CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – After spending the first week of preseason camp battling each other on the training field, on Tuesday morning the New England Revolution finally got to kick someone else.
The Revs opened their seven-game preseason schedule against expansion side Minnesota United, getting a 78th-minute equalizer from Kei Kamara – nodding home Donnie Smith’s left-wing cross – to cancel out Eugene Starikov’s first-half goal in a 1-1 draw.
Head coach Jay Heaps utilized entirely different lineups for each half, blending a mix of veterans, rookies and trialists into each group. On an individual basis the 45-minute stints were mostly about fitness, while tactically Heaps was most interested in building out a base for his team’s defensive shape.