FOXBOROUGH — While many consider Revolution midfielder Carles Gil worthy of being a Major League Soccer All-Star — “He’s on my All-Star team,” said long-tenured defender Andrew Farrell. “He’s played great throughout the season, throughout the ups and downs of how our team has been doing. He’s such an important player for us, and for the league, also. So yeah, he’s an All-Star.” — he was not selected by fans, Atlanta United coach Frank DeBoer, or MLS commissioner Don Garber to be a league All-Star.
That omission does not phase Gil one bit.
“It's not that important to me,” Gil said through team interpreter Nick Sobel following training on Tuesday morning at Gillette Stadium. “I think in the end, the most important thing to me is the team here and continuing the rhythm we’ve had over the last three months. Obviously, we want to put in a fight over the next three months and try to qualify for the playoffs.”
Gil came to New England at the beginning of the preseason, the centerpiece of Brad Friedel’s offseason player acquisitions, and has since endeared himself to the Revolution faithful. His eight goals and nine assists lead the team, with a goal and an assist in each of his last three games, plus another goal a game prior to that.
And he has also adjusted to the lifestyle of a player in MLS: while La Liga and the Premier League — the two leagues he had played in previous, with Deportivo de la Coruña and Aston Villa, specifically — are technical in skill and quality, the American first division has a reputation of being rather physical. In the first few matches as a member of the Revolution, Gil found himself beat off the ball a couple of times.
Yet he overcame that challenge and started anticipating the challenge, using his skill to dance away.
“I think overall I've adapted well (to the physicality),” he said. “It's obviously different every game with the different teams you're playing, but it's a very physical league and it’s a very fast-paced league. But again, little by little I'm definitely adjusting to the physicality.”
But not only that, he’s become a leader on this Revolution team — and not just on the scoresheet. With his limited English vocabulary — Gil can understand most questions from the English-speaking members of the Boston soccer press corps; on Tuesday, he only looked to Sobel for clarification a few times — the Spaniard has been seen on team-produced video helping to pump up his teammates before matches.
Interviews in English? Not quite yet.
Pregame speeches in English? Yup!
Peek into the locker room for one of Carles Gil's pregame pep talks, and hear from the #NERevs captain on why he feels it's important to connect with his teammates through language. ? pic.twitter.com/5KUSQFupIZ
— Jeff Lemieux (@jeff_lemieux) July 26, 2019