Lee Nguyen advances to Final Group of MLS AT&T Goal of the Year contest

DL - Lee Nguyen goal of the year

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen’s 65th minute strike against the Houston Dynamo on October 16 has made it through to the Final Group in MLS AT&T Goal of the Year voting. Nguyen’s goal earned him AT&T Goal of the Week honors in Week 32.

The voting for the Final Group, where only four goals remain, is open now and will run until 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, November 26. The winner of the 2014 AT&T Goal of the Year will be decided by online voting and will be announced on Thursday, December 4.

VOTE NOW: LEE NGUYEN FOR AT&T GOAL OF THE YEAR

The goal, which was Nguyen’s first of two in the game, tied the score at 1-1 and helped the Revs claim a 2-1 victory. The goal led to his third Goal of the Week nomination on the year, and went on to become the first, and only, Revs goal to win an AT&T Goal of the Week honor in 2014.

With the Revs trailing 1-0 in the 65th minute, Nguyen scored his 16th goal of the season to level the match. Jermaine Jones played in Kevin Alston behind the Dynamo defense and the left back played a low, first-time pass to the feet of Nguyen at the top of the penalty area. Nguyen dragged the ball past a sliding defender before curling a right-footed shot into the upper corner to even the score. | WATCH NGUYEN’S GOAL HERE

The score remained 1-1 until Nguyen stepped up again in the 87th minute, scoring the game-winning goal to give New England a 2-1 victory. Nguyen, a finalist for the Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player award, finished the regular season with a career-high 18 goals, including an MLS-best nine game-winning goals, and has since added two goals postseason goals to become the first Revolution player to score 20 or more goals in all competitions since Taylor Twellman scored 23 in 2007.

Here’s how the MLS AT&T Goal of the Year voting works:

64 goals were nominated: the 32 winners of the AT&T Goal of the Week fan vote plus 32 goals chosen by MLSSoccer.com's editorial staff.


  • The First Round (voting open Oct. 28-Nov. 4) consisted of the 64 nominated goals, placed in 16 groups of four. The top two in each group, as determined by an online vote, advanced to the Second Round.
  • The Second Round (Nov. 6-9) consisted of the 32 remaining goals, placed into eight groups of four. The top two in each group, as determined by an online vote, advanced to the Round of 16.
  • The Round of 16 (Nov. 12-19) consists of the 16 remaining goals, placed in four groups of four. The top goal in each group, as determined by an online vote, advance to the Final group.
  • The Final Group (Nov. 21-26) consists of the 4 remaining goals. The AT&T Goal of the Year winner will again be determined by an online vote on MLSSoccer.com.



Nguyen and the Revs will be back in action on Sunday, November 23 when the club takes on the New York Red Bulls in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship at Red Bull Arena. NBC will show that game nationally starting at 1:30 p.m.