Revolution preparing for home opener against FC Dallas

The New England Revolution play FC Dallas in their 2022 home opener and they will be looking to pick up where they left off in 2021.

Last season New England went 12-2-3 at home and turned Gillette Stadium into a fortress with the return of fans to the stands in a full time capacity.

“Last year we had a good home record,” said Sporting Director and Head Coach Bruce Arena. “Obviously, a good away record as well to go with that. But every team in the league will tell you that it’s important to win your games at home so certainly that’s going to be the goal on Saturday against Dallas.”

Center back Henry Kessler added that while it will be tough to repeat such a dominant performance, Revolution fans do have an impact on the game.

“We make Gillette a great atmosphere, a fortress if you will,” he said. “So we will hope to repeat the same success last year.”

Dallas comes in after drawing with Toronto FC 1-1 in its season opener. Under new head coach Nico Estevez, the club boasts an impressive attack with Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola leading the way. Dallas also acquired Alan Velasco for a club-record $7 million fee. The attacker tallied 10 goals and 10 assists in all-competition appearances for Independiente.

“They’ve made some good signings and brought some new guys in,” Kessler said about Dallas also mentioning the acquisition of Marco Farfan. “I think they might get their fullbacks into the attack too. They are a dangerous team.”

Captain Carles Gil was also quite complementary to the Western Conference side.

“They are a very good team,” Gil said. “They have a good front of attack with a new coach. It will be difficult for sure but at home with our fans we will try to get the three points.”

The Revs are also coming off a draw of their own as they left Portland with only one point. Brandon Bye showed off his hops to score the first goal of the season for New England with a beautiful curling corner from Gil providing the perfect showcase.

Sebastian Lletget also got his Revolution career scoring in the second half for New England. It was a beautiful first touch shot that showed why the Revs went out and acquired the midfielder in the offseason.

The only player on the player availability report was Matt Turner who Bruce Arena said would miss the game on Saturday. The Revs are hoping that he can return at some point next week. Seth Macomber of The Bent Musket has reported that he will be sidelined for two weeks at the minimum.

Dating back to 2012, Dallas is unbeaten in nine straight matches against New England.