Just two weeks ago, the Revolution journeyed to Columbus to square off with Columbus Crew SC. That match ended in a 2-0 loss for the Foxboro side, in a match completely dominated by Crew SC. The season was looking bleak for the club. Many people, including myself, thought that much change would be needed for the Revs to turn their season around.
The next week, the Revs won a 4-0 shutout over Real Salt Lake in Foxboro to get back on track and push their record to 3-4-4. That brings us to this past Saturday. At 3-4-4 the Revolution were set for a rematch against the same Columbus Crew SC squad that beat them just two weeks earlier, and is ahead of them on the Eastern Conference table.
This week we would see yet another lineup change for the Revs in the absence of Juan Agudelo; Kelyn Rowe and Chris Tierney essentially swapped places as Tierney was moved to left back, Rowe played on the right-side of the diamond in the midfield, Femi Hollinger-Janzen got a start and played the top of the diamond, and Diego was moved back to his familiar place on the left-side of the diamond. It was an interesting lineup to say the least and did not fare well initially. For the first 22 minutes or so, Crew SC was able to slice the Revolutions diamond formation, resulting in an Ola Kamara goal in the 20th minute. Ola would also miss a golden opportunity at goal in the 22nd minute.
Then things changed for the Revolution. The Revs basically flattened out their diamond and played with a 4-4-2 for the rest of the match. This is when Diego Fagundez happened. Diego was able to score off of a low cross from Kei Kamara, who was playing against his former club.
Great team goal by the #NERevs; @DiegoFagundez14 equalizes in the 24th minute! pic.twitter.com/GDLmLiav1B
— NewEnglandRevolution (@NERevolution) May 21, 2017
After being told by veterans that his army crawl was ‘standard’ Diego decided not to slow down one bit. Just 10 minutes later Diego would get the ball on the left-side of the pitch, hit the jets, and then tap in his second goal of the day off his wonderful right boot.
.@DiegoFagundez14 does the double! pic.twitter.com/ISeNqFjzWf
— NewEnglandRevolution (@NERevolution) May 21, 2017
We would see the match go into half with a 2-1 lead for the Revolution, which would be the same score at the end of the match. Coming out of half, Coach Jay Heaps made the decision to bring the newly reacquired Gershon Koffie on to play midfield for Femi. The Ghanaian was a member of the Revolution last season and was sent off to play with Swedish side Hammerby IF this past season, before being sent back to New England on a loan. After the match Koffie noted that while it was nice being back in Foxboro, he knew he had work to do to get back into the shape required to play a full 90 minutes.
So, what did we learn?
- Diego Fagundez is the Revolutions best player. It’s really quite simple if you watch the matches. He’s been incredible all season and the past two weeks his numbers have shown that. After the match Coach Heaps was asked what Diego is doing, he answered by saying “nothing.” He’d go on to acknowledge that Diego has been excellent all season, it just wasn’t reflected through statistics until now.
- The diamond formation (4-1-2-1-2) may not always work. There will be clubs like Real Salt Lake who are just dominated by it. But, others like Crew SC know how to destroy it. Luckily for the Revs, Jay made excellent changes during the match.
At 4-4-4 the Revolution are just outside the top 6 in the conference now. Their next two matches will both be in New York as they will be taking on the Red Bulls on the 27th and NYCFC on the 31st.
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