TUCSON, Ariz. – Juan Agudelo is back with the New England Revolution after spending almost a month in camp with the U.S. National Team, and the forward is sporting a bit of a new look.
Agudelo, who joined the Revs at their preseason camp in Tucson, Arizona, on Tuesday, will wear a protective facemask for the next few weeks after undergoing minor facial surgery, correcting a small facial bone fracture suffered in the USMNT’s friendly against Jamaica.
“I’m getting adjusted to it. You get used to it,” Agudelo said after training with the mask for the first time. “Hopefully I build a superstition. Maybe this [mask] gives me more goals this season. We’ll see.”
In truth, Agudelo won’t need the mask’s help so long as he continues the form that carried him through the end of the 2016 season. The 24-year-old striker was red-hot in the closing months, registering six goals and three assists in the Revs’ last eight games in all competitions.
That form earned him a spot in Bruce Arena’s first U.S. National Team camp since returning as head coach, and Agudelo wants to use that experience as a boost as he now shifts his focus to a pivotal MLS campaign for both the club and the player.
“Every year’s important, but this year seems definitely one of my most important years,” said Agudelo. “I’m going to do everything I can to help us reach the final, because I definitely want to play and represent this club in a final.”
After impressing in USMNT camp – “The feedback that I got was that I surprised, that I did well,” he said – Agudelo is hopeful that he’ll be involved in a pair of critical World Cup qualifiers in late March against Honduras and Panama.
“Any way possible, I really do want to help the national team reach the World Cup,” he said.
But for now Agudelo is focused on the Revolution and his fourth season with the club that he says has become his family, and the teammates that have become his brothers.
“I’ve built a really close relationship with everybody here,” Agudelo said. “I’m excited to fight with my family.”
