FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s preparations for the 2015 season are well underway, with the team in the midst of a 10-day training camp in Casa Grande, Arizona. The team departed for Casa Grande on Monday and will train every day while also playing games against fellow MLS sides Real Salt Lake (on Saturday, Jan. 31) and Vancouver Whitecaps FC (on Wednesday, Feb. 4) before returning to Massachusetts on Friday, Feb. 6.
Complete and updated daily training schedules are available by contacting the Revolution Communications department.
Revolution head coach Jay Heaps will be available to media via conference call following Saturday’s game against RSL as well as against the game against Vancouver. The team will be back in market for a week of training following its return to Foxborough on Feb. 6. The Revs will then head back to Arizona on Monday, Feb. 16 to take part in the Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson.
TEAM NOTES
Eight trialists in training with the Revs
With the Revolution currently training in Casa Grande, Arizona, the club has brought eight trialists into training. Included among the eight is forward Marco Fenelus, who was selected by the Revs in the third round of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft last week. He is one of four players that do not have any professional experience that are currently on trial, while three of the other four have played previously in MLS. The eight trialists currently with the club are:
- Joe Nasco – goalkeeper – Colorado Rapids (MLS)
- Trevor Spangenberg – goalkeeper – Chivas USA (MLS)
- Jacob VanCompernolle – defender – University of North Carolina – Wilmington (NCAA)
- London Woodberry – defender – Arizona United (USL PRO)
- Tyler Rudy – midfielder – Georgetown (NCAA)
- Marco Fenelus – forward – Cal State-Fullerton (NCAA)
- Tim Mulgrew – forward – George Mason (NCAA)
- Yuzo Tashiro – forward – Vissel Kobe (J-League)
Three remain on international duty
While much of Jay Heaps’ squad trains in Arizona, three Revolution players are currently in South America on international duty. Jermaine Jones and Lee Nguyen are currently with the U.S. National Team in Chile ahead of this evening’s friendly between the United States and Chile, while Diego Fagundez is in Uruguay, representing that nation in the 2015 South American Youth Championship.
Jones and Nguyen will look to collect their 49th and fifth caps respectively against Chile as they were two of 23 players that travelled to the game, which kicks off at 6 p.m. ET today. The New England duo last played for U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann in November, seeing action in a 2-1 friendly defeat to Colombia in London. Nguyen came off the bench in that game to collect his first cap for the U.S. since 2007 while Jones played the full 90 minutes in central defense. Following today’s game, the U.S. will return to Southern California where they will continue to train at StubHub Center ahead of a February 8 friendly there against Panama.
While Jones and Nguyen are in Chile, Diego Fagundez is in Uruguay with their Under-20 National Team, which is in the final stage of the South American U-20 Championship. Fagundez played in three of four games that Uruguay played in the first stage of the competition, starting in a tournament opening win over Colombia as well as a 1-0 loss to Venezuela while coming off the bench in a victory over Chile. Uruguay won Group B at the tournament and was one of six teams to advance to the final stage.
Uruguay opened the Final Stage on Monday, playing to a 0-0 draw with Brazil. They will be back in action tomorrow against Peru before facing Paraguay (Feb. 1), Colombia (Feb. 4) and Argentina (Feb. 7) to close out the tournament. The top four teams in the tournament will qualify for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, while the competition also serves as South American qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Fagundez, Jones and Nguyen are all scheduled to join the club for preseason training at the conclusion of their international commitments.
Rennicks stars as U.S. U-16s exit 2015 Aegan Cup
Revolution Academy forward Justin Rennicks returned to New England last week after playing for the U.S. Under-16 National Team at the Aegan Cup International Youth Tournament in Turkey. The 15-year-old from South Hamilton, Mass. made his international debut in the tournament opener against Romania, starting and scoring the game-winning goal in a 2-0 win on Jan. 19. He came off the bench a day later in a 2-0 loss to Norway before returning to the starting lineup for a 1-0 loss to the hosts on Jan. 22.
Fellow Revolution Academy player Daniel Jones was also called in to the team, but later withdrew due to an injury before the start of the tournament.
2015 Preseason plans
The Revolution are currently training in Casa Grande, Arizona and will remain there until Friday, Feb. 6. In that time, the Revs will play a pair of games, facing Real Salt Lake on Saturday, Jan. 31 at Grande Sports Complex in Casa Grande and Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson. The team will return to Massachusetts for a week of training between Feb. 7-15 before returning to Arizona for the Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson. In that tournament, which runs from Feb.18-28, the Revs will face the Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders FC as well as one other club on the final day of the competition. The Revs complete preseason schedule can be found here.
The Revs will open the 2015 MLS season on Sunday, March 8 when they take on the reigning Supporters’ Shield winners, Seattle Sounders FC, at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. That game is scheduled to kick off at 9:30 p.m. ET and will be shown nationally on FOX Sports 1.
Desert Diamond Cup tickets on sale now
Tickets for the 2015 FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup, which is hosted by PDL side FC Tucson, are on sale now. The Revs are participating in the competition for the fourth consecutive and will be looking for a fourth straight top-four finish, having finished second in 2012, third in 2013 and fourth last year. Tickets, which start at $18 for each day of the tournament, are on sale now by clicking here.
