BRADENTON, Fla. – Wednesday morning’s wild win over the New York Red Bulls provided a solid base for the New England Revolution’s preseason preparations.
Now, it’s time to build.
Against the Red Bulls, head coach Brad Friedel tasked the Revs with translating the lessons they’d learned through the first 10 days of training camp into game action; when to press, where to press, which spots to pick up at which times, etc.
It was a successful first exercise and a solid opening test, but the work is only beginning as Friedel and his staff will now instill more complex tactics and philosophies ahead of Saturday afternoon’s meeting with Swedish club Malmo FF.
That’s a process that will continue through the next six preseason matches, all leading up to the regular season opener on March 3 against the Philadelphia Union.
“We were only able to touch on maybe two or three things (prior to the Red Bulls game),” said Friedel. “We’ll go back and review it, work on those things, and add a couple more for the Malmo game.”
Not only will Saturday’s match feature a more detailed tactical approach, it will also be a deeper test of the Revolution’s fitness. While both the Revs and Red Bulls had been in preseason camp for 10 days prior to Wednesday’s match, Malmo will be further along in their development, as they’re prepping for a Swedish Cup match in just two weeks.
“It’s another good test for us,” said Friedel. “It’ll be important that the next two or three things that we add, that the players then try to adapt to that, as well.”
“There’s plenty to work on; plenty to improve on both sides of the ball,” said Scott Caldwell. “We get an opportunity against another opponent to show what we’ve been working on to improve our game individually and collectively, from a fitness standpoint and from a tactics standpoint.”
Saturday’s game against Malmo will kick off at 2:30 p.m. ET from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and a live stream of the match will be available on revolutionsoccer.net. The club will also provide full postgame coverage, including highlights and interviews with Friedel and select players.
