FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Adam Buksa’s performance was the lone bright spot in the New England Revolution‘s home opener Saturday, which ended in a 1-1 tie with Chicago Fire FC and kept the Revs winless on the young season after also losing to the Montreal Impact last week.
The Polish striker, who joined the Revolution this winter on a $4.5 million transfer from Pogon Sczcecin, opened his MLS scoring account midway through the first half to put New England ahead of Chicago. Jonathan Bornstein equalized for Chicago late in the second half by advancing into the penalty area and heading in Djordje Mihailovic’s cross.
New England had chances to double its lead before Bornstein’s equalizer, with Buksa helping to orchestrate the attack with Gustavo Bou.
In the locker room afterwards, Buksa told reporters he was happy to play a key role in securing the Revolution’s first point of the year, but felt the team’s loot should have been bigger.
“I’m very happy to have scored the first goal,” said Buksa, who also learned to speak Italian from his time with Serie B’s Novara Calcio (2013-14). “It’s a pity we didn’t win the game because that was our main goal of today, but we have to accept the point.”
“We said in halftime we’re going to score a second goal as quickly as possible because it would put us in a very good position for the second half,” Buksa added. “We didn’t do it. We had some chances — Chicago were very lucky in some moments — but they also had some chances in the end, so we have to accept this point.”
Buksa stands 6-foot-3 and is deceptively fast on the ball despite his physical frame. There’s a worldliness to his style which he says comes from the greater emphasis clubs in Italy and Poland put on tactics.
On his goal, he easily settled a feed hit with pace from Brandon Bye, took one touch as he rounded Fire defender Francisco Calvo, and then opened up his hips before shooting past Kenneth Kronholm and into the back of the net.
The service, the finish.
*chef's kiss*#NEvCHI | #NERevs pic.twitter.com/pe2jFJGVv5
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) March 7, 2020
Buksa had a bid cleared off the line in the second half and also helped facilitate a pair of breakaways.
“This league is very aggressive,” Buksa said. “You have way more chances in front of the goal, though the league in Poland is more tactical. We don’t have as many chances as here. So, it’s fun to watch and fun to play because for a striker, there’s nothing better creating chances to score a goal, and my job is to do this.”
“As a young player, it’s always good to change clubs in my opinion, to get experience,” added Buksa, 23. “I played for clubs in Poland, for the youth team of Novara Calcio in Italy, so it’s helped me to grow as a footballer. But now I’m an experienced soccer player, so I have to give quality, give good numbers on the pitch for the Revolution.”
Buksa’s commitment to overcoming the language barrier could also be a key factor as the Revolution look to return injured starters Carles Gil (foot) and Luis Caicedo (knee) and further develop their attack with Bou and Cristian Penilla — all of whom speak Spanish as their first language.
Buksa has said he intends to learn some Spanish, despite the cliché that soccer is an international language.
Revolution head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena would not give a timetable for his injured players to return and was not specific about New England’s performance against Chicago aside from criticizing the windy conditions and Gillette Stadium’s turf.
But Arena offered a positive assessment of Buksa, who seems to be adapting to his new surroundings despite having to play his first two competitive games on artificial surfaces.
“Well he’s adjusting to the league,” Arena said. “I don’t think the way we play him is not necessarily the way he played with this club team in Poland, it’s a little bit different…he’s making that adjustment getting used to the league.
“Opening up your career in MLS playing on the field in Montreal and on this field, his head must be spinning a little bit about MLS, but I think he’s done a good job.”