Kei Kamara’s suddenly on fire, and the New England Revolution are making a move up the Eastern Conference table.
On Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, the 32-year-old forward scored two goals to lead the Revs to an important 3-0 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Union.
Kamara's first came in the 35th minute when he got his boot very high to flick in a ball from Kelyn Rowe, and he fired in his second — and third in the last two games — in the 85th minute to help the seal the win.
Juan Agudelo, just back from the Gold Cup, put the cherry on top with an 89th-minute header as the Revs (7-9-5) won their second straight to pass the Union (7-10-5) in the Eastern Conference standings.
Goals
Three Things
- THE RIGHT PUZZLE PIECE? After scoring in last week’s wild 4-3 win over the LA Galaxy, Kamara made headlines when he revealed he had trade discussions with the Revolution and expressed frustration over his lack of production, going as far as saying that maybe he “wasn’t the right piece of the puzzle to help the team move forward.” While it’s true Kamara isn’t scoring as much as he has in years past, he now has a healthy seven goals on the season thanks to Saturday’s brace. Could he be rounding into form for the Revs’ high-octane attack, just in time for the team to make a late run at the playoffs? Or do his comments last week signal that we may be careening toward a Kamara-Revs divorce regardless?
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT: Heading into the game, the Union had the Revolution’s number, beating them in three straight games by a whopping 11-0 margin. But on Saturday, it was the Revs who poured in the goals while limiting the Union to very few scoring chances. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise though; the Union are now a meager 1-7-3 on the road this season with ugly losses in Montreal, Columbus and New England this month alone hurting their playoff hopes.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR IN PHILLY? It might seem silly to highlight a Union defender in a 3-0 loss. But before the floodgates opened in the final minutes, rookie Jack Elliott was keeping Philly in the game as one of the team’s only bright spots. His 49th-minute goal-line save of Diego Fagundez was a thing of beauty — and a reminder that Elliott, a fourth-round draft pick who wasn’t supposed to play at all this season, continues to be a leading contender to be this year’s MLS Rookie of the Year.
Elliott never gives up on the play and comes up with a massive save to keep us in this one in the 49th#JoinOrDiehttps://t.co/4kzi1X0zWo
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) July 30, 2017
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