A Step Ahead of the Rest

Midfielder Gomez Paces United's Attack, and Is a Leading Contender for MVP

Playmaking midfielder Christian Gomez has given United a helping hand since he joined the team in August 2004. (By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)

If only Christian Gomez could dance.

He has done almost everything else the last two years, scoring goals with preposterous moves and distributing the ball like a child flipping bread crumbs to hungry geese. His swift, jabbing runs have made him the centerpiece of D.C. United's attack, keying the club's return to MLS prominence.

He sets United's rhythm with the clever footwork of a dancer, and yet, the Argentine midfielder has one glaring weakness: He can't do the bachata .

Last season, at the team hotel near Los Angeles before a match against Chivas USA, he and teammate Jaime Moreno practiced the Dominican-inspired jig in front of a mirror, promising each other that, if one of them scored, they would get together on the field and put on a show.

Gomez scored. His routine did not.

"You've got to be loose because you're shaking just about everything," equipment manager Francisco Tobar said, laughing. "He was like a robot."

"I agree with 'Cisco," Gomez said last week though an interpreter, "but I promise it's getting better."

Until Gomez thoroughly refines his moves, he will probably continue to celebrate in a traditional manner, as he has done after each of his 14 goals this season, a total that tied him for second in MLS with Ante Razov of Chivas USA.

Factor in his 11 assists, also tied for second in the league, and his vital role on a team that lost only one of its first 20 games, Gomez surfaces as the leading candidate for the MLS's most valuable player award. The league Web site this week projected Gomez as the winner.

If, indeed, his name is called by Commissioner Don Garber on Nov. 9, Gomez would become only the second D.C. player to be so honored (Marco Etcheverry won it in 1998).

"I am flattered that people think I should be considered," he said. "All I have ever thought about is winning the championship, but when you hear people say that, it lets me know that they appreciate the way I play. If we win the cup and I win the award, it would be a very special year."

It has already been a special year for United. Despite a late-season slide, the team finished with an MLS-best 15-7-10 record and will face the New York Red Bulls (9-11-12) in a two-game, total-goals series starting this afternoon at Giants Stadium.