 games, a little over halfway through the team’s 34-game MLS regular season. New England continues to occupy 11th place in the Eastern Conference, four points adrift of the current playoff line.
The second season of the Caleb Porter era for the Revolution has been that of a streaky team. New England began the season disastrously, with just one win in the first six games (failing to score at all in the first three games).
In April, fortunes changed when Porter shifted to a 3-4-1-2 formation, and a nine-game unbeaten run ensued. More recently, however, the level has dropped again. New England, despite a historic comeback from a 3-0 deficit on Saturday to earn a 3-3 draw against the Colorado Rapids, collected just one point from a possible nine in a three-game run at Gillette Stadium.
Even the most surface level observation of the team would conclude it has missing elements. Whether or not those can be added by players who are already on the roster or not remains to be seen. The secondary MLS transfer window opens on July 24, running through August 21. On Tuesday, Porter was asked after practice about the possibility of making midseason additions.
“We don’t have much cap, but we do have roster openings, and we have the potential to make moves. It always depends on the budget and what our resources are,” he told reporters, per Seth Macomber of The Blazing Musket.
New England, in keeping with MLS roster rules, officially opted for the “U22 Initiative Player Model” at the start of the season, meaning that it could roster two Designated Players and four U22 Initiative Players. Both of these distinctions refer to MLS salary cap designations: A Designated Player’s salary only counts against the cap up to a certain amount, and a U22 Initiative Player carries a similar definition (and must be no older than 22 years old).
MLS rules also allow that a team can switch its chosen roster model midseason to the “Designated Player Model,” which would allow for three DPs and three U22s.
What does this mean for the Revolution? New England currently has only two Designated Players (Tomas Chancalay and Carles Gil) and two U22 Initiative Players (Ilay Feingold and Luca Langoni). So if the club wanted to — and could make it work in terms of the salary cap — it is technically allowed to add either two more U22 players, or one additional DP if the roster model was switched.
Porter noted that it will involve a process of collaboration with team sporting director Curt Onalfo, assistant sporting director Chris Tierney, and technical director Remi Roy in order to determine the team’s transfer strategy.
“We are going to be sitting down with Curt, Chris, and Remi, and seeing how we can, like always in every window, you’ve got to enhance your team,” he explained. “If you don’t, the other teams are and you fall behind. So, we’ve got to keep enhancing the team. Even when you’re better, you’ve got to keep getting better. Even the top teams are enhancing their roster all the time, in every window.”
Assessing where the Revolution currently sit in the standings, Porter admitted his frustration at the recent underachievement at home. But with another busy week ahead — including welcoming Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to Gillette Stadium on July 9 — he’s keeping focused on the future.
“We are in the mix and [have] a lot of games to be played. Disappointing, the last few home games that we didn’t take care of business,” Porter added of the team’s last three games.
“We have been great on the road. I don’t know why that is. We’ve got to correct that. That’s on me, obviously the players as well, but it starts with me. We have to do better at home. So, our next game when we are back at home [against] Inter Miami, we’ve got to reward them. It’s going to be one of the biggest crowds of the year. But we’re right there in the hunt. We recovered from the start of the year and we’re in the mix. [We’ve] still got games in hand and no doubt, we want to have a good end to the year and hopefully get into the playoffs and make a run.”
Trivia: In a previous iteration of Boston soccer, the Minutemen (of the NASL) once boasted a former World Cup Golden Boot winner in its starting lineup. Can you name that player?
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: He led all goal-scorers at the 1966 World Cup with nine, helping Portugal reach the semifinals.
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox and Reds game was suspended on Tuesday night due to thunderstorms, and will resume at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The two teams will then play the regularly scheduled Wednesday game at 7:10 p.m.
More from Boston.com:
A Throwback series: NESN went with a 1975 World Series look for its broadcast during Tuesday’s Red Sox-Reds game. The minimalist display was a hit.
Heating up: After a slow start, top prospect Roman Anthony has now gone three straight games with at least two hits.
On this day: In 2017, Mookie Betts went 4-for-6 with two home runs and eight RBIs in a 15-1 Red Sox rout of the Blue Jays.
Daily highlight: Juventus lost to Real Madrid 1-0 in the Club World Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday, but it probably would’ve been a much more lopsided scoreline had goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio not made a few quality saves (including this one).
Trivia answer: Eusébio
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