Gustavo Bou takes “important step”

Sunday night was great for New England Revolution fans. They got to see the club walk away with three points and Gustavo Bou made his return after being forced to miss some time due to a hamstring injury.

Arena mentioned in prior press conferences that Bou was being “handled delicately.” Fans had to wonder if he would make a return before the end of the season.

But before the game even started Revolution got some good news as Bou was on the bench. The striker would then come onto the pitch in the second half.

Bou ended the night with 45 minutes under his belt and had five shots and 33 touches. The only way he could have improved on his performance was if he was able to score a goal (and he nearly did so).

Revolution head coach Bruce Arena was pleased with Bou’s performance on Sunday night.

He said. “He had a solid performance. He’s a threatening player. He needs more minutes, get back his sharpness. But this is an important step today. He’ll get more minutes obviously next week and then hopefully be ready for the playoffs.”

Having Bou ready for the playoffs is even more important due to the health of Carles Gil. The Revolution were finally able to get all three of their Designated Players on the field when Bou entered the game. It was the first time that they were able to do so since the MLS is Back tournament.

With Bou, Gil, and Adam Buksa on the field together, New England was able to be dominant in the final third. They were able to create plenty of scoring chances and also controlled possession.

Bou and Buksa nearly connected for the game-winning goal but the rebound went right to Teal Bunbury who slotted it home for his second goal of the game.

After the game, Buksa talked about Bou making his return and having all three DP’s on the field.

He said. “Great, definitely great. We haven’t played too many minutes together on the field this season, which was a bit unlucky. But in the final part of the season and basically in the most important part of the season we were able to get healthy and ready to play, ready to perform together on the highest level. It’s a good sign, and I believe that we will score some goals in the last game of the season, but mainly in the playoffs, because we are already there and this will be the crucial part of the season. We want to go as far as possible in the playoffs.”

With these three players on the field together the sky seems to be the limit. This was the first game in 2020 that the club was able to score four goals. If they can keep scoring at this rate there’s no telling just how far New England can go.

New England has one game left in the regular season and hopefully Bou and the rest of the Revolution will continue to improve and build momentum before the start of the MLS Cup Playoffs.