After yet another break, Nashville SC are finally back in action, this time for good. A road trip to the in-form New England Revolution kicks off an incredibly busy stretch that will last through August, as the Coyotes attempt to make the second half of the 2025 campaign as good as the first.
For the latest on the Revs, we caught up with Jake Catanese, who covers New England for the esteemed Blazing Musket.
Ben Wright (SixOneFive Soccer): After a seemingly disastrous start to the year, the Revs have fully turned their season around. What's been the key?
Jake Catanese (The Blazing Musket): Caleb Porter shifted the Revs into a 5-3-2 wingback formation in April and set New England on a long unbeaten streak, ditching the Revs usual 4-2-3-1 look that they've used for a long time.
The short version is tactically, this lets fullbacks Peyton Miller and Ilay Feingold go up field without leaving a two-center back tandem exposed. Combine that with some lackluster wing play early in the year, and the Revs kind of solved two problems with one switch. They still get enough width in their shape to cause fits for opponents and Miller/Feingold have been great in the new formation and also built upon the turnaround defensively New England had at the start of the year.
The biggest improvements for the Revs have really been in the defensive half. Center backs Mamadou Fofana and Brayan Ceballos were great right from the jump and that is so hard to do for two brand new players in this league. Just doing some napkin math through half a season, the Revs are on pace to give up 30 goals this year and they allowed over 70 last year, so that's an incredible improvement.
If they can get healthy up front at the very least this is a team that can absolutely annoy someone in the playoffs, but I'd need to see a lot more consistency from the attack before proclaiming the Revs to be a potential darkhorse.
BW: Like Hany Mukhtar, Carles Gil has had a bounce-back season. What has he done well, what has the team done to support him, and how would you assess him within MLS as a whole?
JC: Carles Gil is still one of the best pure playmakers in MLS. He single handedly carried the Revs to a much needed win over RBNY for their first win of the year at the start of April. I want to say his metrics for expected assists, key passes, etc., are as high as they were back when he won MVP in 2021, but clearly the output isn't there, thanks to the Revs anemic offense at times.
