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Pontius propels D.C. United to victory and back into playoff position

ChrisPontiusWin (ISIPhotos.com)

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

The news didn't look very good for D.C. United heading into their Eastern Conference clash against New England on Saturday. Star playmaker Dwayne DeRosario was lost for the rest of the season with a knee injury and D.C. looked capable of falling out of the playoff picture completely if they didn't fill the void left by the Canadian star.

Chris Pontius picked up the slack in a major way, scoring an equalizer and setting up a Lewis Neal game-winning goal to help D.C. United post a crucial 2-1 victory at RFK Stadium on Saturday night.

D.C. United's victory, coupled with losses by the Columbus Crew and Montreal Impact, pushed Ben Olsen's squad back into fifth place in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind fourth-place Houston.

New England rookie Kelyn Rowe opened the scoring in the 29th minute off a feed from fellow youngster Diego Fagundez, but Pontius provided the equalizer just three minutes later off a pass from Branko Boskovic.

Neal replaced Boskovic in the 57th minute and delivered the game-winning goal just six minutes later, slotting home a Pontius feed to secure the victory and snap D.C. United's three-match winless skid.

The loss officially eliminated the New England Revolution from the playoffs.

Here are the match highlights:

 

What did you think of the match? Impressed with how Pontius picked up the slack? Starting to wonder if Boskovic is the answer as a starter? What do you make of New England's season? Think they can put it together in 2013?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It funny how you thought to approach my comment:
    “Of the three you mentioned, the ship has sailed on all of them for this cycle of qualifiers”….wow did you come up with that by yourself??
    “So it’s not that he doesn’t value MLS players, it more that he does not value your MLS players, your faves”…..two players that are among the best at what they do in MLS?? and that is assisting and scoring…with class and precision, with the ability to make something out of nothing.
    “Cameron is at Stoke with a big assist from JK”….Cameron’s talents should have been spotted and groomed by JK not by Stoke. The reason must countries are successful and the minnows of CONCACAF embrass us from time to time is because they pick players based on skillset/talent, then bring them in and do what they are paid to do, train them….and these players usually use competion to shine AND THEN be picked up by a big clubs…in other words they were selected and trained by a National team coach…then after they have a good run in the tournament they persued by clubs…not the other way around

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  2. Lol. Chris Pontius extremley average. Yep extremely average players score a goal and assist on another. Chris Pontius is a much better option at LAM than Torres.

    You probably said the exact same thing about Zusi as well.

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  3. He is twenty five and as someone else pointed out, has lost a lot of time to injuries. So he understands how fragile a career is and if it is a good contract then the security is tough to turn down.

    He is doing well at DC but if he moves, no matter where, it starts all over again and there is no guarantee he does as well anywhere else.

    As for the USMNT, he will get his shot soon and it is probably better he be playing regularly than fighting for a shot elsewhere. Wondo proves that.

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  4. That is a funny way of looking at it.

    Cameron is at Stoke with a big assist from JK. Cameron stayed for the January camps and imprssed while Omar went to Germany and blew out his knee and John went to England and failed his trial. Omar and John had JK’s blessing for their moves but they did not work out. That is life, tough, but it was their choice to go. Omar and John lose, Cameron wins. Get over it.

    He worked Cameron and Zusi into the team in a series of friendlies. JK was picking them when a lot of you were mad because he wasn’t picking their fave MLS guys.

    So when they were ready, they did well in big games.

    Of the three you mentioned, the ship has sailed on all of them for this cycle of qualifiers. At the earliest they get called into January camp. If you think any of those three are going to into the next two qualifiers and make a difference then you are very optimistic. And right now, if the next friendlies are before the qualifiers JK should not be picking anyone that won’t be playing a role in the qualifiers.

    Gatt, who appears to be an exceptional phenom, might be called in but the others will need to be worked in and none of them have ever been to a JK camp.

    JK has been playing Beckerman and Shea from the first day. Hamid, Rimando and Johnson are the regular backups even over Guzan. And he has been calling Wondo in regularly much to the great dismay of most of you.

    So it’s not that he doesn’t value MLS players, it more that he does not value your MLS players, your faves.

    You don’t understand the value of teamwork if you want to bring these guys in right now and disrupt the current set up. That would be panic mode and l disagree that the US needs to go into that right now.

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  5. Klinsmann, you slept on Cameron (until stoke picked him up), you slept on Zusi (until Jamaica), you are still sleeping on George John, Brad Davis and Chris Pontius. The goals the latter two are scoring are just pure class, which we need on the USMNT. When are you going to realize that the best players (playing oversea) do not always make the best team…..

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  6. B/c DCU figures that at some point he’ll want to go overseas BUT they want to get a transfer deal. And he’s not going to go overseas anytime soon simply b/c he couldn’t qualify for a work permit…no caps!

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  7. +1..this kid is a stud. Could be a big time performer for the Nats if he gets a shot. Imagine him and Donovan on the flanks in 4-2-3-1, with Dempsey as the withdrawn striker and Bradley and Willams/Jones in behind them. That would be a lineup to fear.

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