FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Chris Tierney added another milestone to a career filled with milestones on Saturday afternoon, starting his 200th regular-season game in the New England Revolution’s home-opening 5-2 win over Minnesota United FC.
All told Tierney has made 250 professional appearances including league play, the MLS Cup Playoffs, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League and SuperLiga, and every single one has been in the colors of his hometown Revolution.
That, for Tierney, is what’s most important.
“I sound like a broken record at this point, but I’m so proud to be a Revolution player, and I really can’t see myself playing for any other club,” he said. “To start 200 games is really special for me. It’s something I’ll look back on one day and say, ‘Wow, that was pretty cool.’”
Tierney’s had some special moments in a Revolution jersey – winning SuperLiga in 2008 and an Eastern Conference Championship in 2014, and scoring an MLS Cup goal – and he added to the list on Saturday afternoon by making his 200th start a memorable one.
It took Tierney less than four minutes to put his stamp on the game, assisting on Juan Agudelo’s opening goal with a perfectly-placed left-wing cross, and then the Wellesley, Mass., native put a neat little bow on the Revolution’s win and his own performance with a 53rd-minute penalty kick.
It was a moment made by Revolution captain Lee Nguyen. New England’s regular penalty taker had already converted from the spot in the first half, and knowing the occasion and the score-line, Nguyen yielded the opportunity to Tierney.
“You can’t design that. We can’t draw it up,” admitted head coach Jay Heaps. “That was really Lee being a leader, saying, ‘I think Chris, if he’s confident, Chris is good at penalty kicks. Why don’t you take it?’
“I think it was a nod from Lee and the team, for Chris.”
There was, of course, a bit of strategy involved, as well. With longtime Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth between the sticks for Minnesota there was plenty of shared history between the players, most notably for Tierney and Shuttleworth, close friends from eight years together in New England.
“Some of the thinking was that Bobby has seen Lee’s [penalties]; Lee would practice penalties on Bobby every day in training,” Tierney said. “We thought we’d give him a different look. Bobby’s seen all of us take [penalties], obviously, so we just thought we’d kind of switch it up.
“But more than anything, that was a gesture from Lee to let me get my name on the scoresheet, which doesn’t happen too often.”
