Match 15 Recap: New England Revolution 3 – Toronto FC 0
By Miles Blaney
Diego Fagundez shines as the Revolution pick up 3 important points.
New England went into the match needing to scrape out points against the Eastern Conference leaders to get themselves into the playoff picture. Not only did they take 3 points, but they took them comfortably.
Benjamin Angoua started off the scoring with a fantastic header off of a corner from captain Lee Nguyen. Toronto looked likely to equalize for much of the first half however some muffed shot attempts from superb positions kept them off the board.
The Revs impressed with their ability to keep possession and build up through Kelyn Rowe and Gershon Koffie, something they have struggled to do this season. Rowe found himself on the short end of the stick after getting a goal wrongly called offside.
"“We’ve seen it was clearly onside,” said coach Jay Heaps after the match. “Our talk at halftime was ‘OK. Forget that first half. We need to reset, go about the game plan which we drew up earlier in the week, and stick to it”."
Agudelo steals the second half
The main takeaway from the game was how spectacular Juan Agudelo played after coming on in the 66th minute. He and Diego Fagundez showed great synergy in besting the Conferences toughest defensive group which had only allowed 12 goals on the season. 5 minutes after his arrival, Agudelo found Fagundez at the top of the box for the MLS AT&T Goal of the Week runner-up.
For the rest of the game, the Revolution executed relentless counterattacks forcing Toronto’s defense to stay honest. As a result of one of these counter attacks, New England added a third goal to the scoreboard off a header by Agudelo. The ball bounced twice off the crossbar before finding the back of the net.
Defenders Antonio Delamea and Benjamin Angoua performed well neutralizing one of the most electric offenses in the league. Toronto striker Sebastian Giovinco seemed frustrated at times and was unable to be as effective as he has been.
All in all the Revolution put out a stellar performance. Their form has been strong going 3-1-1 in their last five matches. Their next MLS match is on June 17th against Bastian Schweinsteiger and the Chicago Fire. New England has this week off to focus on their U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round match against the Rochester Rhinos of the USL.