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New England Revolution strongly represented during MLS All Star Weekend

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By on Eastern Conference, MLS, MLS NEXT Pro, New England Revolution

AUSTIN, TX– Five members of the New England Revolution were strongly represented this past week at MLS All Star Week.

New England had one MLS All Star [Carles Gil], two MLS NEXT All Stars [Cristiano Oliveira (2008 – Somerville, MA) & Josh Macedo (2009 – Santa Clarita, Calif.)] & two Unified All Stars (Liam Wise & Remy St. Germain).

New England Revolution All Stars

MLS All Star Week kicked off on Monday, July 21st when the MLS All Stars underwent their first official training session as a group at St. David’s Training Center, home of Austin FC.

The session was primarily a recovery session and included team stretching, a passing rondo, and a lofted passing drill to build team chemistry.

Following the session, New England Revolution captain midfielder Carles Gil spoke to media.

“It’s always a pleasure to be here with these guys and try to enjoy the moment by training with them and then enjoy Wednesday’s game”.

Carles then noted the uniqueness of the MLS All Star match by noting that its, “a special game that everyone wants to be apart of.”

Gil discussed the immense skill level of all of the talent from across the league but noted that two Eastern Conference players stuck out to him particularly on the first day of training.

“I know, Hany [Mukhtar] is here, many players doing many good things. Another player that plays in my position, Evander too, they are the guys that are making the difference in MLS and it’s nice to be here with them.”

We then asked Gil about the importance of being here while Cristiano Oliveira and Josh Macedo are taking place in the MLS NEXT All Star game the following day.

Gil noted more specifically on Cristiano Oliveira that, “He’s very nice, very good player. He’s a young guy and he wants to learn every time and I’m here to help him in everything, try to help him and enjoy with him too.”

Toward the tail-end of the conversation, I asked Gil whether or not he’s worried about his own workload as New England has a match just two days after the MLS All Star Game.

Gil stated, “No, I think I’m going to be very good for the game. Because honestly, it’s two games, not just me, but the team felt tired, many games, many minutes. And for me, this is a break. We train, but it’s a slow train, not many minutes on the game too. So i’m trying to be perfect for Friday.”. Gil also joked that he hopes Giacomo Vrioni receives another red card on Friday so that New England can secure 3-points in MLS play.

Following Gil speaking to media, New England Revolution II midfielder Cristiano Oliveira came over and spoke to media about his experience as an MLS NEXT All Star and his preparation for the MLS NEXT All Star match that took place later that day.

“It’s super cool being with the best players from my age, all stars here. I think it’s an inspiration.” Cristiano noted. He continued on by adding, “It keeps me pushing. Super grateful, super happy to be able to be apart of this.”

Oliveira then spoke on how important having the captain of the Revolution down in Austin with him has been and what conversations the pair have had this season.

“Having someone here makes everything so much more comfortable. It keeps you pushing to, one day, be an all MLS star, and hopefully inspire the next generation behind me, like Carles has to me and everyone in the Academy right now.”

Oliveira was also keen to note the positives on seeing the Revolution II win 3-0 on Sunday. Oliveira was unavailable due to travel for MLS All Star Week.

Cristiano Oliveira ended his discussion with me by noting the importance of meeting new players across the league and building new relationships as a young player. He mentioned that he connected with Jack Kortkamp (Sporting Kansas City) & Éloi Breton (CF Montréal) the most at MLS All Star week.

He added, “Everyone is super cool. It’s good to make new friendships and connections.”

As the training session concluded, the focus shifted to just a few hours later where the Revolution would be well represented in the MLS NEXT All Star Game.

New England Revolution captain Carles Gil as well as Sporting Director Curt Onalfo attended the MLS NEXT All Star match where they set their eyes on both Cristiano Oliveira & Josh Macedo, who were both were selected to play in the Monday night clash against the Western Conference & they did not disappoint.

Oliveira was named a midfield starter and played the first 45-mintues for the Eastern Conference MLS NEXT All Stars. Oliveira had a few chances early on and strung a handful of passes together that led to chances, however, he capped it off in the most memorable way. A goal just before half-time.

Midfielder Ademar Chavez (of FC Cincinnati II) sent a ball into the box that was trapped down by midfielder Cristiano Oliveira (New England Revolution) and led to Cristiano performing a turning pirouette shot into the goal to it to make it 1-1. Moments after his goal, the halftime whistle blew and he was replaced after 45-minutes.

As the second half began, Revolution Academy prospect Josh Macedo entered in the second half for the MLS NEXT All Stars as a defender and had a lock-down match.

He won majority of his duels and more importantly had a clutch slide-tackle block in the 90+3 minute that essentially saved the game for the MLS NEXT All Eastern Conference Stars, securing them the 4-3 victory.

After the match, I spoke to Josh Macedo where he opened up by thanking all of his coaches, noted his position change, thanked his teammates, and noted the great learning experience of playing in Austin during MLS All Star Week.

Macedo then noted the importance of being down at All Star Week with Oliveira & Carles Gil.

“Honestly, it’s amazing to have someone. He’s my roommate but he’s also a pro player [Oliveira]. I’m just learning little things from him so that I can get to his spot one day. Seeing Carles Gil is always amazing. Obviously, best Revs player in history in my opinion. I always look up to him and it’s been an amazing experience.”

Macedo stated that Carles Gil spoke to himself & Oliveira prior to the match and told them to “enjoy the moment” and that they’ll get to the MLS one day as long as they work hard.

Macedo however, had no idea that Gil was at the match. After learning that the captain had watched his performance, he stated, “I had no idea. That’s amazing. I feel honored honestly.”

Josh finished off his discussion by noting the importance of the Revoluton’s residency program and how he has learned so much from the group there.

After speaking to Josh Macedo, Cristiano Oliveira generously spoke to us after the match as well.

On the overall experience and his thoughts on the match, Oliveira stated, “Yeah, it’s a blessing. It’s different, because being apart of an all star game, it’s different, but it’s special. I liked it from the moment I walked into the hotel. Super happy that I scored, that I continued my streak.

Oliveira noted that “the biggest thing going into this game was showcasing myself, doing well, playing for the team, and I’m happy that I could contribute in the match, get it to a tie at 1-1 and then ultimately winning the game.”

Cristiano also commented on an alleged bet he made between himself & Carles Gil. The duo had bet that if Oliveira scored in the match, then Carles would owe the young midfielder a steak dinner. He said, “We’ll see if we can get that one tomorrow.”

After the conclusion of the MLS NEXT All Star game, all signs pointed toward day 2 of training on Tuesday.

MLS All Star training for Tuesday was a little more intense as the group conducted a session on the physio bikes, a mental SAQ, a possession match, as well as a crossing and finish drill. During the crossing and finish drill, Carles was paired up with Brian White, Hany Mukhtar, Kai Wagner, Max Arfsten & Jakob Glesnes.

Following the session, Carles Gil spoke once again with the media.

When asked about today’s session in comparison to yesterday’s session, Carles stated, “Yeah, good. We trained a little more. Yesterday was more a recovery day and today, glad that we played together so we’ll try to have a little more chemistry for Wednesday’s game.”

Gil noted that it isn’t easy to build chemistry over this short time period. “It’s just two training days”, Carles said. “It’s difficult to have chemistry but here, you have the best of the best. Everyone has the quality and in the end it’s football.”

Gil’s last questions of the day pertained to whether the spectacle of “an All Star match” was strange to him and whether or not he believes an “All Star Game” could take place somewhere overseas like in Spain

When discussing the potential oddity of the All Star Game concept, Carles stated, “Maybe the first experience but right now, it’s my fourth all-star experience, so I already know how it works. It’s a good experience to spend time with these guys.”

When asked on whether a spectacle like this could work in LA Liga in Spain, Carles stated, “Difficult. There are many games in Europe & finding a way to do this would be difficult. Maybe, maybe, we don’t know.”

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s training session, the night had ended for the Revolution players as none of them were taking place in the 2025 MLS Skills Competition. All signs pointed tomorrow for the Special Olympics Unified Sports MLS All-Star Game in the morning & MLS All Star Game at night.

New England Revolution captain Carles Gil poses with Remy St. Germain & Liam Wise ahead of the 2025 Special Olympics Unified Sports All-Star Game.

Wednesday morning kicked off an eventful day with the 2025 Special Olympics Unified Sports All-Star Game.

Both Liam Wise & Remy St. Germain were both selected to play in the Wednesday morning clash against the Western Conference.

Wise was named a starter as a forward and played in the first 12 mintues before being replaced. Wise had a handful of completed passes and was a threat in the offensive third for the East.

In the 32nd minute, Remy St. Germain entered the match as a centerback and closed out the half. He had a great half including 2 interceptions and went 100% on successful passes.

Remy St. Germain & Liam Wise pose in a poster ahead of the 2025 Special Olympics Unified All-Star Game.

Entering the second half, Liam Wise started the second half as the starting goalkeeper for the East while St. Germain began the half on the bench.

Wise unfortunately allowed a goal in the 49th minute after corner kick into the area was bobbled by Wise and ended up in the back of the net for an Olympico goal.

Liam Wise made a great save out for a corner kick in the 55th minute, however, the West leveled the scoreline moments later when the header from the ensuing corner kick snuck past Wise to make it 4-4.

Following the goal, Wise was replaced in net (did not return) & St. Germain re-entered the match at center back and played the rest of the half. Remy went 100% on successful dribbles, 100% on pass accuracy, 100% on ground duels won. After 90+1 minutes, the match ended in a 4-4 draw.

After completion of the 2025 Special Olympics Unified Sports All-Star Game, the focus shifted entirely to captain Carles Gil as he & the MLS All Stars took on the Liga MX All Stars at Q2 Stadium.

Carles Gil began the match on the bench for the MLS All-Stars as they faced off against the Liga MX All-Stars. He did not appear in the first half.

As the match entered the second half, Gil began on the bench but after 60 minutes of play, Carles entered the match.

The match was back-and-forth when Carles entered the match. His first action was when Gil had fouled a player in the build-up, however, advantage was given and led to an effort by Gilberto Mora that went over the net.

Carles’ best involvement of the match came in the 80th minute when Carles Gil received the ball near midfield and created a counter-attack into LIGA MX defensive third, Gil then played the ball wide to Cristian Espinoza, who then passed to Phillip Zinckernagel, who played the final pass inside the box for the simple tap-in finish by Brian White.

After 90+3 minutes of play, Gil & the MLS All-Stars held on for a 3-1 victory over the LIGA MX All-Stars.

Speaking to media after the match, Carles stated, “It was a friendly game, but, we wanted to win. You saw the game. Everyone was competing, making tackles, trying to make good plays & we won against a difficult team. They had big players.”

Reflecting on his All-Star experiences Gil noted, “Every All-Star is different. I knew many of the guys but many others are new, they are young, it’s been a pleasure being here with them. Obviously we don’t know each other on the pitch but everyone has good quality and it was a good day.”

Carles then commented that he DOES indeed owe Cristiano Oliveira a steak and is looking to fulfill his bet when he returns to New England this week.

Gil then noted that he feels confident in his ability to play against CF Montreal on Friday.

Gil then spoke on potentially passing Taylor Twellman’s New England Revolution goal contribution record as he sits just 2-goal contributions away from the record.

Gil mentioned that he watched retro highlights of the New England Revolution. He notes that Twellman was a spectacular striker, MVP, had many appearances in MLS Best XI, and said the awards he won speak for him.

He ended his discussion by saying, “To play with a striker that he was [Twellman], a striker than can do many things, it makes my job very easy.”

With Wednesday night’s All-Star game completed, this concluded the MLS All-Star week.

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

Carles Gil & the New England Revolution (6-7-10, 25 pts.) remain home to face off against Eastern Conference side CF Montréal (3-6-15, 15 pts). The match is set to kickoff at Gillette Stadium on Friday, July 25th at 7:30 p.m. ET on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

Cristiano Oliveira, Josh Macedo & the New England Revolution II (7-5-4, 30 pts.) remain home to face Eastern Conference side Atlanta United 2 (3-8-5, 19 pts.). The match will kick off at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, July 30th at 10:00 a.m. EST. For more MLS NEXT Pro content, you can find it on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

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New England Revolution

July, 2025

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About Author

Hello! My name is Caleb Pongratz. I am a 23-year-old journalist that covers Major League Soccer, MLS NEXT Pro, USL, USL Championship, USL League One, USL League Two & the United States Men's National Team. I'm originally from Hanover, Massachusetts and currently reside in Boston, Massachusetts. Schooling: • Hanover High School (2016-2020) • Suffolk University (2020-2024) - Graduated cum laude with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications - Broadcast Journalism. Career within Soccer: • Played club soccer from U6-U18 (Select FC, Boston Bolts, Liverpool International Academy) • Captain of Hanover High School Boys' Soccer (High School) • Played NCAA Division 3 Soccer for Suffolk University in the Coastal Commonwealth Conference for 4 seasons • C Licensed US Soccer Coach • Licensed US Soccer Referee • SafeSport & Intro to Safe & Healthy Playing Environments Certified

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