FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Diego Fagundez dubbed Saturday “the best day I’ve had my whole career” after the Revolution ended their six-game winless streak with a 2-0 win over the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.
There were many reasons for the 20-year-old to feel that way, the three points being at the head of the list.
Of course, it was the right foot of Fagundez who helped put the Revolution in position to capture three points, and he did so in his 100th appearance, becoming the youngest player in MLS history to reach the milestone.
“I found out after the game,” he said. “It’s pretty nice to have a 100th appearance and end it with a goal. It’s something that I can remember, take the jersey home and give it as a gift to my mom.”
With Juan Agudelo returning from international duty just one day prior to Saturday’s match, Fagundez earned his sixth start of the season, and repaid coach Jay Heaps' faith.
“He excels when the lights are on and the moments are there,” said Heaps of Fagundez.
Heaps felt the matchup against Chicago would favor Fagundez, who worked hard throughout the week to solidify his status in this week’s lineup.
“Not only did he train really well this week, I think the matchup was going to be good out there,” said Heaps.
The coach was rewarded when Fagundez broke the scoreless match in the 48th minute with a swinging right-footed blast from the top of the Fire box, whistling it past Jon Busch into the right side of the net after teammate Andy Dorman forced Matt Polster into a half-cleared header on a Revs corner kick.
“I'd seen Dorman make a hard run near post, so I just said, 'I’m going to stay back at the top of the 18,'” Fagundez said. “Once the ball lobbed up the first thing I said is 'I have to hit this towards goal.' Once I shot that, it felt great.”
Two minutes later he was involved in another Revs strike, taking a Lee Nguyen chip and laying it off to Teal Bunbury in the box, whose shot was headed home by Charlie Davies.
Fagundez was subbed out after 73 solid minutes of work in which he again showed glimpses of the 13-goal scorer he was just two short years ago.
“It’s a roller coaster,” said Fagundez who has struggled at times and has had to fight hard for minutes over the last two seasons. “It goes up and down. Even though I want it to go straight up, it doesn’t work that way.
“I just have to keep coming to practice, keep working hard and once you get that chance to go back in the game and start, you have to give it everything you have. That’s what I did today.”
