After a two-game absence in August, New England Revolution playmaker Lee Nguyen is feeling it.
The 30-year-old has come back from a hamstring injury that kept him out of losses to New York City FC and D.C. United to guide the Revs to back-to-back wins that have kept his team from falling completely out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
First, Nguyen tied a league record with a four-assist performance in a rout of Orlando on Sept. 2. He then followed that up with the game-winner in a 1-0 win over another direct rival, the Montreal Impact. Those performances also vaulted him to career totals of 49 goals and 48 assists, putting him within striking distance of becoming the 19th player to join the league's esteemed 50 goal-50 assist club.
“At the end of the my career, when I look back on it, I’ve done a great job with the time I’ve been in this league,” Nguyen told Soccer By Ives after the win over Montreal. “I have to be happy with that, but at the same time I want to be in a situation to help my team win and be able to challenge for a title. We should be in a situation where we’re challenging for another cup run. That’s what I hope to do. I hope to help my teammates and myself in chances to be able to make that type of run.”
Should Nguyen pick up one more goal and two assists in the Revs' remaining seven games, he will become the third player to join the 50-50 club this season after Javier Morales and Diego Valeri. You can check out the full list of players who have achieved the feat below:
Rank |
Players |
G |
A |
---|---|---|---|
1 |
Landon Donovan |
145 |
136 |
2 |
Jeff Cunningham |
134 |
70 |
3 |
Jaime Moreno |
133 |
102 |
4 |
Ante Razov |
114 |
66 |
5 |
Jason Kreis |
108 |
74 |
6 |
Dwayne De Rosario |
104 |
77 |
7 |
Brian McBride |
80 |
52 |
8 |
Preki |
79 |
112 |
9 |
Steve Ralston |
76 |
135 |
10 |
Ronald Cerritos |
71 |
57 |
11 |
Cobi Jones |
70 |
91 |
12 |
Mark Chung |
61 |
76 |
Clint Mathis |
61 |
52 |
|
14 |
Brad Davis |
57 |
123 |
Sebastien Le Toux |
59 |
57 |
|
16 |
Chris Henderson |
51 |
80 |
17 |
Javier Morales |
50 |
82 |
18 |
Diego Valeri |
54 |
51 |