Life after Chris Pontius did not start well for D.C. United Saturday night as the Black-and-Red looked largely toothless in attack and committed several defensive lapses as Seattle rolled to a 3-0 victory at CenturyLink Field.
The loss, combined with other MLS results on Saturday, saw D.C. United drop out of the MLS wild card playoff places. However, the Black-and-Red have games in hand on their wild card competitors, as well as their Eastern Conference compatriots.
Coming out of the halftime break trailing 2-0, United saw very little of the ball in the first 15 minutes of the second half as the Sounders pressed forward looking for a third goal. They got what they were looking for on the hour mark when Mauro Rosales found some space along the right sideline and crossed to the left post, where Fredy Montero's header was blocked by Joe Willis. However, the rebound fell right to Alvaro Fernandez, who slammed the ball into the open net to record his second goal of the night.
With the game lost, D.C. United showed real attacking intent for the first time all night and had several opportunities to grab a consolation goal. Joseph Ngwenya forced a giveaway deep in Seattle's own end in the 72nd minute, but his shot was palmed away by Kasey Keller. Four minutes later, Andy Najar broke into the penalty area, but could only sting Keller's palms with the shot. In one of the more entertaining passages of play, Seattle almost went back up the other end and scored, but Joe Willis was alert to deny Lamar Neagle's attempt.