FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It is far from a coincidence that as Lee Nguyen has gone on a tear, the New England Revolution have transformed into one of the hottest teams in the league.
The Revolution playmaker showed off all of his creativity Saturday night, with assists on all three of New England’s goals in their victory over Orlando City SC. Many look to the numbers to back the notion that Nguyen is returning to the form that made him an MVP candidate a year ago. But his coach sees it another way.
“I can come in here and tell you that I’ve seen games where Lee’s had zero assists and zero goals and was better than he was tonight. Tonight, I thought he was really good, obviously, and he got three assists. I don’t want to knock that at all," said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “[But] I don’t look at goals and assists, I look at the impact he’s having in the game. Today, obviously it came down to the assists and he was able to break it open.”
From a chipped pass to set up the Diego Fagundez for the club’s first goal of the night, to a nifty back heel in the box that had Chris Tierney lining up the last in stoppage time, Nguyen proved masterful on the night, controlling not only the midfield, but the wings with his play.
He became the first Revolution player to record three assists in a match and ran his season total to eight on the year, one more than his previous best in 2013.
“Lee’s just an awesome player,” said Fagundez, who tallied his second goal in as many games. “It’s awesome to play right next to him. You know every time you get him the ball, he’s going to get it back to you. He’s a playmaker, and that’s what we want to see on this team. When he’s on the attack it’s hard to dictate what he’s going to do, but you just have to play it off him.”
With the win, the Revolution ran their unbeaten streak to six straight games, 5-0-1. And as they reach the most crucial stretch of the season, their top playmaker feels that he and the club are hitting their stride at just the right time.
“That’s the plan, hopefully you peak at the right time,” said Nguyen, who has three goals and five assists over his last seven games. “I think I’ve been feeling good, getting my fitness levels up, which helps, and seeing the game as well.”
