Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIPhotos.com
If you told most D.C. United fans that Dwayne DeRosario and Hamdi Salihi would start the season without a goal in the first seven matches they probably would have assumed a terrible start. Seven weeks into the 2012 season, neither DeRosario or Salihi has a goal but Chris Pontius and Maicon Santos have more than picked up the slack.
Pontius and Santos have combined for eight goals this season, a major reason D.C. is currently riding a six-match unbeaten streak. The pair combined for five goals in just the past week to help D.C. gain four points from two matches. Those efforts earned both players spots on SBI's MLS Best XI for Week Seven.
The San Jose Earthquakes were big winners this week as well, and both Steven Beitashour and Khari Stephenson were vital to the team's 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake.
From a purely defensive standpoint, no defender in MLS was more important to their team's win last week than Carlos Valdes, who was key to the Union shutting out Chivas USA despite being down two players due to red cards.
Here are this week's picks for SBI MLS Best XI:
SBI MLS BEST XI: Week 7
———Will Bruin——Maicon Santos—–Khari Stephenson——
Chris Pontius—Eddie Gaven—-Reggie Lambe—-Patrick Nyarko
–Young-Pyo Lee———-Carlos Valdes——Steven Beitashour–
—————————-Joe Cannon——————————–
HONORABLE MENTION– Zac MacMath, Aurelien Collin, A.J. De La Garza, Hanyer Mosquera, Lovel Palmer Perry Kitchen, Kyle Beckerman, Michael Farfan, Nick DeLeon, Camilo, Dominic Oduro