Revolution defeat Toronto 3-0. Photo/Kari Heistad
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution continued their unbeaten run at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night as they easily swept aside Eastern Conference leaders Toronto FC, 3-0, in front of 21,764.
French center back Benjamin Angoua gave the Revolution the lead with a header off a corner kick in the 17th minute, then Diego Fagundez put the game away with his fourth goal of the campaign, a shot from the top of the box that flew into the back of the net in the 66th minute. Juan Agudelo added a third, his sixth strike of the season, in the 85th minute.
This win extends the Revolution’s unbeaten streak at home to 11 games dating back to last season. The Revolution have also played three times in an eight-day span since May 27 after a New York road trip in which they lost to the Red Bulls and tied NYCFC.
“Credit to our fitness coach and training staff,” said Revolution captain Lee Nguyen. “It was a tough shift, going to New York having to play those two games, coming back, putting in the effort we did today, credit to the boys.
“To keep a team like Toronto at zero, that’s big time. On top of that to get three points we much needed was good.”
Toronto came to Gillette Stadium on Saturday night tied for the most away wins in the league—three in seven games—but were in for a tall task in one of the league’s most difficult venues for visiting teams. Plus, the Canadians were without two of their marquee players, midfielder Michael Bradley and forward Jozy Altidore, who are both away on U.S. national team duty.
That left Italian striker Sebastian Giovinco, whom Toronto run most of their attack through, to deal with tight marking from Angoua and Antonio Delamea.
“What we talked about pregame was if other guys beat us, fair enough, but giovincos not going to. I thought Tony and Ben especially were super tight, swarmed him really well when balls were played at his feet. You could tell he wasn’t all that up for the game tonight, so that’s a credit to our guys.”
Nevertheless, the game was mostly end to end and the Revolution had two additional goals called offside, plus Toronto and New England both hit the woodwork twice. And Giovinco had three of his team’s 11 shots.
But it was the hosts that took control from the start. Kelyn Rowe had a bid parried wide by goalkeeper Alexander Bono in the third minute, then was called offside after heading in what appeared to be the opening strike in the seventh minute.
New England opened the scoring in the 17th minute. The play started on the left flank as Fagundez raced to keep a loose ball in play near the sideline and then made a run toward the box. The move eventually led to a corner kick, during which Lee Nguyen served a cross into the box for Angoua, who headed in his first career MLS goal.
Photo/Kari Heistad
“We practice plays here and there, but obviously when it comes off like that it’s ideal,” said Nguyen. “Quite frankly it was one of those ones I was trying to hit to Diego back post, but unfortunately it went to straight to Benji who was open and he did a great job to finish.”
In the 24th minute, Giovinco played the ball to the left side of the box for Justin Morrow, whose low drive hit the far post. In the 34th, Armando Cooper blasted a shot from 30 yards that hit the crossbar—but only after taking a slight deflection off goalkeeper Cody Cropper’s fingertips.
Rowe had another goal called offside off a Fagundez pass in the 36th minute, though replay indicated he was actually on side.
Toronto came out of halftime with energy, but struggled to penetrate. Kei Kamara, who had not been effective, was removed in the 61st minute for Agudelo, a move that paid off with near-immediate results.
Agudelo combined with Fagundez in the 65th minute, Agudelo going in alone on Bono but having a point-blank effort blocked. Moments later, Agudelo approached the penalty area and drew in two defenders before laying the ball off to Fagundez, who blasted the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
In the 85th minute, Agudelo entered the penalty area and squared the ball for Fagundez, whose effort in front of goal bounced off the crossbar twice before falling toward Agudelo, who headed the loose ball into the net to make it three; Agudelo now has six goals this season, which ties him for the team lead with Nguyen.
“I felt like our connection was there as soon as I came onto the field,” said Agudelo. “I always seem to find him open and he always seems to find me open.
“I was definitely itching to get on,” Agudelo added. “Recognize that [Toronto] was looking for the win. Any team looking to tie a game is going to commit numbers forward. With them playing three in the back, it was just great game to come into.”
