The Taxi show isn’t slowing down any time soon.
D.C. United forward Taxiarchis Fountas has been voted MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire for Week 18 of the 2022 season.
The Designated Player is coming off a hat trick in a 5-3 win at Orlando City SC, continuing his incredible impact since arriving from Austrian Bundesliga side Rapid Vienna. Fountas’ first two goals were scored inside of 10 minutes, then a 51st-minute free kick capped his stellar showing.
Check out his “smarter choice” highlight reel below:
Fountas, a 26-year-old Greek international, has 12 combined goals and assists (nine goals, three assists). That’s tied for the most in MLS history by a player in his first 10 career matches.
Fountas’ nine goals are tied for the fourth-most in MLS this season and his 1.14 goals per 90 minutes ranks as the best in the league (minimum 500 minutes played). He’s one of four players in the league to record at least three multi-goal games this season.
Fountas is the first D.C. United player to win MLS Player of the Week honors since Ola Kamara in Week 25 of 2021. He also becomes the first D.C. player to win MLS Player of the Week honors in his first MLS season since Wayne Rooney in Week 34 of 2018.
D.C. will kick off Heineken Rivalry Week when they travel to Subaru Park to face the Philadelphia Union on Friday evening (7:30 pm ET | ESPN, ESPN Deportes). The Black-and-Red sit 13th in the Eastern Conference standings, eight points off the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs pace.
The MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
