New England Revolution sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena could move alone into first place on the all-time MLS regular-season wins list with three points in Saturday's home opener against FC Dallas (1:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada).
Arena, already the MLS all-time leader in major trophies won, with five MLS Cups and four Supporters' Shields, is tied with the late Sigi Schmid for the most regular-season wins at 240. While MLS's most decorated manager aims for three points in the Revs' home opener at Gillette Stadium, it is far less about stamping another place in history and more about getting his team back on track after their lack of readiness in the opener. They finished Week 1 with a 2-2 draw at the Portland Timbers.
"I think our preseason was not good enough to get us prepared for that game," Arena told reporters on Thursday. "I think Portland was way ahead of us in terms of our preparation. They looked like a fitter team, more synchronized. We have to get better, and that's certainly going to be our goal this week."
But across a career that has spanned four clubs and portions of 18 domestic seasons, perhaps even Arena has never previously faced the unusual challenge the Revs encountered in February.
The reigning Supporters' Shield winners sped through their preseason in anticipation of a first-round Concacaf Champions League series against Cavaly AS. Then those two matches were scrapped because of the Haitian club's visa issues, with the Revs advancing via forfeit.
"I think our whole schedule was centered around playing in these CCL games that got canceled," Arena said. "And we end up coming back early here to Boston to play those games, and we didn’t get to play them. So we lost two official competitions.
"We came back into weather that’s not really that conducive to training right now. So we got kind of screwed up. But hopefully over the next month or so we can make up for that."
Arena said goalkeeper Matt Turner will not return from a foot injury that kept him out of the opener in Portland, meaning Earl Edwards Jr. figures to be back in goal. He recorded three saves in his club debut last week in Rose City.
Elsewhere on the field, Jozy Altidore could make his home Revs debut after spelling Gustavo Bou in the 79th minute in Week 1.
The USMNT striker signed as a free agent shortly before the season after receiving a buyout from Toronto FC. He is three years removed from his last double-digit goals season after battling injuries in 2020 and 2021. But if he can come close to recapturing his best form, he could join Bou and Adam Buksa to form one of the more formidable three-headed attacking fronts in recent MLS memory. Bou and Buksa combined for 31 goals in 2021.
"We'll see," Buksa said. "For now [I've] only played 15 minutes on the field [with Jozy]. It's definitely an advantage for us to have Jozy on our roster, especially with the tough schedule that we'll have in a short period of time."
The Revolution will play in the CCL quarterfinals against Liga MX's Pumas UNAM beginning next week, so the three could feature in rotation or all at once.
