Revs II Season Openers

The Revolution II schedule has the team heading to play Ft. Lauderdale CF on Saturday, April 10th, 2021. In the first of the season openers, they’ll look to continue their run of form against the Inter Miami affiliate, in Inter Miami CF Stadium. The USL League One played a shortened season of 16 games in 2020. The Florida-based team gave Revolution II one of their biggest wins of the season at Gillette. A 4 to 1 win where Nick Firmino had a great free kick to start off the scoring. Justin Rennicks, Ryan Spaulding and Tiago Mendonca finished off the final three goals.

For the team’s home opener, they’ll be playing against the Richmond Kickers on Saturday, April 17th, 2021. Revs II balanced out the results of their two ties last year. They lost to the Kickers 1 to 2 at home and won 4 to 0 at City Stadium. In the first game last year, the team still hadn’t found their shooting boots. They took 11 shots on goal and only placing four to challenge the keeper. Two months later, the team was able to keep Richmond from scoring. As well, they managed 18 shots on net, while keeping eight on frame. A much needed improvement and cohesion helped them in the latter game, with the addition of first-teamer Justin Rennicks.

Missing Major Players In Those Games

Revs II will be without at least three of those players for that first game. The first having to do with contract, due to allowing Firmino to go to free agency. Reportedly, he’s currently in Nashville as a trialist, looking to earn a contract with the MLS team. Tiago Mendonça suffered a torn ACL at the end of the year last year. Revolution II will be missing his presence in the middle of defense. As well, Justin Rennicks has been training with the first team the entire preseason and it seems likely he heads to Los Angeles. Their final game of preseason against LAFC is on April 10th, 2021.

Revolution II Schedule Released

Date	Opponent	Venue	Time (ET) / Result	Broadcast
Saturday, April 10	at Fort Lauderdale CF	Inter Miami CF Stadium(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)	7:30 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, April 17	Richmond Kickers	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	5:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Wednesday, May 12	Union Omaha	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	5:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Sunday, May 16	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	2:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Friday, May 28	Fort Lauderdale CF	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	5:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, June 5	at Richmond Kickers	City Stadium(Richmond, Va.)	6:30 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, June 12	at Union Omaha	Werner Park(Papillion, Neb.)	8:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, June 19	at Forward Madison FC	TBA	8:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, June 26	North Texas SC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Wednesday, June 30	at Forward Madison FC	TBA	8:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, July 4	Greenville Triumph SC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	2:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Friday, July 9	at Toronto FC II	TBA	4:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, July 17	at FC Tucson	Kino Sports Complex(Tucson, Ari.)	10:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Friday, July 23	at Toronto FC II	TBA	4:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Friday, July 30	Tormenta FC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Friday, Aug. 6	North Carolina FC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, Aug. 14	at Richmond Kickers	City Stadium(Richmond, Va.)	6:30 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, Aug. 21	at Tormenta FC	Erk Russell Athletic Park(Statesboro, Ga.)	8:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Wednesday, Sept. 1	FC Tucson	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, Sept. 11	at North Carolina FC	WakeMed Soccer Park(Cary, N.C.)	TBD	ESPN+
Friday, Sept. 17	Richmond Kickers	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Tuesday, Sept. 21	Forward Madison FC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, Sept. 25	at Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	CHI Memorial Stadium(East Ridge, Tenn.)	TBD	ESPN+
Friday, Oct. 1	Forward Madison FC	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	5:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Tuesday, Oct. 12	Toronto FC II	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	5:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, Oct. 16	at Greenville Triumph SC	Legacy Early College(Greenville, S.C.)	7:00 p.m.	ESPN+
Saturday, Oct. 23	at North Texas SC	Globe Life Park(Arlington, Texas)	8:30 p.m.	ESPN+
Friday, Oct. 29	Toronto FC II	Gillette Stadium(Foxborough, Mass.)	5:00 p.m.	ESPN+

Roster Building Heading Towards The Revolution II Season

Just recently, headshots for the players that will be a part of Revolution II were released. From that, I’ve devised a roster build-up that amounts to 29 players between Academy, those signed to Revs II and the first team loans down. Obviously, the roster isn’t set in stone until the beginning of the season, but this should be a good look at it.

Goalkeepers

The goalkeeper situation at Revs II has been a tumultuous one since the beginning of their existence. Joe Rice developed a clear first choice in most games. He ended up injured halfway through the season in 2020. Keegan Meyer stepped in for him at the end of the season. He did a very decent job replacing him, but he was allowed to move at the end of the season.

During the offseason, Atlanta United Academy and Boston Bolts product Marzuq Puckerin was picked up to replace Keegan. Puckerin was a back-up at Atlanta United 2 in 2019, training in the USL Championship for about six months. He was also a trialist at West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers and Aberdeen FC. Marzuq is nephew to Shaka Hislop, goalkeeper to feature for a few English Premier League teams over his years playing.

From Westborough, Massachusetts, goalkeeper Matthew Tibbets has been training up with Revs II since last year while Joe Rice was injured. Tibbets was on the bench for Revolution II on four occasions last year as backup to Keegan Meyer. Matthew is 16 years old currently and featured all the way up to the U-18/19 academy team in the 2019/2020 season. He played in 66 games for various Revolution Academy teams since 2016, when he would’ve been 12.

Revolution Academy Players

Matthew Tibbetts being one of those players getting the chance from Revs Academy, there’s a few more names that got their headshots taken for the team. Forwards Isaie Louis and Michael Tsicoulias return to the team for more minutes. A couple more players join the fray of attack, Malcolm Fry and Brandonn Bueno get to take their shot towards earning a Revs II contract.

Defender Morris Matthews comes back into the squad. Alongside him in the back line, Cole Dewhurst joins to prove his worth. In the middle of the field, Hikaru Fujiwara and Diego Souza are gearing up to get back to earning a contract again. In the midfield as well, Samuel White, Noel Buck, and Joe Buck all will join the team this year in training and will hope to find some playing time.

Revolution II Players Returning And First Team Loan Downs

Players currently contracted with only Revolution II include the four offseason signings defender Prosper Figbe, GK Marzuq Puckerin, midfielder Michel (Costa da Silva), and defender François Dulysse. As well, the returning core of Revs II in Presley, Quinones, Rice, Ramirez, Spaulding, Silva and Mendonca. Luckily, with that base of players, the chemistry will continue from last year. Ryan Spaulding, Colby Quinones, Tiago Mendonca and Connor Presley are the outfield players in the core that will know each others movements during game.

Another exciting part of the team is the players that now essentially have a “2 Way Contract”. Currently, Jon Bell, Maciel, Justin Rennicks, Collin Verfurth, Damian Rivera all have first team contracts. It will be interesting this year, with the lesser COVID-19 protocols in place, how often they aren’t a part of the Revs II. There will likely be other loans from the first team to come in as well. Edward Kizza, the Revolution’s first round draft pick in the 2021 MLS Superdraft, will contend during preseason for a spot up with the first team. It will be interesting to see the end product at the beginning of the Revolution II regular season schedule.

Be sure to check out my roster breakdowns closer to the season start, once the roster becomes clearer.