Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com
By THOMAS FLOYD
If any doubts remained about the form of D.C. United's Charlie Davies and Chris Pontius after lengthy injury layoffs, their performances during Saturday's 3-0 win at Toronto FC should clear up those reservations.
Pontius bagged two impressive goals, Davies scored his league-leading fifth tally of the season and went the full 90 minutes in his MLS start, and United improved to 2-2-1 with the victory.
The 10th-minute strike from Davies, who less than a month ago made his return to top-flight action after a 17-month absence due to injuries suffered in a fatal car accident, was his second goal of the season from the run of play.
The 24-year-old gleefully picked off a careless pass from Toronto left back Danleigh Borman to begin the sequence and found forward Josh Wolff inside the penalty area. The veteran's shot was saved by goalkeeper Stefan Frei, but the rebound fell to Davies, who swept the ball into the back of the net.
United had taken the lead five minutes before when Pontius collected a loose ball about 30 yards from goal, took a touch to create some space between him and Toronto defender Jacob Peterson, and slotted his shot inside the far post.
It was an active evening for Pontius on the left flank, who enjoyed his finest performance since his injury-ridden 2010 campaign ended in September when he underwent hamstring surgery. Just after halftime, he ran onto a feed from Wolff and was tripped up just outside the penalty area by a mistimed slide tackle from Ty Harden.
The Toronto centerback was ruled to be the last defender and received a red card for the foul, forcing the Reds to play down a man for most of the second half. Although Toronto (1-2-3) showed renewed attacking energy after Harden's dismissal, the side couldn't beat United goalkeeper Bill Hamid.
In the 73rd minute, Pontius completed his brace with a goal strikingly reminiscent of his first career MLS tally more than two years ago against Los Angeles, as the 23-year-old cut back toward goal to evade a challenge from substitute Dan Gargan and thumped an emphatic 15-yard shot past Frei.
D.C. rookie centerback Ethan White enjoyed another steady outing and cleared a shot off the line for the second time in as many starts. United went with a youthful defensive core for the final 27 minutes with White (20 years old) and Perry Kitchen (19) in central defense in front of Hamid (20).
Davies at times looked close to his preinjury form. Although he hadn't played more than 45 minutes in an MLS match before Saturday, he still had energy in the 88th minute when he used pace to create a quality opportunity that ended with Frei denying his shot.
Re: hearing the “Just Can’t Get Enough” chant on Saturday — were the Toronto fans doing that one? I ask because I know the travelling DC support was.
DC finally has a decent pair for center backs–Jakovic, Kitchen, White–but Burch still sucks as a left back–he gets beat too often, is out of position even more often and gives up stupid fouls. Korb on the other side looks a bit better.
He had the flu. It’s been going through the team, Kitchen had it last week, jakovic is suffering as well.
i didn’t see the game– does anyone know if najar played? if not, what’s the reason for him sitting?
I have to agree feeling pitty for the TFC fans. They are awesome and the organization has never given them a decent team to cheer for. I loved the “Just can’t get enough” cheer. I always want TFC to win except when they play DCU.
it is indeed very encouraging to see the youth in the central defense (Kitchen, White, Jakovic) and see how well they’ve played. NYRB this thursday will be a real test for at least 2 reasons (and not b/c NYRB are expected to win the East):
–Backe is a fine coach, maybe the best tactician in MLS. If there’s anyone you’d expect to be able to create plans for exploiting rookie/youth weaknesses, it would be he.
–Henry and Rodgers, regardless of what you think of them as players, are savvy veterans who’ve once played at very high levels. Those are exactly the kind of guys you’d want to match up against youth like Kitchen and White and Jakovic.
The only person so far (spencer) who said anything about feeling bad for Toronto specifically said he felt bad for “TFC fans”, not their management.
As a DC United fan I’m very happy with the win but I’m also bummed for their fans. TFC’s supporters have certainly not “mismanaged” anything. They been great from the get go.
That defensive core, if held together and continues to develop the way it has, could become one of the best in the league in the not-too-distant future.
= Win!
Not a harsh red. Absolutely deserved for many reasons.
Agreed. It could have just been a yellow. But if you follow the LOTG, “last man back” says it’s a red.
DP as in salary or DP in terms of performance? De Guzman is a DP in salary and they had Mista last season as well plus DeRo at max salary.
Stop crying for Toronto. They’ve been mismanaged for years, and at the moment, they’re building long term.
Harsh red?
Let’s see…
1. Studs up.
2. A lot of contact.
3. Very late from the side.
4. Last man.
5. Clear goal scoring opportunity.
De Guzman
Harsh red I think, especially with other stuff that has been ignored. But I feel bad for TFC fans, they still support better than a lot of teams in the league and they have yet to have a good team to cheer for.
I think De Guzman is.
Agreed on TFC fans. That “Just can’t get enough” cheer was going well towards the 90th minute. Do TFC have a DP?
Davies obviously isn’t back to where he was. But clearly he’s physically back and elements of his game are back and he’s playing with confidence and aggressively–those are things you want to see in a goal scorer. Even more impressively to me was that on his first goal, he could have forced the action but instead rewarded Wolff for his great diagonal run off the ball and unselflishly dished the ball off (but then scored on the rebound).
I feel sorry for the TFC fans. Ever since that club came into the league, they’ve been superb, chanting and cheering on their team, selling out that stadium. And they’ve had dreck to cheer for most of the time. If there is any justice in the world, TFC will put a winner on the field at some point before all of the Red Patch Boys die of old age.
My mistake but your headline reads:
“Pontius, Davies pace United to 2-0 win.”
Two goals from Pontius +
One goal from Davies
——————————
=???
“In the 73rd minute, Pontius completed his brace with a goal strikingly reminiscent of his first career MLS tally more than two years ago against Los Angeles,”
Davies scored the first goal did he not? If so Pontius could not have completed his “brace” since he did not score twice, the definition of a “brace”.
3-0 win. DC looked good. as did davies!