Where in the World is Juan Agudelo?

It seems like only a few short months ago when Juan Agudelo was on top of the world. Funny how things change so quickly.

Fresh off of scoring a goal for the USMNT in their 2-0 friendly victory over Mexico, things were looking promising for the 22-year-old New England Revolution striker. He was putting in quality shifts for his club, proving to the Revolution organization and his country that he was mentally prepared to consistently produce on the highest level. Yet it seems that all of this came crashing down after Klinsmann failed to call his name to the 2015 Gold Cup Roster.

Within a four month span, Agudelo has not only lost his starting spot for the Revolution, but as of more recently, he has only been seeing garbage time minutes. Which calls into question, why would Jay Heaps bench somebody who has the ability to score goals like this?

Or this?

Under his 4-2-3-1 system, Heaps has constructed a team that offensively builds upon their attack from the outside flanks and eventually tries to cross the ball into the middle to score. Heaps heavily relies on athletic wing backs, such as Chris Tierney, Jeremy Hall, or London Woodberry, to push into the attacking third and drive crosses into the middle of the field.

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However, by heavily relying on his wing backs to push up into attack, he needs to have midfielders who are able and willing to put in the effort to defensively track back into their own third.

While most people see Agudelo as a pure striker due to his holdup ability and his knack for scoring goals, Heaps was using him as an outside midfielder at the start of the season due to the fact that Charlie Davies has an uncanny ability to create space for himself in the opposing third–which is crucial to have when you generate most of your offense from the flanks.

While Agudelo was able to hold his own on the wing during the beginning of the MLS season, once Jermaine Jones got injured at the end of June, the Revolution were in dire need for their midfield to help out more defensively. While Agudelo brings an offensive presence to the team, he lacks defensive prowess and at some points, the sheer determination to track back when he needs to, causing Heaps to put Agudelo on the bench.

Since then, Agudelo has made little impact on the field as his playing time has fallen to the wayside with the success of Diego Fagundez. However, for Agudelo fans out there, there still is a glimmer of hope that he can find his way back into the starting XI before the season is over; and that hope lies in Jones. As Jones continues his recovery process, once he is back to playing 100%, the Revolution will have a stronger, more solidified defensive third, allowing offensive-minded players to become take more risks on the attack. With Jones return into the starting fold, Agudelo may just get another chance to showcase his skills with Heaps knowing that Jones will be the Revolution’s safety net in the defensive third.

Although Agudelo may have a chance at reclaiming the glory he started out with during his second tenure here with the New England Revolution, it will certainly be an uphill battle to reclaim his spot. With Fagundez playing the best soccer he’s played since 2013 and with the teams starting XI officially starting to turn things around, Agudelo will have to prove to Heaps that he can be trusted upon not only to make the alluring offensive play, but to also show some grit and get down and dirty on the defensive side of the pitch.