There were plenty of reasons to pop a few bottles of champagne in the New England Revolution locker room Saturday.
The 1-0 victory over FC Dallas was the 241st regular-season win for Bruce Arena, setting a new record in MLS previously held by the late Sigi Schmid.
“It’s an honor to be associated with him,” Arena said after the game. "The record is nice and again, if I had a bunch of lousy teams, I don’t think I’d have the record. Getting it today is nice, to have it at home. I thought, at some point in 2022, we’d get another win. So, it’s nice to get it out of the way and hopefully we can move forward and try to get this team better.”
While Arena rarely likes to talk about his personal accolades, Jozy Altidore had no issues pumping up someone who was his first professional coach when he was a teenager with the Red Bulls.
"It's no surprise, I think Bruce is a winner,” said Altidore, who was also coached by Arena on the US men's national team. "I think everywhere he's gone, he's won – Galaxy, national team. Everybody knows what he's about. I think a big part of professional sports is man management. You got egos, you got pros, you got guys that have been around. And when you're able to do that well, which I think he's mastered, you're always gonna have guys that want to play for you and I think this team is no different."
Andrew Farrell, who's in his 10th season in New England, credits Arena with changing the culture and helping turn the Revs into a Supporters’ Shield-winning team and a contender for MLS Cup.
“It's pretty remarkable,” Farrell said. "He’s come in and changed what we've been doing here and I think he changed it for the better a lot. A lot of things he's done have helped us a lot on the personal level, on the field, but it's cool to see because he manages to make all types of people work together.”
One thing Arena said he's wanted to implement in New England is a family atmosphere, but the COVID-19 global pandemic made those personal interactions difficult.
But that’s changing with loosening restrictions and was on full display at Gillette Stadium, first when Carles Gil indicated he is an expecting father in his post-goal celebration and then Matt Turner had a gender reveal after the final whistle.
"I think the biggest thing to professional sports, Bruce’s man management, but as well, everybody is a pro everybody needs to be treated equal. And I think when you have places where that's not the case, you're always going to have an imbalance, but here it's a family,” Altidore said. "Everybody respects each other. Nobody gets this type of special treatment that another guy doesn't get and I think that's why you see the team fight the way they fight. You see those celebrations, with people having baby reveals on the field. That says a lot about the camaraderie in the group itself.”
Asked about Turner’s moment on the field, Arena responded in his usual way, referencing the goalkeeper’s summer move to Arsenal.
"Is he going to be a goalkeeper, hopefully? I think that’s going to be a young man that’s going to have both the U.S. and a United Kingdom passport," Arena said. "But congratulations to Matt. That’s good news.”
