fb-pixelTeal Bunbury having a major impact on Revolution’s run - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Teal Bunbury having a major impact on Revolution’s run

“The Revs made it very easy for me to fall in love with the team,” says Teal Bunbury.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff/Boston Globe

FOXBOROUGH — The championship ring is made of 10-karat white gold and festooned with 94 white and 17 blue diamond chips. Teal Bunbury earned his last year when Sporting Kansas City claimed the MLS Cup in a shootout over Real Salt Lake, but he wouldn’t mind another.

“For me, that’d be huge,” said the Revolution midfielder, whose teammates are one match away from their fifth appearance in the title bout and their first in seven years.

“Making history, being on a team that has not won an MLS Cup but has been to four, would mean more to me, and to be on the field as well and contribute would be an unbelievable feeling.”

Advertisement



Bunbury ushered his co-workers to the threshold last weekend in the first leg of the Eastern Conference final at New York, launching a left-footed looper that put the Revolution ahead in the 17th minute, then setting up Jermaine Jones for the tap-in winner in the 85th.

The 2-1 triumph put New England in an enviable position going into Saturday afternoon’s return leg at Gillette Stadium, needing only a draw with the Red Bulls or even a 1-0 loss to advance to the Dec. 7 championship game against the winner of the Los Angeles-Seattle Western Conference series.

Bunbury’s contribution in the match at Harrison, N.J., where the Revolution won for the first time at Red Bull Arena, is the reason the club gave up its 2015 first-round draft pick and allocation money to acquire him from Kansas City in February.

After losing to Sporting in last season’s conference semifinals, New England wanted more oomph up front, and Bunbury was on the trading block.

After Kansas City had picked him fourth overall in 2010, Bunbury became a fixture in the lineup until he tore an ACL against New York in August 2012. After missing the rest of that campaign and the first half of the next, he returned to find himself crowded out. Dom Dwyer and C.J. Sapong were coming along, and Claudio Bieler had been added.

Advertisement



“I wasn’t getting as many games, and other guys were stepping up and they were getting the job done, which is part of the business,” said Bunbury. “That’s how it goes.”

He was in and out of the lineup last season, playing 77 minutes in the first playoff leg at New England and sitting out the second, doing the same in the conference final with Houston and then watching the Cup from the bench.

“Look, the biggest thing I want to do is, I want to play,” Bunbury told coach Peter Vermes after the season. Vermes, who’d played in Europe and with MLS for 14 years, was empathetic.

“It was very easy for both of us,” said Bunbury. “I told him, obviously I want to be somewhere where I’m wanted and am going to be playing. If it’s not Kansas City, let’s talk about where that avenue could be, where I’ll have that opportunity.”

New England, which knew that Kansas City was top-heavy up front, figured that Bunbury might be available.

“Teal was someone that we put on our radar right away,” said coach Jay Heaps. “He became a player that for the right price they might move. We had a lot of negotiations with them and we gave a lot for him.

Advertisement



“We wanted him. From Day 1, he was going to be part of our plans. It was just a matter of where he was going to fit in.”

For the 24-year-old Bunbury, it was yet another crossroads. After two years, he’d left the University of Akron to turn pro.

“Could I have stayed at Akron? Definitely,” says Bunbury, who as a sophomore had won the Hermann Award as the nation’s top college player. “I loved my time there, but I thought it was the right time for me to pursue my lifelong dream to be a professional athlete.”

Though he’d played for Canada as a junior (he was born in Ontario), Bunbury was a dual citizen with the option to suit up for Uncle Sam.

“It wasn’t an easy decision by any means,” said Bunbury. His father Alex had worn the Maple Leaf for 11 years but Teal made his debut with the Americans against South Africa.

Leaving Kansas City, where his father had capped his career with an MLS Cup in 2000, was wrenching.

“There definitely was an emotional connection,” said Bunbury. “Being a part of that team and seeing the progress of it — new identity, new branding, a new stadium, and winning an MLS Cup — it obviously was not an easy thing to part with.

“But you have to do what’s best for you. Your career is only so long and it could be gone at any moment. I knew that first-hand, having that injury and knowing, hey, another injury like this could happen and your career could be done.”

Advertisement



His transition to Route 1 was seamless.

“The Revs made it very easy for me to fall in love with the team,” said Bunbury, who has started 31 matches.

For the first half-dozen games, he played up top as the lone ranger before being switched out wide where his pace figured to cause one-on-one problems for defenders.

“It was going to be a new position for him,” said Heaps. “It’s a much harder role on the wing because defensively you have a lot of different responsibilities, and he’s bought into all of it.”

With Charlie Davies at striker, Lee Nguyen blossoming in the midfield, and Jones arriving after the World Cup to add both muscle and menace in the middle, Bunbury has become a dangerous part of New England’s attacking mix.

“Teal’s coming into his own,” said Nguyen. “He’s starting to find his own position out wide and he’s doing well. It’s easier for him to go against one guy instead of two, so I’ll take him one-on-one out there any day.”

After spending much of last November on the bench in warm-ups, Bunbury is delighted to be having an impact on a championship run.

“It’s been an unbelievable ride,” he said.

If you stay on long enough and reach high enough, you collect a ring. This one, Bunbury will attest, is far better than brass.


John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jpowizglobe.

Advertisement