FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Expectations, metaphorically, can be pretty heavy.
It’s something Diego Fagundez understands quite well; after all, a lofty outlook is a pretty natural side effect of signing your first professional contract, making your professional debut and scoring your first professional goal all before you’re legally allowed to drive a car.
But after Fagundez racked up 13 goals and seven assists as a prodigious 18-year-old in 2013, expectations went through the roof. So much so that his five-goal, four-assist showing last season – while still a teenager – was viewed as a down year, particularly as his playing time disappeared in the playoffs.
“He’s a younger kid and [2013] was his first year that he had an explosive year,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “Last year was coming to terms with that; teams were playing him a little differently.
“This offseason the idea was just to reset what his expectations are and what we want him to do.”
Heaps said that process actually began late last season when Fagundez wasn’t seeing the field as much, but “started to put things together” as he prepared himself to be successful in 2015.
The process continued as Fagundez spent most of this past offseason and the early part of preseason with the Uruguay Under-20 National Team, helping his native country finish third in the South American Youth Championships and qualify for the upcoming U-20 World Cup this summer.
Fagundez appeared in four of Uruguay’s seven games in the competition, and also built both his confidence and his fitness by training twice a day with some of the best young players in the world.
“He knows only one thing, which is the Revs – our Academy and then the Revolution first team,” said Heaps. “I think it was a really good perspective for him. I think it opened his eyes up quite a bit.”
“I think I got sharp while I was there, which definitely helped,” Fagundez said. “I’m ready to go and hopefully I can stay sharp for the rest of the year.”
If preseason is any indication, Fagundez will enter 2015 with a renewed confidence and an energetic spark reminiscent of that remarkable 2013 campaign. He appeared in all four of the Revolution’s matches at the Desert Diamond Cup and registered one goal and one assist, often orchestrating New England’s attack while alternating between the left wing and a central attacking role.
“We wanted to get everything right for him so that he could come into preseason with the right attitude and the right state of mind, but also physically in the right place,” Heaps said. “He’s there. He’s doing excellent and we’re excited about having a really deep team this year.”
