FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The box score from the New England Revolution’s 2-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night bears a striking resemblance to the box score from last weekend’s 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo.
For the second straight weekend Diego Fagundez opened the scoring to put the Revs in front before Juan Agudelo struck late to seal the points. It’s a formula which works just fine for the Revolution, which is steadily climbing the Eastern Conference standings having gone 3-1-2 in the last six games.
Against TFC, Agudelo and Fagundez started on opposite wings but interchanged throughout the game as the flow of play dictated, while central midfielders Lee Nguyen and Juan Toja were free to roam, as well. The fluid system worked wonders as the Revs caused Toronto’s backline problems all night.
“Any of those guys are game changers and they all have qualities that are unique to each of them,” said Chris Tierney, who made his 100th career regular-season start and assisted on Fagundez’s game winner. “They’re very hard to defend when they’re moving the ball quickly and as well as they did tonight. The more and more those guys play together and the more we start to work in Juan Agudelo, the better and better things are going to be.”
Agudelo has quickly developed chemistry with many of his teammates since arriving from Chivas USA via trade three weeks ago, but seems to have formed a unique bond with Fagundez. Both players came through the MLS youth system – Agudelo in New York and Fagundez in New England – and both players are young, dynamic attackers.
The players have neighboring stalls in the Revolution’s locker room, and Fagundez believes a common language has helped bring the duo closer together both on and off the field.
“I think it all starts because we both speak Spanish,” said Fagundez. “The other thing is, when we work together, we try to communicate with each other. I think that’s why we’re going positive now. We just have to keep talking, communicating and move forward.”
