As Mother Nature is wont to do this time of year, snow fell over New England this weekend. Fortunately for the Revolution, they had already escaped the winter weather on their way to Mexico for a week's worth of training.
The team left the Boston area on Saturday morning bound for the trip. The team will train three times and play two friendly matches before flying home on Friday.
"It'll be good to get outside," Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said prior to the team's departure. "The indoor surface is hard on the feet and the legs. It'll be good to get out on the grass."
The team spent some time in Bermuda earlier in the preseason but shifted its preparations back inside to a local indoor facility for the past week.
Nicol said those training sessions weren't any departure from preparations he had overseen in his five previous preseason campaigns.
"It's normal, which is good," Nicol said.
Those preparations will be helped in Mexico with friendly matches against Pioneros de Cancun (second division) on Monday afternoon and Atlante FC (first division) on Wednesday night. After two cursory tests against the Bermuda national team, the two Mexican sides should give the Revolution a better view as to their development during the preseason.
The match against Atlante FC, who will participate in this summer's SuperLiga, will provide a particularly stern test. The club, which moved to Cancun to start the 2007-2008 campaign, won the 2007 Apertura championship and boasts former Colorado Rapids midfielder Alain Nkong amongst its ranks.
While there will be some focus on the on-field performance, the team will also look to acquire new players.
"We're working on it, but nothing's done," Nicol said. "It hasn't been any more or less important since we've started searching for players."
The team currently boasts two open senior roster slots. While some might emphasize the need to get a body in to help the team, Nicol is willing to wait to find the right player who can help fill out the squad.
"We want to bring in better players," Nicol said. "We could have signed tons of guys, but they wouldn't have made us better. We want the best players we can find."
One of those players probably won't be former trialist Javier Delgado. The Swiss-based, left-sided defender joined the Revolution in Bermuda but won't link up with the team in Mexico.
"He's an option," Nicol said. "We haven't offered him a contract at this time."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
