Augmented, I naively presume, by my own vote which I cast in his favour without telling anyone in Seattle, DC United midfielder Chris Pontius has been named Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 12 of the 2010 MLS season.
Pontius scored two goals and recorded an assist in D.C. United’s 3-2 victory over Seattle Sounders FC on Thursday, June 10 at Qwest Field.
After the match, Pontius revealed the secret of his successful performance was to drift inside and avoid the attentions of Sounders right back James Riley.
We knew we needed the three points, especially given the start to the season we had. So to get them right here is huge for us. I was hanging out wide for the first 25 minutes and didn't get the ball. I knew I had to impact the game somehow, so I decided to come inside a little more. That's eventually how I scored. (James) Riley was out there tight on me, and did a good job on me. So I had to come inside to impact the game somehow and make a difference in it.
The two players would share something else from the game. Riley was credited with Sounders first goal in the 2-3 reverse, only for someone to later decide it was a Barry Rice own goal, depriving the popular Sounders right-back, their best player on the night, of his first goal of the season.
Chris Pontius was on a hat trick when his looping header went over the left shoulder of Kasey Keller and dropped behind him, where substitute Adam Cristman was rushing in. Replays and Adam Cristman's own recollection later proved that Pontius was out of luck. It was Cristman's goal and Pontius had to settle for two goals and an assist rather than his first ever MLS hat-trick.
Pontius though was more concerned about the effect of the first away win on the team.
"We're unbeaten in five now. We beat Chivas and we beat Seattle. We tied Salt Lake who are one of the best sides in MLS, so I would say the corner has been turned."
In the 39th minute, Pontius collected a poor clearance, cut the ball inside with his right foot, sending two Sounders defenders sprawling, and unleashed a shot from 40 yards out. The ball deflected off the back of a Sounders defender and into the net for D.C.’s first goal of the night. Unlike Riley, Pontius was allowed to keep his goal.
Pontius doubled the lead for D.C. just five minutes later. With a great individual effort, Pontius shook off two Seattle defenders and sent a shot toward the left post. The shot headed straight to Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller, but Keller mishandled the shot and the ball rolled into the net.
The post match interview took an unpublishable but hilarious turn turn, when I asked Chris if he was claiming the third goal. He began a modest and unassuming answer which disintegrated into fits of laughter when a team mate, who we will not identify, shouted over from ten yards away, "Of course, he's ****ing claiming it!"
After that I decided to talk to Andy Najar about the Honduras World Cup camapign, an interview which proved to be one of my least successful, as DC United's Yorkshireman media officer attempted to translate, Najar's hardly optimistic aspirations for his country.
This is Pontius’ first career Player of the Week award.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists including me from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
2010 MLS Player of the Week Winners
Week 1: Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake)
Week 2: Kenny Mansally (New England Revolution)
Week 3: Sebastien Le Toux (Philadelphia Union)
Week 4: Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy)
Week 5: Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC)
Week 6: Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy)
Week 7: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
Week 8: Alvaro Saborio (Real Salt Lake)
Week 9: Emilio Renteria (Columbus Crew)
Week 10: Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC)
Week 11: Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
Week 12: Chris Pontius (D.C. United)
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