The New England Revolution enter Saturday riding a five-game winning streak, including their 2-1 win over Rhode Island FC on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup.
The midweek game presented a new puzzle for coach Caleb Porter but so far he and the team have taken the challenge in stride.
Porter made sure to use plenty of his bench players on Wednesday so he’d fave a fully rest starting XI in Orlando on Saturday.
“We knew it was going to be a long week,” Porter said. “Obviously, three road games, away at Toronto, a cup game at Rhode Island, and then now, playing a very difficult league opponent on the road in Orlando. We’ve done well to this point with results, taking the result at Toronto, taking the result in the cup game, but this is the most important game of the week.”
Just one point separates New England and Orlando in the Eastern Conference standings heading into Saturday’s match.
“We’ve got to go on the road and do everything we can to get a result against Orlando,” Porter said. “The good news is we have a group that’s fresh, a group that we’ve prepared all week, and a group that’s feeling a lot of confidence right now.”
Winning six of its last seven matches — five of which were on the road — the club has begun to thrive in hostile territory.
Not coincidentally, the hot stretch has coincided with the return of striker Leo Campana, who took the field on April 12 after missing more than a month with an injury.
“I think we found our balance and our mentality,” Campana said. “We have been winning away from home. It’s important, obviously, to get three points outside your city. We’ve faced Charlotte, we’ve faced Atlanta, we’ve faced Toronto, that is a tough team.”
Since Campana’s return, the Revolution have scored in four straight MLS matches, with Campana adding two himself. The attack as a whole has become more cohesive, something it struggled mightily with to start the year.
“I liked how [Ignatius] Ganago and Leo played together in the Toronto match,” Porter said. “It was our best attacking match by far when you look at all the analytics ... All the little metrics we look at, it was our best attacking game, and for me, the difference was those two guys really played together.
“They’re starting to gain a chemistry. They’re starting to understand each other. They’re starting to read where the dangerous spaces are and read each other.”
On Saturday though, Campana knows he and his Revolution teammates will be challenged by the Lions, and it’ll take all they have to close out the road stretch with another win.
“Right now, for me, we’re going to play the toughest one, that’s Orlando, at their home,” Campana said. “We know what we are capable of, we believe in ourselves, and we’ve been working really hard for this weekend.”
For Campana, Orlando is an awfully familiar opponent. While playing for Inter Miami, the striker faced the Lions seven times, scoring twice.
“That feeling never goes, I think,” Campana said of his rivalry with Orlando. “I was in Miami for three years, so it was something special, playing against Orlando. It is a derby, so yeah, I feel lit’s kind of a special game for me. I’m excited to go there. Hopefully, we can get three points and keep having the winning streak that we’ve been having.”
Campana, however, is not the only one in New England who’s well-versed in Orlando’s ways. Porter has coached against Lions manager Óscar Pareja in both conferences during his MLS career.
“I’ve known Óscar for a lot of years,” Porter said. “He does a great job with his teams. They’re always well prepared. Tactically, they’re always very organized. They always have a lot of passion and a good mentality, that’s why his teams are always very consistent.
“This Orlando team was one of the better teams in the league last year. It’s a lot of the same guys returning. They’re good defensively, they’re athletic, they’re good in transition moments. They’re good on set pieces, and they can play too. They load a lot of numbers in the box and they’re good on crosses and their box attacking is excellent. Óscar will have them ready, no doubt.”