The once seemingly ironclad playoff position of D.C. United is suddenly looking quite precarious. Following their 3-0loss to the Montreal Impact on Saturday, United are clinging to the final playoff position with a one-point lead.
Montreal Impact Vs. D.C. United, 2012 MLS: East Is Getting Interesting
The Impact are the team closest to United, and are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league having won 7 of 9, but the Columbus Crew were just four points behind with two games in hand. The Crew were playing the New England Revolution later on Saturday. It was only about a month ago that United was challenging for the Eastern Conference lead.
In this game, the Impact jumped out to a first-half lead when Marco Di Vaio was given a wide open chance from about 10 yards out. Di Vaio was kept onside by left back Mike Chabala, who seemed caught in no-man's land. Di Vaio received the pass from Patrice Bernier and calmly pounded it inside the far post.
The Impact seized control of the match in the 50th minute when United defender Emiliano Dudar shoved down Collen Warner in the penalty area. Bernier easily converted the penalty for the 2-0 lead.
Bernier finished it off with a stoppage-time goal, dribbling in from around midfield and beating Bill Hamid with an awkward shot. He now has three goals and two assists in his past two games.
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