FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Lee Nguyen, the New England Revolution’s creative force, has been on a tear in 2017, putting up six goals and seven assists.
The 30-year-old’s latest punching bag? A league-leading Toronto FC side that entered Saturday night’s game at Gillette Stadium on the tail end of an eight-game MLS unbeaten streak.
That mattered little to Nguyen, though, as he sliced and diced their defense – one that allowed just six goals across the aforementioned stretch – in what was ultimately a 3-0 win for the home side.
“The more Lee’s on the ball, the better for us,” said Revs left back Chris Tierney. “You see his quality. He’s so comfortable on it, especially when he plays on the right and you see him get in those pockets. He’s a guy who’s really hard to deal with and so important for us. When he’s on his game, we’re at our best.”
Nguyen, who has operated in 2017 as a second forward and midfield spear in New England’s 4-4-2 diamond, made his biggest impact in 17th minute. He fired a frozen rope of a corner kick onto Benjamin Angoua’s head, who easily dispatched the opener past Alex Bono’s outstretched arms.
For Jay Heaps, the Revs’ head coach, Nguyen’s shift was the type he’s come to expect.
“Lee had just a great night,” Heaps said. “Everything he did, he worked behind the ball, he broke plays up, then offensively he had a lot of the ball and a lot of his passes opened up the entire game. Thrilled with the way he played.”
Especially in the first half, Nguyen found ample room to operate against Toronto’s 3-5-2 system, often flaring towards the right and left flanks. It was the byproduct of Steven Beitashour and Justin Morrow bombing forward, often leaving the likes of Chris Mavinga, Drew Moor, and Eriq Zavaleta to deal with Nguyen’s incisiveness.
Each tried their best, but Nguyen still threaded the needle, ultimately finishing with four key passes.
“I think we had options everywhere today, and we were confident moving the ball left to right,” Nguyen said. “When we possess the ball like that for spells, it’s easy to find those gaps.”
On a different night, Nguyen and his teammates could have further punished Toronto, even if the Reds were without Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley to national team duty.
A main reason for that, Tierney said, is Nguyen’s movement left space for others to operate, always demanding the attention of one – if not two – Toronto defenders. The focus for Nguyen, though, was getting three points, making the Revs 3-1-1 in their last five games.
“To keep a team like Toronto at zero, that’s big time,” Nguyen said. “On top of that, to get three points, it was much needed.”
