FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Juan Agudelo has always thrived on confidence.
At the moment, he’s very confident.
The 23-year-old striker has put his name on the score sheet in each of the New England Revolution’s last four games, notching three goals and one assist in that span. That includes a brave diving header last weekend against FC Dallas that had Agudelo in the running for MLS Goal of the Week.
“I’ve said it before – every striker knows that once you’ve got a couple goals, or you scored in the last game, you have that confidence to just take a chance and expect something to happen,” Agudelo said. “The confidence is there right now.”
Agudelo has every right to be confident on his current run of form, which has seen him register at least one goal or one assist in four straight games for the first time in his career. And he’s scored those goals in a variety of different ways, including a pair of right-footed strikes to go along with last week’s header.
Agudelo has also maintained his form while playing different positions; he was deployed as the center forward in the first two games of this run – including once as a substitute – while he’s shifted into a role on the wing in the past two matches following the arrival of Kei Kamara.
Playing out wide has given Agudelo more defensive responsibilities and he’s embraced that challenge, with fans, coaches and analysts alike praising his work ethic in recent weeks.
“I just knew in that position, once you’re able to come in, you have to put in that work,” Agudelo said. “That’s a tough role defensively, but I was willing to take on the challenge and prepared myself physically off the field, even when I went home.”
Head coach Jay Heaps is seeing the total package come together with Agudelo, and scoring goals on a consistent basis is perhaps the final piece of the puzzle.
“It’s not just about holding the ball up, it’s about scoring goals,” Heaps said. “The rest of the game is coming. I think Juan’s strengths are holding the ball up and spinning defenders and bringing other players into the play, but ultimately we want our center forwards scoring goals and he’s been able to do that.”
Agudelo has been involved in 50 percent of the Revolution’s goals in the past four games, while Lee Nguyen has also carried the load with two goals and four assists in that time. The duo is currently amongst the hottest players in MLS, and it’s largely down to confidence.
“I’m just trying to get a bunch of other teammates to feel that confidence,” Agudelo said.
