Bobby Wood Scores In Return To Starting XI
DeJuan Jones: "It's great to have Bobby back.”
Bobby Wood marked his return to the starting lineup by scoring a game-winning goal that highlights the striker’s industry.
Wood played 21 minutes as a substitute last week after dealing with a heel injury. On Saturday, he went 61 in the New England Revolution’s 2-0 road win over Toronto FC.
The 30-year-old created the opening goal when he forced a turnover from Sigurd Rosted. He then rushed towards the net, sliding the ball past goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
It’s the type of goal you can expect from Wood, who has a tireless engine.
“Yeah, it's incredible,” DeJuan Jones said about Wood’s pressing. “Right when he got here, you could just see his intelligence. He knows when to go. He communicates when he goes, so it's amazing.
“It led to our first goal, just the individual effort from him. Just, you know, staying aggressive, staying alert, took advantage of an opportunity and finished it nicely, so yeah, it's great to have Bobby back.”
Wood wasn’t alone when pressing as the entire team participated in the tactic. The Revs were particularly persistent during the opening minutes, making it difficult for Toronto to build out of the back.
After the game, head coach Bruce Arena said that there were “some good minutes we dictated the tempo of the game.” He also gave credit to TFC.
“I thought Toronto pressed very well and put us under a little bit of pressure,” Arena said. “We wanted to go out there and play and get after them. We picked our spots in the first half and did a solid job. I give Toronto credit as well. I thought they did a good job getting after us as well.”
Goals from Wood and Jones gave the Revs their seventh win of the season, keeping them atop of the league.
While TFC are towards the bottom of the standings, collecting a road win against them is impressive because they were previously undefeated at home (3-0-2).
Arena noted that the win was one of his team’s better results of the season.
“It’s a good win, especially on the road,” Arena said. “Winning games like this on the road is difficult. Therefore, I would agree that it was a pretty good win in terms of us being able to maybe dictate the terms of that game for many minutes. It was one of our better performances.”