Bruce Arena has lofty goals for Revolution in region of champions

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Six championship banners currently hang at Gillette Stadium, and none belong to the New England Revolution.

Bruce Arena would like to change that.

The Revolution's new head coach shared a bold vision Thursday at his introductory press conference in Foxboro, expressing a desire to not only pull the Revs out of the MLS doldrums but carry them to the level of their highly successful neighbors.

"I said in my statement when I was named (head coach) that this is such a great sports town," Arena said. "We want to try to elevate the Revolution on par with these other championship teams in Boston.

"It’s a big challenge. I feel great about being in a great city with great ownership and great potential."

Arena has a long way to go. Boston's professional sports teams have won two championships in the past seven months alone -- the Red Sox in October 2018 and the New England Patriots in February -- and the Bruins are one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. The "disappointing" Celtics bowed out in the second round this season but have won an NBA-best 17 titles in their storied history.

The Revs, meanwhile, haven't reached the MLS playoffs since 2015 and sit dead-last in the Eastern Conference with 11 points.

But Arena, with five MLS Cups and experience with the U.S. men's national team on his resume, believes the mechanisms are in place for a turnaround.

"In all the positions I’ve had in the past in the league I’ve always wanted to be in an organization I felt wanted to win," Arena added. “In my conversations with the Krafts (Revolution owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft) and (Revolution president) Brian (Bilello), they’re really confident we can move the team forward. There (are) aspirations to build a stadium one day, and we’ll have the resources to make the team better."

Revs fans are hoping that process begins Saturday when New England hosts the Montreal Impact, who defeated the Revs 3-0 earlier this season.

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