FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution II’s MLS Next Pro season is officially less than one month away, and the team has had a busy offseason.
Image Courtesy of Major League Soccer
Following a 9W-5D-10L, 7th place in Eastern Conference record. The club fell short of their goals in their first season of MLS Next Pro and missed the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs. Entering the 2023 campaign, the club needed to make key changes in order to succeed in the new season.
Head Coach Clint Peay instructs Forward Justin Rennicks (12) in a Revolution II match. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.
Entering the 2023 season, Head Coach Clint Peay returned to the club for his fourth season. Peay was announced as inaugural coach of the club on November 25th, 2019, and has held a 25W-12D-31L record (36.76%-win percentage) with the club in USL League One and MLS NEXT Pro play. Coach Peay is joined by assistant coach Marcelo Santos, and goalkeeping coach Yuta Nomura. The squad’s head athletic trainer is Darrell St. Jean, and he is assisted by sports performance coach Daniel Kirwan. The squad’s team administrator is Brandon Miskin, and equipment manager Ian Michaud.
Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.
The club made its end of the season roster update on December 8th, 2022, and announced that they were entering the 2023 campaign with 9 players. For defenders, the club kept Pierre Cayet, Santiago Suarez (for 2023) and Ítalo. For midfielders, the club kept Colby Quiñones Jake Rozhansky, and Brandonn Bueno. For forwards, the club kept Marcos Dias, Malcolm Fry, and Weverton. The following day, the club announced the signings of forward Jordan Adebayo-Smith and goalkeeper Nico Campuzano.
The club did not exercise the options of 5 players. Defender Michael DeShields, Midfielders, Hikaru Fujiwara, Ryan Lima, and Trevor Zwetsloot and goalkeeper Yannik Oettl. The club announced that the contracts of midfielder Michel Costa da Silva, defender Sean O’Hearn, and forward Meny Silva all expired on November 30th, 2022. With the additional notation that the club mutually agreed to terminate the contract of goalkeeper Marzuq Puckerin.
Prior to the beginning of the MLS NEXT Pro season, the club announced the signing of midfielders Nakye Greenidge-Duncan and Ben Awashie to professional contracts.
The Revolution II began their MLS Next Pro preseason on January 18th, 2023. Two players from their roster, defender Pierre Cayet & goalkeeper Nico Campuzano were invited to travel with the first team on their trip across Florida that began on January 29th.
The boys are simply back in town pic.twitter.com/9ToCoPMIpk
— New England Revolution II (@NERevolution2) January 18, 2023
Shortly after the club began preseason, they announced that the club would join the first team in partaking in a 10-day trip to Sarasota, Florida that began on Friday, February 10th. While in Florida, the team faced USL Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies (Feb. 11th) and two MLS Next Pro sides, Colorado Rapids II (Feb. 15) and Orlando City B (Feb.18).
In their matches in Florida, the squad managed a 0W-1D-2L (-6GD) record. The results were 5-1 Loss versus Tampa Bay Rowdies, a 0-0 draw versus Colorado Rapids II, and a 3-2 loss versus Orlando City B. The goal scorers for the club were Jordan Adebayo-Smith (2) and first team midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic (1).
During this trip, on February 13th. the club announced the signing of defender Jacob Akanyirige. Following the trip, the club announced that 2023 2nd round MLS SuperDraft pick (52nd overall) defender Victor Souza would join the second team following a successful preseason with the New England Revolution first team. Also following preseason, Per Seth Macomber of The Bent Musket, the club is also set to sign first team trialist midfielder Noble Okello.
Noble Okello was at training today. Bruce Arena said that he’s going to be signed to a #NERevsII contract. Okello was a #NERevs trialist during preseason.
— Seth (@SethMan31) February 28, 2023
Following the trip to Florida, the club returned to Foxborough, MA on February 20th and got right back into training.
Since returning, the club has played two more friendly scrimmages. One versus collegiate side University of New Hampshire Wildcats UNH (Feb. 26) and one versus USL Championship side Hartford Athletic (Mar. 5). The match versus UNH ended in a 1-1 draw. Jordan Adebayo-Smith scored his 3rd goal of preseason. The match versus Hartford Athletic resulted in a 2-0 defeat.
Sunday scrimmage snapshots ?
Today, #NERevsII faced UNH for a preseason scrimmage where Jordan Adebayo-Smith tallied his third goal in four preseason matches in the 1-1 draw ? pic.twitter.com/kYdVRVR2PD
— New England Revolution II (@NERevolution2) February 27, 2023
Final from Foxborough: Hartford 2, #NERevsII 0
Two more friendlies on deck to close out the preseason. pic.twitter.com/bei3BQd7fE
— New England Revolution II (@NERevolution2) March 6, 2023
As the club continues to prepare for the upcoming MLS NEXT Pro season, there are a few key players to watch in the upcoming season.
In the defense, 23-year-old French international Pierre Cayet and 17-year-old Santiago Suarez are two key players that fans should keep an eye on.
Pierre Cayet is a 23-year-old, 6-foot-tall center back who joined the Revolution II following his time at Temple University and Angers SCO in France. Following his time with the Revolution II in 2022, he was invited to the first team for preseason in Florida and has been impressive in all aspects. Since he joined the squad in April of 2021, he has been established as a key leader and key point the Revolution II backline and could easily feature in Revolution first team matches in the near future.
Defender Pierre Cayet (44) featured in an inter-squad scrimmage. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.
Santiago Suarez is a 17-year-old, 6-foot-5 center back who joined the club from the Sacramento Republic FC Academy in which he has made six appearances, including four starts during the club’s 2022 USL Championship campaign. Tiago, is a current U.S. Under-19 Men’s National Team player who was signed to a multi-year contract in New England which will feature the player joining the New England Revolution’s MLS Roster as a Homegrown Player ahead of the 2024 season.
Defender Santiago “Tiago” Suarez (43) featured in an inter-squad scrimmage. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.
In the midfield and in the forward position, two stand-out academy players are key ones to watch.
On October 28th, 2022, 17-year-old, 5-foot-9 forward Malcolm Fry signed his first professional contract with the Revolution II. Since the Groton, MA native joined the Revolution Academy in 2019, the player has notched 6 goals in 12 games with the Under-17 team last season prior to joining the Under-19 team in June of 2022. With Fry, the Under-19 squad went on to win the MLS NEXT Cup Championship. He tallied 3 goals in the postseason tournament. With the Revolution II as an academy rostered player, he made his debut on March 27th and totaled eight appearances on the season. He scored his first professional goal in his first professional start on September 2nd versus Orlando City B. He became the club’s seventh Revolution Academy player to sign a professional contract.
Less than two weeks later, The New England Revolution II announced that 18-year-old, 5-foot-6 midfielder Brandonn Bueno would be joining Fry by signing his first professional contract with the club. The Framingham, MA native, joined the Revolution academy in 2016 was a part of the U-19 MLS Next Cup Championship team. He scored 2 goals across 19 regular season games. With Revolution II, the player logged 100 minutes in 2022 and made his professional debut versus Toronto FC II on July 31st, 2022. He became the club’s eighth Revolution Academy player to sign a professional contract.
Midfielder Brandonn Bueno (42) and Forward Malcolm Fry (89) pose for a photo after they become the seventh and eighth players to sign from the New England Revolution Academy with Revolution II since 2020. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.
When it comes to players who threaten defenses in all aspects, no name stands out more than 21-year-old, 5-foot-11, forward Jordan Adebayo-Smith. Jordan joined the New England Revolution II on December 8th, 2022, following a permanent transfer from USL Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies. Adebayo-Smith was loaned by the club to New York Red Bulls II where the forward logged 2,400 minutes and netted 7 goals and 3 assists across 33 appearances. In 2021, Jordan logged four goals and one assist with the Rowdies. The player internationally began his playing career at Lincoln City Football Club and can represent the United States, Nigeria, and England. So far in MLS NEXT Pro preseason, the forward has scored 3 goals and is a major contributor to the attack for the Revolution II. If his goal scoring numbers stay high, he is definitely a player to watch for the future.
Jordan Adebayo-Smith (99) stretches during training on March 1st, 2023. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution II.
The club is continuing to fill out their current roster so that they can be fully prepared for the upcoming season. As the official roster sits at 16 professional players, per MLS NEXT Pro roster guidelines, the New England Revolution II’s roster can be comprised of up to 35 players with 24 roster spots filled with professional players, including International and Domestic players, and players on loan, while 11 roster slots may be filled with amateur players.
This benefit of roster flexibility can be attributed to the recent success of the squad as well as the New England Revolution Academy. Since the club’s inauguration in 2019, the Revolution II has molded 8 players that have used the club’s pathway to make the New England Revolution first team. Those players include forward Jack Panayotou, midfielders Lucas Maciel, Noel Buck and Esmir Bajraktarevic, and defenders Collin Verfurth, Jon Bell, Ryan Spaulding and Ben Reveno.
The New England Revolution II are set to play two more friendly matches prior to their MLS Next Pro season debut. Their schedule has not yet been released. All MLS, MLS NEXT Pro matches will be available through the new MLS Streaming Service on the Apple TV app.
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