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Diego Rossi’s brace led the undefeated Columbus Crew to a 2-1 victory over D.C. United in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Christian Benteke scored in the 13th minute but Rossi countered three minutes later for the Crew ((3-0-3, 12 points) and put them ahead in the 65th.

Joon-Hung Kim made four saves for D.C. (1-2-3, 6 points), which has lost two straight.

Rossi made it 2-1 off a build-up when Max Arfsten’s cross went to him outside the box. His strike was slightly deflected at the point of the shot and sailed past Kim for his fourth goal, which is half of the Crew’s season total.

Patrick Schulte preserved the lead two minutes later with a near-post stop of Benteke for his lone save, and D.C. was unable to crack the Crew defense the remainder of the match.

There was action before the teams exchanged early goals. Rossi was denied on back-to-back tries in the 11th minute by Kim before Benteke struck first.

Joao made a run into the box, lost the ball but was able to poke it away from defender Cesar Ruvalcaba directly to an open Benteke for his fourth goal of the young season. He is off to a strong defense of his MLS 2024 scoring title when he scored 23 times.

The lead didn’t last long as D.C. United succumbed to pressure. They successfully cleared a corner kick out of the box but turned the ball over heading up the field.

Arfsten passed to Dylan Chambost on the right flank. He quickly got the ball to Andres Herrera, who found Rossi.

It stayed 1-1 because Kim made a point-blank stop of Jacen Russell-Rowe in the 45th minute.

— Field Level Media