The Columbus Crew delivered a gift wrapped in three points on Crewsmas as the Black & Gold dismantled their longtime rivals Chicago Fire 4-2 last Saturday. Diego Rossi led the way with two goals, followed by Jacen Russell-Rowe, who snagged his first goal of the 2025 campaign. Carlos Terran comically ushered the other Crew goal over the line after a series of unfortunate deflections, bounces, and miscommunications from the Chicago Fire backline. 

The Crew prepares for match number two of the 2025 campaign against another former head coach Caleb Porter and the New England Revolution. The Revs opened up with a 0-0 draw on the road in Nashville last week. 

Caleb Porter’s seat in New England is almost hot in Gillette Stadium, but he insists that this year’s version of the Revolution is more suited to his style. Crew fans understand completely what a “Year Two” Caleb Porter team can do as he led the Crew to the MLS Cup in his second year at the helm in 2020. Crew fans will not so fondly remember when Porter led the Timbers to an MLS Cup victory in 2015 as well. It’s still way too early in the MLS season to know who the contenders and pretenders are across the league but both of these sides will look to prove their mettle in this early season conference matchup between two MLS originals. 

New England Revolution at a Glance:

Record: 0-0-1, 1 point

League Form: D

2024 Leading Scorer: Carles Gil (7)

(Giacomo Vironi was the leading scorer but was transferred to Montreal this offseason) 

2024 Assist Leader: Carles Gil (5)

Player to Watch: Leonardo Campana

Campana joined the Revs this offseason for a huge 2.5 Million dollars in General Allocation Money from Inter Miami, where he had spent his time since joining the Herons in 2022. Simply put, Campana loves to score against the Crew. The 24-year-old Ecuadorian has scored four goals in only three matches he’s appeared in against Columbus. Two of those goals were for the Pre-Messi Miami side of 2023. 

Campana is the type of high-energy, direct-running, skillful forward that tends to cause the Crew’s (and most MLS teams) backline tons of issues any given Saturday. While there wasn’t room for him in a star-studded Inter Miami side, Campana is the main man in front of the net for the Revolution. Campana will look to run in behind the backline as much as possible and get on the end of service from the likes of Carles Gil, Brandon Bye, and the rest of the Revs attack. Keep an eye out for Campana’s pressing ability as well when the Crew have the ball. Campana has a sneaky ability to cause havoc when other teams have possession near their own goal. You can expect any turnover Campana forces to be punished in front of goal. 

How the New England Revolution play: 

Crew fans know very well what to expect from a Caleb Porter coached side.

Controlling possession, compactness defensively, and moving the ball from side to side are all probably common phrases in Porter’s pregame talks. Like Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy, Porter has his set of principles of play that you can rely on week in and week out. The difference between the two? Every once in a while, Caleb Porter will switch it up.

Think 2020 MLS Cup, when all of a sudden the Crew were playing direct services from deep wide areas to generate both first-half goals. As much as you can expect the “usual” from Porter, coaches, players, and fans also need to be ready for a curveball as well. Time will tell if Porter wants to throw a curveball early in the season or not but it’s not something I would put past him as he looks to cool his seat down in Foxborough. 

Caleb Porter’s go-to formation is a 4-2-3-1. It’s a safe bet that this is the formation that the Revs will line up on Saturday. In possession, however, this shape is superfluid, more fluid than Porter’s days in Columbus. Last week, the predominant shape the Revs used in possession was a 3-4-2-1 but they got to this shape in tons of different ways. At times, one outside back pushed high up the field while the other three in the backline shifted 10-15 yards in that direction to create their back three. At times, a central midfielder would drop in between a gap in the backline, while both outside backs pushed up the field to create the back three. Sometimes wingers would tuck inside into the halfspaces, and sometimes wingers would stay out wide to create 1v1’s.

There were all sorts of interesting rotations and interchanges happening for the Revs last week. Those same ideas will probably be used again on Saturday. However, you can definitely expect the Revs to look to keep possession as much as possible Saturday night. Not only are the Revs looking to do this in order to create goal scoring opportunities. It’s also a way for them to control the game by limiting the time their opponents have on the ball. Look for the Revs to be pretty patient in possession Saturday night in order to control the flow of the game. 

I’m not one to put people in a box, but if Caleb Porter asks his teams to defend in anything other than a 4-4-2 shape, I sure haven’t seen it. The 4-4-2 shape was Porter’s go to in Columbus and it is his go to in New England as well. Typically, the central attacking midfielder, usually Carles Gil for the Revs, will move up to join the striker and become the (2) in 4-4-2. 

The line of pressure changes from game to game for Caleb Porter. Last year, we saw the Revs move their line of pressure high up the field, close to the Crew goal, when they played the Crew at home. This did lead to a turnover and an early Revolution goal. It also led, in at least a few ways, to the Crew scoring 5 straight and running away 5-1 winners.

When the Crew hosted the Revolution, the Revs defensive line started about ¾ up the field from their goal. This starting line didn’t fare much better as the Crew ran away 4-0 winners in the penultimate match of the 2024 campaign. If I were to bet, I’d think that Porter will ask his team to press higher on Saturday in an attempt to get the crowd behind them during their home opener. Knowing there’s no Cucho Hernandez waiting to capitalize on all of the space their leaving won’t hurt either. Regardless, the Revolution’s line of pressure is something I will be watching closely in this match.

How the Crew can win:

The Crew can start 2-0 for the first time in the Wilfried Nancy era with a win on Saturday.  Indeed, the Crew can at the very least, maintain their tie for first in the Eastern Conference if they walk out of Foxborough with three points on Saturday night. If the Crew are going to do that, these are three things that will help them get there.  

1. Force Turnovers in their Half: The Crew scored two goals off of their pressure last week against the Fire. While not a typical feature of Nancy’s system, if the Crew can create scoring chances off of pressure high up the field, it would help fill a Cucho and Christian Ramirez-sized hole in their goal production. 
2. Find the Free Man: The Crew will have an extra player in the midfield and the backline when in possession on Saturday. Simply put, finding the free player will likely decide who wins the game. If the Crew can find the free player often, they’ll be able to pull the Revs defensive organization apart. If not, it will be much harder to create good scoring chances. 
3. Rest Defence: Wilfried Nancy was unhappy with his side’s defense in the first part of their match last weekend. Both of the Fire goals came from moments when the Crew lost possession and the Fire were able to launch counter attacks. Once the Crew reorganized themselves and set up their rest defense appropriately, the Fire’s danger largely subsided. Look for the Crew to be in good positions to both stop the Revolution counterattacks and prevent them from happening on Saturday.