FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It may have taken some time to get off the schnide, but just as he predicted, Diego Fagundez is now scoring in bunches.
A year after leading the New England Revolution with 13 goals, the 19-year-old winger was expected by many to carry that scoring touch into the start of 2014, but the first nine games passed without a tally.
The chances were there, but the finishes were not. Fagundez refused to be discouraged and almost on queue in the club’s 10th game of the season against Seattle, he scored twice.
Another goal followed in Philadelphia the next week and on Saturday night he scored his fourth goal in three games, a 77th minute game-winner to sink D.C. United.
“I tell everyone, after you get the first goal, it all comes after that,” Fagundez told the media on Saturday night. “After I scored that first goal this season it opened up a lot for me. I think a lot of other players will tell you the same thing.”
It’s probably not a coincidence that Fagundez has found his scoring touch at the same time as much of the rest of his teammates, notably Patrick Mullins who has scored four goals in four games and Teal Bunbury who has a goal and three assists in the last three matches.
This all coming in the midst of a seven-game unbeaten streak that followed a run of only two goals over the first five matches of the season.
“I think [Patrick] Mullins and I are working very well with each other – and you can even add Teal [Bunbury] in that,” Fagundez said. “All three of us are working a lot better than in the beginning of the season. We are moving off the ball well and are making good runs.”
Fagundez, who correctly predicted the opening of the scoring gates, feels that now the Revs are poised for much more.
“We have good players that are very attack-minded – and that comes from our front players as well as our backs,” he said. “As long as we keep playing like this, more goals will come.”
Craig Forde covers the New England Revolution for MLSsoccer.com.
