FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Two games into the season, and the New England Revolution attack is playing at a 2013 level.
Unfortunately for the Revs, they are mimicking their slow start from a year ago, when the club registered just one goal over their first five matches.
The only difference is, that one score last year came in a season-opening win, whereas this year’s Revs team is still without a goal, or a point, on the ledger.
“We’re creating chances, we just can’t finish,” midfielder Diego Fagundez, who has three of the team’s five shots on goal this year, told the media on Tuesday. “I’ve always said that the first one is the hardest one to get, and for us it is.”
The 2013 attack did eventually find their scoring touch, netting 48 goals over their final 29 games, thanks in part to the addition of striker Juan Agudelo, who is now playing for Dutch club FC Utrecht on loan from England's Stoke City.
His ostensible replacement, Teal Bunbury – acquired in an offseason trade with Sporting Kansas City – has had early chances, but is still adjusting to his new surroundings and teammates.
“He’s playing well,” said coach Jay Heaps of Bunbury prior to Tuesday’s training session. “He needs more service and we’re going to get him more service.”
“Teal is a big guy, and he is strong, which is good for us,” said Fagundez. “When the midfield can combine with him, that’s where we’re going to get a lot of chances.”
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Another factor to the club’s sluggish start is that Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen and Saër Sène – who combined for 16 goals in 2013 – are all working through lingering injuries.
Yet the club remains positive that once everything comes together and they do finally light up the scoreboard, they can do so in bunches. The Revs host Vancouver Whitecaps at Gillette Stadium on Saturday (2 pm ET, MLS LIVE/CTV BC).
“We just can’t get that first one in, but once we do then more will come,” said Fagundez. “It was two away games, so that was tough. Now we’re coming home for our opener and I think more energy is going to come out of the guys.”
