FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It was a story of two contrasting teams at Gillette Stadium last night and the favourites prevailed. Even without star-man Carles Gil, New England cruised to a further three points against a pretty poor FC Cincinnati side. Young Canadian Tajon Buchanan was the standout talent for Bruce Arena, beyond his goal and assist he was generally unplayable.
The Multi-Million Dollar Man Tajon Buchanan strikes again: New England 4-1 Cincinnati!
Gustavo Bou had the captains’ armband and he led the line alongside Adam Buksa. Traustason was sent off in the mid-week 3-2 victory over Hernan Losada’s DC United so he dropped out, plus AJ DeLaGarza made way for Mafla at fullback. Scott Caldwell joined Tommy McNamara in the heart of midfield whilst Emmanuel Boateng made a rare Revs start.
For the away side, Florian Valot made his first start, him replacing the suspended Allan Cruz being the only change following a 0-0 draw with CF Montreal. This meant, former LAFC keeper Kenneth Vermeer remained on the bench with Tyton starting in the sticks.
The Revs came into this one on a run of seven wins and a draw whilst their opponents were looking to arrest their woeful form, nine winless games! It was as fast a start as ever for MLS’ team to beat, an insurmountable three goal lead coming early. Buchanan and co looked up for it from the get-go and it was Tajon who opened the scoring. The first goal came after just six minutes with Buchanan being the first to react to the rebound off of Tyton.
Buchanan continued to be such a threat down the right and FC Cincinnati just couldn’t deal with him. Not that it provided any great solace in the moment but they are neither the first or last MLS side to face the wrath of Tajon Buchanan. The rumours are swirling regarding his future, a move to Club Brugge in Belgium seemingly being the most likely. This game was one of many in which the Canadian put on quite the show and he went from scorer to creator. A low, driven ball across the box picked out Boateng who gratefully turned home his first goal of the season.
The Revs’ two strikers Bou and Buksa have their similarities but the former boasts more experience as well as that clinical edge. Only Seattle’s Raul Ruidiaz has more goals than him this term simply because Bou hardly ever misses, but the same can’t be said for his Polish counterpart. The pair linked up well only for Buksa to not provide an adequate finish.
It was Buksa that made it 3-0 to the hosts, once again losing his footing but he was allowed the time to regain his composure. He got up again and converted his ninth of the season, putting the game beyond FC Cincinnati’s reach.
The tactic from this stage onwards for the struggling side was to wind up New England’s players as much as possible. Geoff Cameron was amongst those trying to get into the head of Tajon Buchanan but the superior player, a.k.a. the latter, wasn’t fazed in the slightest. Bou tried to get in on the scoring but the post denied La Pantera.
Jaap Stam replaced Vallecilla with Stanko at the break in a bid to change their fortunes and it was his side that struck next. Brenner popped up to give Cincinnati a slither of hope with ten minutes gone in the second half, this taking his tally on the season to five, one less than Tajon Buchanan has.
The three-goal advantage was swiftly restored, Buksa getting his second of the night with thanks to Bou’s creativity. The game petered out from there really, the Revs happy with their lead whilst Cinci were plagued by frustration.
New England go marching on ahead of everyone else, Seattle trailing them by seven points in the race for Shield whilst Orlando sit second in the East, fifteen points separating Arena’s men from the Lions. Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s joint-club record for the longest spell without a win becomes an outright figure, nine becomes ten! Tajon Buchanan was at the heart of everything for the Revs along with Bou, both working wonders going forward as we go into the MLS All-Star game.
