The Wizards are playing out the string. D.C. United is hanging on by a thread. </p><p>That&rsquo;s the backdrop to the Wizards&rsquo; regular-season finale at 7:30 tonight at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Wizards, 8-13-8, have endured a disappointing year that included a midseason coaching change, and they will miss the playoffs for the first time in three years. </p><p>But they could play spoiler against D.C. United, 9-8-12, which could qualify for the postseason by winning tonight, coupled with a loss or tie by Colorado at Real Salt Lake and then a loss or tie by two of the following teams: Dallas, New England or Toronto.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a must-win game for us,&rdquo; said D.C. United forward Chris Pontius, a leading candidate for MLS Rookie of the Year. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t change too much in the way we approach a game. A lot of teams in the league are in the same situation. </p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to put balls away early when we get our chances and keep them out of the net. We&rsquo;re going to play our hearts out.&rdquo;</p><p>The Wizards, coming off a 3-2 home loss to Seattle, are 0-2-2 in their last four matches and haven&rsquo;t won since defeating Dallas 3-2 on Sept. 19.</p><p>So they&rsquo;d love nothing more than to end the season on a high note and keep four-time MLS champion United out of the playoffs for the first time since 2002.</p><p>&ldquo;We all have friends on other teams, and it would be good to send them home packing, just like we are,&rdquo; Wizards forward Josh Wolff said. &ldquo;I expect their players to be ready and pushing and expecting to win, which is what any player in their position should. </p><p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to have to go get goals. They can&rsquo;t live for a tie, they have to go for the win, and it&rsquo;s up to us to go out and spoil those hopes.&rdquo;</p><p>Just a year ago, the Wizards were the ones who charged down the stretch and clinched a spot in the playoffs on the final weekend. So playing the spoiler is not easy to accept for a club that has made the playoffs in all but two seasons (2005 and 2006) since winning the MLS Cup in 2000.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing, but that&rsquo;s what this league has come to,&rdquo; said Wolff, the Wizards&rsquo; leading goal scorer this season with 11. &ldquo;There are 15 teams now. The league is growing. It&rsquo;s not as easy to make the playoffs, and that&rsquo;s a good thing. There&rsquo;s a lot of parity among the teams. &hellip; It creates competition; it creates a great atmosphere for the sport.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not good to be sitting here playing for more or less just your pride and for jobs next year. You want to make the playoffs &mdash; that&rsquo;s the measuring stick &mdash; and to come up short, it&rsquo;s frustrating. There were more than plenty of opportunities for us to be on the inside rather than the outside.&rdquo;</p><p>While the Wizards haven&rsquo;t played since last Saturday, D.C. United made a side trip to Tocula, Mexico a week ago and earned a 1-1 tie in the Group B finale of the CONCACAF Champions League tournament. Imagine a major-league baseball team playing an exhibition series in Puerto Rico in the midst of a late September pennant chase. </p><p>Several key United players did not make the trip to Mexico and rested for tonight&rsquo;s game, including the MLS&rsquo; all-time goal-scorer, Jaimie Moreno; midfielders Ben Olsen and Clyde Simms; and goalkeeper Josh Wilkes. Yet United still became just the second MLS team to get a point in 19 competitive matches in Mexico.</p><p>United is accustomed to playing so much soccer. It also finished second in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament this season.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the beauty of soccer,&rdquo; said Pontius, who scored D.C. United&rsquo;s goal in Mexico. &ldquo;I enjoy traveling and playing these games. Every stadium I play in is pretty much new to me. I had never been to Mexico before that game, so playing in that type of altitude and environment was new.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had time to rest our legs for tonight. We&rsquo;ll be ready. Our playoff hopes are riding on it.&rdquo;