Taxi Fountas scored twice to lift D.C. United to a 2-0 win against the visiting Houston Dynamo on Saturday.

United (4-5-0, 12 points), who won for the second time in three games under interim coach Chad Ashton, defeated Houston for the first time since Oct. 12, 2014.

The Dynamo (3-4-3, 12 points) have lost three straight after a 3-0-2 run.

Both sides struggled to generate any attack through the opening 24 minutes. D.C. had just three attempts, none on target, while Houston had zero shot attempts.

The visitors finally had a chance a minute later when Darwin Quintero got around goalkeeper Bill Hamid but was denied by a block from United defender Steven Birnbaum.

D.C. started to pick it up in the 33rd minute. Julian Gressel fed Fountas for a sharp angle shot that went over the net and a minute later, a corner ended with the ball again sailing over the net.

Fountas struck in the 35th minute to give United a 1-0 lead on their third corner of the opening half.

Gressel volleyed the corner to Fountas coming into the top of the box. The Greek international finished it with a quick shot into the left of the net past goalkeeper Steve Clark, who barely budged for a save attempt.

Fountas made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute. Brad Smith sent a cross to him on the right side inside the box and Fountas got in front of defender Adam Lundqvist before sending the ball under the bar.

Hamid went down in pain in the 45th minute off a scramble in the goal area. After being tended to by trainers, he played the remainder of the half and the first three minutes of the second half before he subbed off for Rafael Romo, who made his MLS debut.

Fountas came close to a hat trick in the 59th minute when he headed a cross from Edison Flores but was denied by a diving Clark.

Matias Vera had one of the best chances for the visitors in the 63rd minute but his shot went right to Romo.

–Field Level Media

Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored in the 53rd minute to end a 335-minute scoreless drought for the Portland Timbers, who played to a 1-1 tie with the host New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in Harrison, N.J.

Portland (2-3-6, 12 points) saw its winless skid reach four games (0-1-2) despite scoring for the first time since Yimmi Chara scored in the 78th minute on April 9 at Vancouver.

Niezgoda ended the drought when he received a long cross through the box from Santiago Moreno. He finished the sequence by using his left foot to bury the shot into the bottom right corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

Aaron Long scored in the 67th minute for the Red Bulls (5-2-3, 18 points), who have earned 15 points from five road victories. New York dropped to 0-2-3 at home this season.

The Red Bulls also played without Patryk Klimala (health and safety protocols), who scored twice in last week’s win at Chicago.

Goalkeeper David Bingham made three saves in his Portland debut, including a diving right hand stop on Lewis Morgan in the 67th minute.

Portland took seven shots on New York goalkeeper Carlos Coronel but Niezgoda’s goal was the only shot on target.

Long leveled the game moments after Bingham’s stop on Morgan when Portland was unable to clear and the Red Bulls retained possession with a corner kick.

Dylan Nealis gained possession and withstood a crowd in the box. He quickly headed the ball to Long, whose right-footed shot from about six yards out went past Bingham to the bottom right corner.

After Long scored, Bingham preserved the deadlock with an off-balance stop on Morgan’s left-footed shot in the 84th minute.

New York was unable to get the second goal in the seventh and final minute of stoppage time when Cristian Casseres Jr. saw his right-footed shot from outside the box sail too high.

–Field Level Media

Sporting Kansas City picked up its first point on the road this season as they played high-scoring New York City FC to a 0-0 draw in a steady rain at Citi Field.

Sporting had played 20 straight road matches without a draw, though they have drawn the last two matches at home. Sporting keeper Tim Melia picked up his club record 63rd shutout in his SKC career.

NYCFC (4-3-2, 14 points) dropped to 4-1-1 in their six home games.

Sporting KC (2-6-3, 9 points) has not won a match since defeating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on March 26. They have just three points in their last six matches.

NYCFC, which led the Eastern Conference in goals per match (2.11), had scored 14 goals in their last three matches coming in. NYC held an impressive 74 percent of the possession, but they couldn’t solve SKC’s defense.

Even with their high-scoring pattern, NYC has struggled at times this season to find the net. Saturday marked the fourth time in 10 matches this season the club was held scoreless.

NYC, which has scored 13 of its 19 goals in the second half this season, kept up the pressure in the second half, increasing their share of possession after intermission. The reigning MLS Cup champions had won three straight MLS regular-season matches against Sporting KC., four overall. But the two sides have not met since 2019.

NYCFC held 70 percent of the possession in the first half in the smaller pitch (the Citi Field playing surface is 70 yards x 110 yards, as opposed to 75 x 120 at SKC’s Children’s Mercy Park). But NYC was not able to mount much of an attack. They had 11 shots (three on goal) compared to five for Sporting, but Sporting’s two shots on goal had a much better chance of finding the back of the net.

–Field Level Media

Ronaldo Cisneros scored a first-half hat trick Saturday, leading Atlanta United to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Fire.

Atlanta (5-4-2, 17 points) continued their strong start at home, improving to 4-0-2 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and extending their home unbeaten streak to 12 games.

Yet it wasn’t a perfect day for United, as center back Miles Robinson — a regular for the US Men’s National Team — was stretchered off in the 14th minute with a non-contact leg injury. Atlanta coach Gonzalo Pineda said after the match, “I think it’s going to be a bad injury … I hope it’s not. Let’s see after the tests. But a very unfortunate injury.”

Cisneros gave the hosts the lead in the third minute, timing his run nicely to stay onside then finishing off a wonderful Atlanta passing sequence by hammering the shot off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.

It took the Fire (2-4-4, 10 points) eight minutes to respond. Xherdan Shaqiri recycled a failed clearance off a corner kick and whipped in a cross that took a slight deflection — right into the path of Chinonso Offor, who made no mistake and put it home.

Cisnero scored again for first professional brace in the 27th minute to make it 2-1 for the hosts. Chicago goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina parried a low, hard shot by Thiago Almada right into the path of the onrushing Cisnero, who broke open when his marker slipped and fell in the box.

In the 36th minute, Cisnero made it 3-1 after getting behind the defense and rounding Slonina. It was Atlanta’s first hat trick since July 21, 2018, by Josef Martinez. Cisnero now has four goals on the season.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium continues to be a house of horrors for the Fire as they failed again to take a point in Atlanta and are now 0-5 in the building and have been outscored 15-3.

Atlanta spent the majority of the second half playing keep-away, dominating possessions for long stretches and weathering the few chances the Fire got off Atlanta turnovers.

The Fire managed to get into Atlanta’s box on a few occasions during the second half but never troubled Bobby Shuttleworth until the very end of the game.

The injury concerns continued to mount for Atlanta as Caleb Wiley, who was brought on as a second-half substitute, had to be subbed off in the 81st minute.

Brooks Lennon made it 4-1 for the hosts in the first minute of stoppage time, pouncing on an attempted clearance and burying it in the top corner.

Slonina finished with three saves on seven shots.

–Field Level Media