His name is a familiar one to Canadian soccer fans.
Teal Bunbury emerged from the shadow of Juan Agudelo this week, scoring New England’s game-winning goal against Kansas City, the team that drafted him the first round in 2010.
Agudelo is now plying his trade in Europe, leaving a void at the front of the Revolution’s attack.
New England won a tight one against 10-man Sporting KC, who lost firebrand defender Aurelien Colin to a red card with just over 15 minutes to go. Bunbury’s first goal in a Revs kit came two minutes into added time. Lee Nguyen added an insurance marker from the penalty spot minutes later to secure three points for the home side.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Jay Heaps’ squad. An embarrassing dispute between Nguyen and Diego Fagundez over who would take the penalty marred the end of the game, but that will not be the last time we see a similar row on the pitch. Though Ngyuen is the designated penalty taker, Fagundez wanted the opportunity to score his first goal of the season.
"I wanted it," Fagundez said. "I was feeling confident. I wanted to get my confidence going by scoring that." These players are only human.
The biggest takeaway from this game was Bunbury’s sterling two-way performance, and what it means for New England going forward. The Hamilton-born 24-year-old was ecstatic following the match.
“Definitely a lot of emotions, but most importantly, I’m just excited that we were able to get a win,” Bunbury said, via the Boston Globe’s Andrew MacDougall. “Our performance from the first minute to the last minute I thought was world-class. Everybody was fighting. It feels good to beat the former champs, it feels good to get my first goal, and that’s really what I’m happy about.”
New England visits BMO Field for a date with Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon.
The Atlanta Phoenix?
Atlantans love their birds.
Twenty-six percent of readers polled by the Atlanta Business Chronicle want Major League Soccer’s 22nd team name to be called the Phoenix, falling in line with the Falcons and Hawks, their sporting city brethren.
Premier Atlanta and Atlanta Blaze came in second and third.
Disappointingly, the Atlanta Buzzards were nowhere to be found on the poll -- though the Atalanta Rage! did receive votes. Yes, the exclamation mark was included.
Dempsey continues to shine
Clint Dempsey is playing superb soccer just in time for the World Cup.
The American star scored twice, giving him a league best eight on the season as the Sounders throttled Colorado 4-1 at CenturyLink Field.
Seattle won three games in a row and broke the Rapids 248-minute shutout streak when Lamar Neagle recorded his third goal of the season in the first half.
Through eight weeks the West appears to be the class of the league, with Seattle, FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake beginning to separate themselves from the pack.
Goal of the week
The competition was tough this week, with Sebastian Fernandez and Alvaro Saborio scoring a couple of wonderful goals, but this week’s winner is New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips.
This goal, which helped secure a point for the Red Bulls in Columbus, had it all. Control, touch and a nutmeg? Get in.
