{"id":32319,"date":"2015-03-07T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-07T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32319"},"modified":"2015-03-07T10:36:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T15:36:00","slug":"diegos-excellent-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=32319","title":{"rendered":"Diego’s Excellent Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

Nothing could have fully prepared Diego Fagundez for the first time he stepped onto the pitch at Estadio Domingo Burgue\u00f1o wearing the light blue kit of his native Uruguay. Nor do words give justice to full effect of the experience.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019d previously answered the call for Uruguay U-20 camp on a pair of previous occasions, Fagundez got his full run with the U-20 side during January\u2019s South American Youth Championship. <\/p>\n

As fierce as the competition can be in MLS, Fagundez said that the bright lights and packed stadiums he played before in his home country \u2013 where the tournament was held \u2013 was unlike anything he\u2019d ever seen or experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all different because you\u2019re playing for a country,\u201d Fagundez said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that you\u2019re representing a lot of people, and for Uruguay, we\u2019re only three million people. So it\u2019s you and those three million people supporting the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the course of the month-long tournament, Fagundez earned two starts and collected 147 minutes across a total of four appearances for the young La Celeste side. Uruguay advanced to the final before falling 2-1 to Argentina, but still qualified for the U-20 World Cup, which kicks off in May.<\/p>\n

While the tournament was one that Fagundez said he\u2019ll never forget, there were certainly tangible benefits from playing in coach Fabio Coito\u2019s system. Benefits that forced the creative midfielder to think about the game through a different lens. <\/p>\n

Instead of playing out on the wing \u2013 where he regularly featured for the Revolution – he was slotted centrally. And surrounded by a set of new faces and in an environment starkly different than any he\u2019d ever seen in MLS, Fagundez had to acclimate to his new role quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I got sharp while I was over there, which definitely helped,\u201d Fagundez said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you don\u2019t really rest, you just keep playing, and I definitely enjoyed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fagundez isn\u2019t the only one who believes that his time with the national team sharpened his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it opened his eyes quite a bit,\u201d Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. \u201cHe (knew) only one thing, which is the Revs Academy and the Revs first team, and I think it was a really good perspective for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That change in perspective has also yielded dividends at the club side. Following the tournament finale, Fagundez wasted no time showcasing his renewed confidence in preseason action. He linked up with Juan Agudelo regularly, scored against Colorado, and perhaps more importantly, recommitted himself to his defensive duties. <\/p>\n

Not that Heaps was surprised. As much as he credited his young midfielder for applying what he learned during the South American championship, the Revolution coach said he could see Fagundez already thinking ahead last fall. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe had an explosive year (in 2013), and last year, was coming to terms with that, and teams were playing him a little differently,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cAt the end of last year, he really started to put things together. He wasn\u2019t getting the first teams minutes that he wanted, but he was putting together what he knew it was going to take for him to be in the position he\u2019s going to be in this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the national team call-up and the remarkable patch of form he found himself in during the preseason, 2015 could be a signature season for Fagundez. With a possible call-up for the U-20 World Cup on tap, and the Revolution positioned as title contenders, the future is brighter than ever for Fagundez. <\/p>\n

\u201cI went over there and just lived the dream I\u2019ve always wanted to do, and that was to play for a country,\u201d Fagundez said. \u201cI worked really hard in the offseason, especially there, and I just came here with all the energy to try and do everything that I can to get that spot in the XI, and do everything I can to help out the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diego Fagundez credits his time with the Uruguay U-20s for recharging his form during the preseason. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[142,891,49,888,892,912],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Diego-14.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32319"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32322,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32319\/revisions\/32322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}