Revs expecting more goals from Adam Buksa

The New England Revolution hope that Adam Buksa’s goal against the Columbus Crew is a sign of things to come.

After 83 minutes watching from the bench, the Polish striker replaced Arnór Traustason in Sunday’s game. Three minutes later he got on the end of a Brandon Bye cross to score the game-winner.

Buksa played almost 400 minutes since his last tally, which came in the season opener against the Chicago Fire. After his most recent strike, Bruce Arena noted he was “happy for Adam” because “Adam needed that goal.”

“He’s had some struggles in his finishing this year,” Arena explained later in the press conference. “He’s had some difficulty in understanding tactically what we think he needs to do better. Tonight, in the brief probably total of 15 minutes he played, he was tactically on spot and obviously the goal was huge.”

Buksa wasn’t letting the scoring drought affect him, saying that there’s more to soccer than goals. Even as a striker, he has plenty of responsibilities in terms of defending, playmaking, and holding the ball up.

“If I don’t score in a game, it doesn’t mean that I played bad,” Buksa said. “And if I score, it doesn’t mean that I’ve done everything well in the game. That’s what I wanted to [say], because sometimes I get criticized for not scoring even though I had a feeling I’m playing a good game.”

Of course, Buksa knows that he’s there to score goals, which is what he plans to do.

The striker collected six goals last season, plus one in the playoffs. This year he has two. He could’ve more MLS tallies if not for the post, which he’s hit seven times.

The hope is that more time in Foxboro will lead to better chemistry along the front line. If this happens, the Revs could be lifting a trophy at the end of the year.

“He’s a really good player,” Matt Polster said about Buksa. “We need him to keep that kind of form to stay competitive within this league and to win something.”