FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – While much of the Northeast has been forced to slow down after Monday’s blizzard brought record snowfall to the region, the New England Revolution haven’t stopped. Even with more than two feet of snow on the ground in Foxborough, the team was back in action on Tuesday morning, hungry for three points in New Jersey this weekend.
“Majority of the East Coast is suffering through this. New York’s also going through this, and I wouldn’t even qualify it as suffering. Sometimes things happen and you have to adapt and adjust,” said Revolution assistant coach Michael Morris from the WIN Waste Innovations Field House, where the Revolution were able to train to start the week. “We have this great facility, so we are able to continue training. They’re working on preparing the field right now, but that’s one of the things we’re really trying to lean into as a group, is when there’s adversity or when things don’t go your way, that's just another opportunity for us to deal with the situation and take the next action and deal with it … The show goes on.”
In fact, Morris, who like many on the team had never seen weather like Monday’s before, said the team is treating the storm similarly to the way they’re viewing last Saturday’s result in Nashville – as an opportunity to sharpen the mindset.
“We went into that game feeling like we had a lot of solutions. We suffered a goal early and now it’s about how we build the mentality in the group. Like I spoke about before, if an adverse situation happens, it’s about the next action,” Morris said. “If you move on immediately and you find the next action, it’s finding the intensity and the togetherness, moving together as a group and just dealing with it. Because getting punched in the face, it’s your choice how you deal with it.”
The Revolution don’t take representing New England lightly. Just like the people across the region who were out braving the storm, clearing streets, and keeping life moving – some of them in shorts – the team embraces that same grit that defines this place. New England tests you in the winter so it can reward you in the summer, and the Revolution understand that pushing through the tough moments is the only path to something better.
While a 4-1 loss in Nashville wasn’t how the Revs wanted to start the season, they are keeping a level head and looking toward the future. With the next test soon approaching at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET against Red Bull New York, the team is determined to grab three points.
“One of the things that's important is your last result sometimes emotionally feels like it defines you, but it doesn't. Our collective work so far is what we've been looking at. We know that wasn't ideal, but we have the behaviors inside of us, that we've seen all throughout preseason, that we want to continue to leverage and lean on, especially as we build into another away game against [Red Bull] New York this coming weekend,” Morris concluded.
With key defensive pieces in Mamadou Fofana and Brayan Ceballos back on the training pitch this week in Foxborough, the Revolution will head to New Jersey with a more whole squad, strengthened by depth and powered by the same stubborn New England spirit that digs out after every storm.
