Revs hoping to surge

Set to kick off MLS tourney against Montreal tonight

Revolution coach Bruce Arena likes what he’s seen from his team on the practice pitch but he’s not sure what to make of it.

The quality of Arena’s five weeks of preparation will be measured when the Revolution (0-1-1) engage the Montreal Impact (1-0-1) in the opening round of the MLS is Back Tournament tonight at 8.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” mused Arena during a Zoom press briefing. “The problem here is that nobody knows what that means because we’ve not had real competition.

“We’ve been idle for, I guess, close to four months from league competition so the tournament is a great unknown for all the teams. It’s going to be interesting to see how we fare.”

The Impact beat the Revolution, 2-1, in the season opener on Feb. 29 at the Stade Olympique in Montreal. MLS closed shop on March 12 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“First of all, we played Montreal at the end of February and we traveled to Montreal during a snow storm and were delayed with our travel,” said Arena. “Then we played on a piece of cement inside a building and it was not much of a soccer game.

“Throw that game out the window, this game is going to be entirely different. This time around we are going to be playing again in difficult conditions. But this time it’s heat and humidity outdoors on a real soccer field.”

The tournament is based on the World Cup format of group play and it will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

The Revolution were assigned to Group C along

GETTY IMAGES FILE BACK IN ACTION: New England’s Henry Kessler challenges Montreal’s Zachary Brault-Guillard in the second half of the season opener on Feb. 29 in Montreal. The two teams will meet tonight in their first game of the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

AP FILE GETTING THE NOD: Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner makes a save against the Columbus Crew in 2018. He will start tonight against Montreal.