Carles Gil could return this season, according to Bruce Arena

New England Revolution Head Coach and Sporting Director Bruce Arena appeared on 98.5 the Sports Hub mid-day show. This has been a regular occurrence but it’s always good to see soccer get some love on the radio.

Arena is a great interview. He gets straight to the point and isn’t afraid to share his opinion on things. He once didn’t disappoint on Friday.

Revs fans learned a lot about the upcoming season and how the starting XI will look. Also Arena shared a controversial rule change that he would be in favor of. Let’s get into it.

1. Carles Gil could come back

After the Revolution’s rather promising performance down in the MLS is Back Tournament, fans were excited to see what the team could do when the rest of the 2020 season began. Then the Gil news was announced.

It was revealed that Gil had surgery in Spain to repair his Achilles and that he would be out for three to five months. That seemed like a nail in the coffin for the 2020 season.

Gil is the heartbeat of the club. As he goes the club goes. He spurs the attack and when he is combined with Gustavo Bou they are a deadly duo.

It seemed as though the most likely outcome was that Gil would miss the rest of the season. Without Gil it’s unlikely that New England competes at all. The rest of the 2020 season could be a long one.

But now Revs fans got some rather good news, Gil could be back this season.

Now this might not really matter at all. The Revs could play terrible and Gil coming back would be meaningless.

But if New England is somehow able to stay in playoff contention, it might just be the jolt of life they need to compete in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

2. Matt Polster will be thrown into the deep end

The Revs made a rather big splash with the acquisition of Matt Polster. Especially with the Gil injury, he will make quite the impact.

Polster is still a rather young lad at just 27 years old. His latest stint was over in Scotland where he made 10 appearances for the club.

The Scottish Premiership is no joke, especially playing for a club like Rangers FC. Polster spoke to revolutionsoccer.net about how winning was expected at the club each and every matchday. Hopefully he brings that same type of attitude to New England.

Duing Friday’s interview, Arena said that Polster will get plenty of playing time right away.

Likely Polster will be playing a more defensive role, but that will be even more important now that Gil is out. New England will have to play tight in the back to give them a chance to secure points.

Hopefully Polster fits in right away and makes an immediate impact.

3. Golden Goal?

Arena also stated during the interview that he is a proponent of implementing golden goal when a game goes into extra time.

Now while I respect Arena, I don’t know how great of an idea this would be. It would once again make MLS seem like a gimmick league. Who can forget the 1990’s era shootout where goalkeepers could come off their line and attackers started much further back?

How MLS handles extra time is perfect. There is no need to change it.