The Caleb Porter era in New England will begin in Central America.

The Revolution open the 2024 campaign with a Concacaf Champions Cup round one home-and-home series match against CA Independiente on Wednesday (8 p.m.) at Estadio Universitario FC Stadium in Llano Marin, Panama.

The Revolution begin MLS play on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at D.C. United and will engage CA Independiente in the second leg of the Champions Cup on Feb. 29 at Gillette Stadium.

“We were able to scout them and we actually sent someone to look at them and also we were able to get a couple of games (films) on them,” said Porter.

“So, we have a good read on what this team is about in terms of formation. There are the two formations they have utilized primarily and their game model and style of play and key players.”

The Revolution will be competing in the Champions Cup for the fifth time and several members of the current club advanced to the quarterfinals in 2022, the deepest Concacaf run in the team’s history.

The Champions Cup has been as elusive as the MLS Cup for the Revolution and Porter has an opportunity to secure both in his first season. Porter said he will put his best starting 11 on the field with the intent of advancing in the tournament. The team with the most combined goals in the two games will advance to the next round.

“Obviously we know it is a double leg and I told the group in terms of priority this week, the priority is to win both games,” said Porter. “I want to start the league (MLS) really well and I want to advance as far as we can in this cup competition.

“We have a tentative plan for both games and there will be some rotation. But we are going to put out a strong group and hopefully win both games. Get off to a good start in the first game and then hopefully get our first three (MLS) points in the league.”
Porter’s overriding objectives in the preseason were to install a new system, assimilate the newcomers, evaluate the available talent on the pitch and recognize the most optimum personnel combinations for the long haul.

The Revolution struggled through the early exhibition games and finished the run with a 0-0 draw against the Philadelphia Union, the team that eliminated New England in the first round of the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs.

“This is my tenth year going through preseason so I learned early on that the early results in preseason mean nothing,” said Porter. “I have had years where we won every preseason game and started the season poorly and I’ve had many years the opposite.

“It’s impossible to put much value in preseason, especially the early stages because you are playing essentially 22 guys. Ultimately it is what you are working on in training camp so the only result I that I really cared a lot about was the Philadelphia one.

“That was the first game where we played the top group 90 minutes against a very good team. None of the other games do I care at all about the result.”

The Revolution made a significant transaction on Monday when it loaned out midfielder Damian Rivera to the Tampa Rowdies of the USL for the 2024 season. The homegrown player from Cranston, R.I., had made 21 appearances with the Revolution and scored one goal.

The Revolution are flush with young talent like Noel Buck, Esmir Bajraktarevic and Jack Panayotou and the team needed to make room on the roster.

“He has been in the system a couple of years and so you have got to start to think about how he can grow,” said Porter. “He is not going to get major minutes with the first team.

“We have younger players coming up and they get games with Revs 2 which is great. But it is important for them to get a change of scenery. He can go out and play with a USL championship club and play away from our environment.

“We felt this was a good fit for him to go to Tampa. He has talent, he still has potential to play for us but he is now entering his third year and we felt a different environment was the best thing.”