FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Just as he has for years, Diego Fagundez lingered on the field after Saturday morning’s training session to practice free kicks. Shot after shot after shot he drilled on target. He estimates he hit about 30 balls from just outside the box, perfecting his form.
Before warmups on Sunday night, he hit one more from the same spot, and he hit it well.
That’s enough, he thought. I’ll be ready when I get my chance.
And he was right. Fagundez stepped over a set piece in the 37th minute of the New England Revolution’s 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy and expertly curled his effort over the wall into the back of the net.
“We were down and we were trying to get another goal before halftime,” Fagundez said. “Once I had that chance, I said I need to get this in to help out the team. That’s when you need to have players step up. That’s when I had to step up.”
Fagundez had been waiting much longer than 37 minutes for his opportunity to take a free kick, though. Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe and Chris Tierney have been New England’s primary set-piece specialists for years, meaning Fagundez has rarely had the chance to stand over a dead ball.
The last time he’d taken a free kick in a game? Fagundez estimated it was probably during his time with the Revolution Academy more than four years ago.
But with Nguyen and Tierney both suspended and Rowe on the bench, Fagundez got his chance. As it turns out, head coach Jay Heaps was paying close attention as Fagundez had practiced.
“Diego does those in practice quite a bit,” Heaps said. “This week he’d been really good on set pieces and I think that was something we were looking forward to when he took it. I think a lot of guys thought he was going to make it.”
Not only was it Fagundez’s first set piece in years, it was his first goal of the 2015 season, and he admitted in the aftermath that he felt a palpable sense of relief when it hit the back of the net.
“It feels like [a weight] off my back,” Fagundez said. “I’ve been looking for it for a while.”
Now the dynamic midfielder will be hoping that initial breakthrough leads to a flood, just as it has many times previously in his young career. Just 20 years old, he’s already had goal-scoring streaks of three games or more on three separate occasions.
“I do think Diego rides the wave,” said Heaps. “Unfortunately he rides the ups and the downs. We’re trying to get him to be a little bit more consistent. So I hope that it takes him in the right direction and keeps him fighting for more minutes and fighting for more starts.”
Nguyen will be available once again next weekend when the Revs travel to the Pacific Northwest for a meeting with the Portland Timbers, but there will be a spot on the wing with Juan Agudelo jetting off to join the U.S. National Team for a pair of friendlies against the Netherlands and Germany.
Whether Fagundez earned himself that spot with Sunday night’s performance remains to be seen, but he’s prepared to continue fighting for every opportunity.
“I’ve been going into every training (session) trying to fight for my spot,” Fagundez said. “I had a chance today and I gave it all I had. Now it’s up to Jay to decide.”
