When it comes to accolades, goal scorers are usually the player who walk away with most of the awards and notoriety, but this week one player stood out above the rest despite not scoring a goal himself.
D.C. United midfielder Chris Pontius has been one of the biggest bright spots for D.C. all season, and on Saturday he played arguably his best match of the season. He delivered perfect assists on three goals, all scored by Charlie Davies, as D.C. United rolled past Chivas USA, 3-0. The performance earned Pontius SBI MLS Player of the Week honors.
Davies would have been the pick most weeks, and deserves credit for finishing off the chances that came courteous of Pontius, breaking his own two month scoring drought in the process, but Pontius was the star of the show, showing incredible speed and precision on the first and third assists, while flashing some poise and vision to set up the second Davies goal.
Pontius' dream night ended in sad fashion as he suffered a broken leg in the 67th minute, an injury that has likely ended his 2011 season.
Here are the match highlights from Pontius' performance.
Pontius edged out a worth field of candidates that included Davies, Sporting KC's Teal Bunbury and New England's Shalrie Joseph to name a few.
What did you think of Pontius' performance? Who got your vote for MLS Player of the Week?
Share your thoughts below.
spoken like a true low life scum bucket who got leapfrogged in the standings. enjoy the fall back into the basement.
i don’t know, the first one was clearly him shooting it, the second and third were great assists. I hate to say it but I feel they gave him the award out of sympathy for the broken leg. He was good, but you can’t deny the hat trick.
Indeed, an unfortunate event all around.
Agreed… Pontius was very unselfish. I hope Davies buys him a case of champagne for setting him up all night, and out of sympathy for the leg break.
Idiot.
It’s tough losing Pontius…I mean, how is DC going to find a natural left-sided midfielder with good ball skills to replace him? What team in MLS has that kind of depth?
Oh, wait, that’s right, DC traded a few months worth of an international roster slot to Red Bulls for Austin da Luz! Never mind!
Looking at the injury, it looks equally Pontius and Lopes fault. Pontius took a long touch and both slid a bit recklessly. Unlucky and sad to see him hurt. Also sad Lopes got a red card.
Stay classy, ga-gone. Jeez. There have been a lot of players (not just NY players) I’ve hated over the years, and I’ve never cheered for an injury. Booed when I thought someone was faking or making a meal of some contact, but never when it was clear that it was legit and the person was actually hurt.
Maybe when Pontius gets his cast cut off, he can send it up to Red Bull Arena so that you have something to put in your empty trophy case.
Good choice!
Damn shame…whats this like the second or third major injury he’s suffered?
He’s gotta watch out with those punks, or he’ll end up like Thorrington or Rolfe
red bulls suck. worst new jersey team ever, with the worst name. and they have a section named after Hans Backe, lol!
“ga-gone” is your handle a reference to the NJ MetroBulls season?
http://goo.gl/acYbh
Pontius deserved it over Davies, he could have shot a couple of those himself if he wanted to.
He was really impressing this year, too bad he was later involved in a stupid and reckless (by both parties) challenge that will cost him the rest of the season.
Definitely deserved. Unstoppable that night, well, almost.
the 3pts to move ahead of new york and their d*ckhead fans was my highlight of the evening
The loss of party boy hurts. However, I think we have the coach and the players to deal with the loss. Not sure about viking pride NY though, no injuries, plenty of talent but they still can’t get their act together.
The break-his-own-leg challenge was a highlight to all Red Bulls fans.
Chris Pontius has had a great season. A shame to see it end early. I too hope that he recovers fully and quickly so that he may continue to drive DC United and (hopefully) the USMNT to future success.
Vamos.
He’s my favorite DCU player. I’m going to miss watching him play during the rest of the season. He could have shot on the third goal himself but he gave it to Davies to give him the hat trick.
I know every sport and every league has injuries, but we get far more than our fair share of injured stars. No Sidney Crosbies, but this HAS to be better addressed.
Really disappointed he won’t be able to play the rest of this year (in all likelihood). Pontius is one of my favorite players, not just in MLS but throughout the sport. He’s exciting to watch, works hard, and performs as a team-first kind of guy.
Hope to see CP13 back on the pitch healthy and performing at a high level as soon as he can!