Esmir Bajraktareviċ Named MLS NEXT Pro Player Of The Matchday
Esmir Bajraktareviċ Named MLS NEXT Pro Player Of The Matchday
The 18-year-old takes home the Matchday 9 honors after notching a hat trick in Revs II's come behind victory on Sunday!
New England Revolution Homegrown Esmir Bajraktareviċ has been named MLS NEXT Pro’s Player of the Matchday for Matchday 9.
The 18-year-old midfielder went the full ninety minutes as his hat trick led to Revolution II securing a 4-3 comeback victory over Philadelphia Union II on May 21st.
Bajraktareviċ wasted no time to find his first goal in the tenth minute as his free kick from outside the box deflected off Union II’s wall and into the back of the net to give Revs II an early 1-0 lead.
Despite Philadelphia laying three unanswered goals on Revs II, Bajraktareviċ upped the intensity in the 75th minute as he received Jake Rozhansky’s pass at midfield and marched his way up the pitch. Bajraktareviċ cut through the Philadelphia defense and unleashed a left-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom-right corner to shrink Philadelphia’s lead to one.
With Philadelphia down a man in the closing minutes, Revolution II upped the pressure as they looked to secure their second comeback win in as many games.
With the clock ticking down in stoppage time, defender Pierre Cayet lobbed the ball to the right side of the field, where it found Malcolm Fry. Fry cut the ball back to Dias, who lobbed the ball centrally into the box. Despite Weverton being unable to get to the ball, Damian Rivera tracked the ball down and cut it to Bajraktareviċ. who ripped a left-footed shot into the bottom-right corner to give Revolution their first lead of the evening and the subsequent second comeback victory in their last two games.
Revolution II return home on Thursday, May 25th, as they host Columbus Crew 2 at 7:00 PM ET on MLS Season Pass.