FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – They say never meet your idols, unless your idol is Carles Gil. In that case, he might just welcome you into his home and sign a jersey for you. That’s what he did for New England Revolution Academy defender Asher Bremser, who was training at a camp in Spain when their paths happened to cross more than 3,000 miles away from the Revolution training grounds.
Bremser, a Boston native, had just wrapped up his third season with the Revolution Academy, competing with the U-15s in a successful campaign that saw the team win their league for the first time in club history. Following the end of the season, which was shortened slightly due to the start of the FIFA World Cup, Bremser felt he still had more soccer in him.
Eager to keep pushing, he worked with his coaches and connected with the Football Office, an agency that helped place him with Levante’s professional academy in Valencia. For two weeks, the center back trained, learned, and sharpened his game. Then, in the most unexpected way, he discovered just how small the world can be.
“The person I was working with, Jorge – out of complete coincidence – mentioned he was cousins with Carles Gil. Which was amazing, what are the chances? I had been training for a week and a half and had a few days left before I went home and he called me and said ‘Asher, I’m going to pick you up at six, we’re going to Carles’ house,’” Bremser recalled. “He’d been in contact with Carles’ family, who invited us to meet him at his house. So, we drove there and Carles Gil opened the door and invited me inside. We talked for about 30 minutes and he signed my jersey.”
Gil, a native of Valencia, was at his house in Spain during the Revolution’s midseason break for the World Cup. While Bremser had never met Gil, he’d seen him around the training center, and always looked up to his leadership. Suddenly, he was standing at the captain’s front door. Gil welcomed him to his home like he was family – part of the Revolution family.
“To get to talk to him about my journey with the Revolution, soccer, in his home country of Spain, it was just such a cool connection between my hometown and someone across the world,” he said. “The players always give us high fives in the hallways, but this was the first time I really got to sit and talk with one of them. It was a really cool opportunity, especially with the captain. I couldn’t be more grateful. He was so kind, so welcoming, especially for someone he doesn’t know. To have me at his home in Spain with this family there, it was just an incredible situation.”
Bremser joined the Revolution Academy with hopes of one day going pro and earning minutes with the first team. Since becoming part of the organization, he says it has felt like one big family, where everyone – from coaches to staff to players like Carles Gil – are focused on helping him succeed.
For someone who dreams of being in a position like Gil one day, Bremser said the moment with the Revolution midfielder taught him a lot about what it means to be a good professional.
“He was genuinely so happy and understanding. He listened to me and we were able to have a conversation between two players of the same club at a different level. He showed me how important it is to be kind. For a person who is so famous, so popular, and honored to lead a professional team, to give me time like that was just very cool,” Bremser explained. “He showed that we are all just people, we’re the same. For him to give me that kind of respect and opportunity, it’s something I will carry with me wherever I go.”
The experience isn’t just something Bremser will carry with him; it’s something he can wear across his chest. The message from Gil is etched into his jersey and pressed into his memory, a reminder of the kind of player and person he hopes to become. Even though their meeting took place far from Foxborough, Gil is just a few fields away every day – a reminder that if Bremser keeps working hard, the distance between the Academy and the first team may be closer than he ever imagined.
