Juan Agudelo showed the class and touch that has made Stoke City sign him with a improvised finish to help the New England Revolution beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 before 14,630 fans at Gillette Stadium.
Chris Tierney’s long ball split the Chicago defense and Agudelo ran thrown and chipped the ball over Sean Johnson in the Chicago goal.
Kelyn Rowe added a second goal late as New England ran out comfortable winners.
Agudelo has missed the last several games due to injury and New England really missed him. When Heaps plays Aguedolo and Diego Fagundez together up-front, their speed terrifies defenders. As a result, defenders start playing a little deeper than normal which creates pockets of space right in front of them for the likes of Rowe and Nguyen.
The win was New England’s ninth of the year and with 10 games to go the Revs have a shot at picking up double digit wins for the first time since 2009. Twelve wins is within reach which would the most since 2007. Regardless of whether or not New England reaches the playoffs, this season has to be deemed a success.
Jay Heaps and Mike Burns have taken a lot of criticism from New England fans, but the rebuilding from the lows of the Steve Nicol era has to be deemed a success. New England has gotten younger and faster and the likes of Diego Fergundez and Andrew Farrell will be stars in MLS one day.
