It looked like any other Teal Bunbury play.
The converted forward collected a pass on the flank and turned to face his opponent. Next he danced on the ball before taking a long touch away from defender Ambroise Oyongo. As Oyongo tried to catch up, Bunbury prepared to create a moment of brilliance.
Then it happened, a curling left-footed shot was fired into the back of the net.
“I want to say that it’s the best goal I’ve scored with the implications of the match as well being the Eastern Conference Final first leg,” Bunbury told Extra Time Radio on MLSSoccer.com.
It was the second straight game where Bunbury scored a left-footed goal. Two weeks prior, Bunbury hit a powerful shot from close distance against the Columbus Crew. The strike drew ridicule from teammate Jermaine Jones, who joked that Bunbury “has his left foot to stand on it and not to shoot.”
Bunbury fully admitted that he has a preferred foot as he told the ETR crew that “my right foot is my strong foot.” In his five seasons in MLS, Bunbury has scored 27 total goals, seven of which were done with his left foot.
His most recent tally was of the utmost importance as it helped the Revolution gain an important lead on the road.
“Teal, really, it was a special goal by him,” Scott Caldwell told RevolutionSoccer.net. “It just helped calm us down a little bit the way things were going and really got us off to a good start.”
Bunbury wasn’t done contributing as he assisted on the game-winner after Bradley Wright-Phillips equalized by nodding in a Bobby Shuttleworth rebound.
The game’s final goal came in the 85th minute when Lee Nguyen found Bunbury in the penalty area, who hit a low cross to Jones. The Designated Player had missed a great opportunity earlier but made amends with this game-winning tap-in.
When asked about Bunbury’s big night after the game, head coach Jay Heaps explained that it was status quo for the year.
“When you give him a little bit of space, he can create and I think he’s been excellent for us,” Heaps said to RevolutionSoccer.net.
(image courtesy of Kari Heistad)
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