“To fight for everything” is the new standard in New England

FOXBOROUGH, MA– New England has a new standard entering the 2025 MLS season as they look to prove themselves after a woeful 2024 season.

I attended Tuesday afternoon’s training session and spoke with Alhassan Yusuf, Mamadou Fofana & Head Coach Caleb Porter ahead of their matchup versus Columbus.

Alhassan Yusuf on the level of excitement & trying to turn a page from last season:

“I think the coach said the standard is already there with this group. — I’m really excited to see how this season goes”

What is the standard?

“To fight for everything.”#NERevs | #MLS pic.twitter.com/fsOtroHiwx

— Caleb Pongratz (@CalebPongratz10) February 25, 2025

Midfielder Alhassan Yusuf was the first to speak to the media. He opened up about his excitement for the upcoming home opener this Saturday. He stated, “Yeah, it’s very exciting. After all the preparation we’ve had in the preseason, and then we went to Nashville and added [a]point. Even though, of course, we aren’t satisfied; we always want to win. But yeah, it’s really exciting to play in front of our crowd.”

Yusuf noted that the team was disappointed with the result this past weekend versus Nashville SC and that the team has a new standard entering the 2025 campaign.

“It’s good in one way, but the standard now for us in the dressing room – you could see after the game, everyone was disappointed [not to win]. I think it’s a good point, if we win at home [this Saturday].”

Yusuf continued on by stating, “I think the main [thing]for us this season is to fight for everything. I think the coach said already, the standard is already there. With this group, I’m really excited to see how this season is going to go.”

The midfielder then was asked what that standard was, and he responded with, “To fight for everything.”

Caleb Porter on Brayan Ceballos being named to TOTW & the overall defensive performance of the group:

“Yeah, again, the clean sheet is a team thing, and I know the goalkeeper and the center backs and the back line get the credit for it, but in all honesty, if we defend well,… pic.twitter.com/8iMv1sLrXm

— Caleb Pongratz (@CalebPongratz10) February 25, 2025

Next, Head Coach Caleb Porter spoke to the media. He opened speaking on how the team has already improved in comparison to last season.

He stated, “I think you saw in the first game that we’re making good progress. We got a clean sheet on the road. I think last year we got four clean sheets the whole year out of 34 games, and I don’t think we got one on the road. So, the chemistry defensively was excellent.”

He noted that the team worked a lot on defensive chemistry last week and is looking to focus on the attack this upcoming week. He stated, “I’m confident that will start to come alive a little more.”

Porter doubled down on comments from last week’s post-game press conference where he stated the team was “dis-satisfied with the result”.

He stated, “I love that our guys weren’t satisfied with a draw. We have high standards, and we want to take the field expecting to win and not hoping to win. I think they understand on the road that a draw, we’ll take it. But I love that they were not satisfied, and that says everything about the group that we have, the standards we have, and the expectations that we’re creating.”

Porter is excited to return home and playing in front of the home fans. He stated, “We were one of the best-attended stadiums last year, so their numbers and just how passionate they are. We play for them. They’re the soul of the club. They bring purpose and meaning to our play, and we can’t wait to, this year, create a fortress where no one comes in getting points off us.”

“The fans can expect to have a group of guys that are going to leave it all on the pitch. You’re
going to see 11 guys who are going to roll their sleeves up to work and fight for them.

Mamadou Fofana on making his MLS debut:

“It’s a new league for me, it was okay, because we got 1 point. We wanted to win the match, but we’ll take 1 point at least. Now we have the 1st game at home, so we want to try to get the 3 points in front of our fans.”#NERevs | #MLS pic.twitter.com/7iQQa2J4ue

— Caleb Pongratz (@CalebPongratz10) February 25, 2025

Next, Defender Mamadou Fofana approached the media. I was first to ask the defender on what it was like making his MLS debut.

He stated, “It’s a new league for me, but I think it was okay because we took one point. Unfortunately, we wanted to win this match, but we took one point at least. We have the first game at home [on Saturday]so we’ll try to get the three points in front of our fans.”

I then followed up by asking him about the similarities and differences from the United States versus playing in France, he stated, “It’s different. It’s a different league, a lot of running, very physical. It’s different but it was okay.”

Fofana then built on how his relationship with Brayan Ceballos & Aljaž Ivačič had been improving. He noted that, “[Ceballos] played very well [versus Columbus].” He continued by mentioning the shutout and focused that it was a team driven success. He stated, “It’s not just one player. We all worked together, and we took one point. Now, we want to take three points in front of our fans.”

New England Revolution Logo. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution.

The New England Revolution (0-1-0, 1 pts.) will return home to face Eastern Conference side Columbus Crew (1-0-0, 3 pts). The match is set to kickoff at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, March 1st at 7:30 p.m. ET on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

(Editor’s Note: For more of Burt Granofsky’s photos, click on the link)