HARRISON, N.J. – Falling behind twice at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night was a character test for the New England Revolution as they showed their true colors by securing a hard-fought 3-2 win over the New York Red Bulls.
After falling behind a second time, the Revs notched two late goals to complete the comeback, with Brandon Bye equalizing in the 84th minute and Adam Buksa putting away the game winner in stoppage time by craftily intercepting and settling an opportunity created by Carles Gil.
“I thought this was the toughest mentality [Adam]’s had since he’s come into Major League Soccer,” said head coach Bruce Arena. “From the first minute to the end, he was a guy that was tough to deal with. Really encouraging. He created chances, and obviously scored the winning goal.
“Adam is getting better. Every game, he’s getting better. It’s really encouraging to see how good our two strikers are playing right now. He had a bunch of chances today, and he battled.”
Buksa’s game-winning strike came after taking seven total shots and hitting the woodwork twice. However, his constant effort showed his determination that ultimately enabled his breakthrough to secure the game winner.
“I think I played a solid 90 minutes,” said Buksa. “Obviously, I could’ve scored a hat trick, but I’m very happy to score that one winning goal. Obviously, I was a bit unlucky with the post, with the crossbar.
“As I said in the previous interview, posts and crossbars love me since the beginning of 2020. I don’t share that love but I’m taking. I’m taking that because if I keep scoring and we keep winning, that’s great.”
On an individual level, Buksa also bounced back after suffering a hard collision with CF Montréal goalkeeper James Pantemis less than a week ago at Gillette Stadium.
Even though Buksa was taken out mid-match last weekend, he was medically cleared to rejoin training this past week and was thrilled to be back with his teammates.
Furthermore, it was evident from Buksa’s game winner that even after last weekend’s unfortunate clash, the striker didn’t miss a beat once he was back in uniform. In fact, the taste of victory may have even been a little sweeter because of his rewarding return to form.
“Personally, I was struggling this week with pain after my collision with Pantemis,” said Buksa. “But finally, I was ready for the game.
“It was very tough, a lot of tears and pain, but that tastes the best in the end when you win these such games.”
“[I’m] just happy for [Adam],” said Andrew Farrell. “He’s been having good moments for us and continuing that form.
“No one gave up. When we went down twice, everybody still had that belief and that’s the most important thing that showed up tonight on the field. No matter what the score was, keep on working, keep on staying in the game and giving us that chance to win it. That showed with the guys who started and the guys that come in and the guys that didn’t get to play. You could see the feel on the bench. Everybody could sense that we were back in it and we had a chance to win.”
The Revs' next chance to win will be back home in Foxborough on Wednesday when they host Nashville SC at 7 p.m.
