Fagundez Calls U-20 WC Snub ‘Tough’
- Updated: May 14, 2015
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – There’s little doubt that when Montevideo-born, Massachusetts-raised midfielder Diego Fagundez aligned himself with Uruguay earlier this year, one of the motivating factors was the chance to play in this summer’s U-20 World Cup.
On Thursday, Uruguay U-20 coach Fabio Coito announced his 21-player roster for the tournament, but Fagundez was not among those selected.
“It’s tough right now,” Fagundez said about the snub prior to training on Wednesday. “Hopefully, things happen, but right now, I just have to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
During the winter, Fagundez played in four games – including two starts – for Uruguay during the 2015 South American Youth Championship, which booked the squad’s ticket to the U-20 World Cup. But Fagundez’s inability to get regular minutes with Revolution this season was probably one of the reasons why he was left off the roster.
The 20-year-old midfielder has only started three of the team’s 10 games to date, and hasn’t yet scored. To his credit, he’s provided a spark off the bench in recent weeks, and helped the Revolution to complete a 2-1 comeback victory at Philadelphia by setting up Teal Bunbury’s late winner.
When asked what he feels he needs to do to get back into the lineup, Fagundez pointed to putting in the work behind the scenes.
“Hopefully, just keeping doing what I’m doing in practice, and train hard,” Fagundez said. “When I go into games, just try to impact them and help out the team get wins, or a goal, if we need them. I’m just trying to get in there and hopefully keep getting (chances) in the starting XI.”
In the meantime, Fagundez said he’s keen to continue his recent form off the bench, which has made him one of coach Jay Heaps’ go-to substitutes over the last five weeks.
“My energy’s always there,” Fagundez said. “Sometimes, I want to let it all go, but sometimes it’s hard because you only have a certain amount of minutes. I go out there and try to do everything I can to make sure that energy sparks the team, and then we get a good attack going.”
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