Tomas Aviles scored a crucial tying goal late in second-half stoppage time and Inter Miami CF rallied for a 1-1 draw against visiting New York City Football Club Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Aviles got his first career MLS goal five minutes into the eight-minute extra time by finishing off a brilliant sequence following a corner kick. With his back to the net, Aviles gained possession of a corner kick from Robert Taylor and sent a header from the center of the box into the bottom right corner.

Miami (9-15-6 33 points) moved within four points of Montreal for the ninth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It gained the point on a night when Lionel Messi was held out because of a leg injury. Miami did not announce the severity of the injury.

Aviles scored after being beaten by NYCFC’s Santiago Rodriguez in the 77th minute.

Rodriguez scored his first MLS goal since May 6 after a foul by Miami’s Noah Allen resulted in a free kick for Andres Jasson. Jasson perfectly placed his free kick to Rodriguez, who began his move slightly above the center of the box and eluded Aviles and Jean Mota before sending a right-footed shot from a tough angle into the top right corner.

NYCFC dropped to 1-7-8 on the road and saw its unbeaten streak reach six games (4-0-2). By blowing the late lead, NYCFC (8-10-14, 38 points) only moved one point ahead of Montreal into eighth place.

Miami goalie Drake Callender made two saves and withstood NYCFC attempting 10 shots.

New York’s Matt Freese did not make any saves as Miami attempted 12 shots including a shot in the final minute of stoppage time that clanged off the post and landed just in front of the goal line.

Following a rain delay of nearly 60 minutes, a competitive first half saw plenty of chances for NYCFC to score, especially by Monsef Bakrar.

He missed the net twice in a two-minute span 15 minutes into the match. Then in the 26th, his shot eluded the open net after getting a pass from Andres Perea.

In the 32nd, Bakrar missed from outside the box after Perea misfired from close range and then was unable to finish off a breakaway in the 51st two minutes after Allen missed the net twice.

–Field Level Media

Houston Dynamo FC and FC Dallas, each playing their third match in an eight-day stretch, split the points after a scoreless draw on Saturday in Houston in a key late-season Western Conference match between the two Copa Tejas rivals.

The Dynamo’s Coco Carrasquilla had perhaps the match’s best opportunity to score when he worked a breakaway with Amine Bassi in the 88th minute that produced a powerful shot from Carrasquilla that was tipped over the crossbar by Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes.

The teams settled for a draw, with the Dynamo (12-11-8, 44 points) finishing the day in fourth place in the West and FC Dallas (10-10-11, 41 points) holding on to ninth place and the final wild-card playoff spot in the conference. There are three matches to play in the regular season.

Dallas’ Maarten Paes stopped five shots to record his seventh clean sheet of the season and 15th in his two-year career. Houston’s Steve Clark countered with two saves and posted his 12th shutout this season and the 62nd in his 10-year career.

Houston is 3-1-3 in its past seven MLS matches. FC Dallas has dropped just one match in its past 13 outings across all competitions, with four wins and eight draws in that stretch.

Dallas had the first real scoring chance of the contest when Alan Velasco was turned away by Clark at the bottom-right corner in the 10th minute. The Dynamo countered in the 28th minute when Hector Herrera tested Paes with a shot from outside the box that the Dallas keeper batted away at the top center of the goal.

Herrera rifled another shot from outside the box in the 37th minute that was also saved by Paes.

Houston recorded its third shot on goal via Franco Escobar’s shot from the right side of the six-yard box that was stopped in the bottom-right corner by the Dallas keeper.

Then the teams traded shots on target, with Paul Arriola producing a weak shot from close range that was gobbled up by Clark in the 78th minute and Nelson Quinones saved by Paes on the ensuing possession for Houston.

–Field Level Media

Joao Klauss recorded a brace, leading host St. Louis City to a 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Samuel Adeniran and Jared Stroud added second-half goals two minutes apart for St. Louis (17-10-5, 56 points), which set a new MLS record for wins by an expansion franchise and further cemented its spot atop the Western Conference.

William Agada responded with a goal for Sporting KC (10-14-8, 38 points), who are three points behind the playoff line in the Western Conference. The loss drops Kansas City to 2-8-6 in road matches this season.

Adeniran got the home side on the board off a set piece, heading Eduard Lowen’s cross past SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia for his eighth goal of the season in the 73rd minute.

Two minutes later, Stroud intercepted a Kansas City clearing attempt and put a left-footed strike past a diving Melia for his fifth of the season.

Klauss added to the lead in the 80th minute, putting Lowen’s feed past Melia. The Brazilian striker added his second tally of the night in the 85th minute and now has 10 goals on the season.

St. Louis controlled the possession in the opening 45 minutes, but both teams had three shots on target in a scoreless first half.

The two sides exchanged quality scoring chances in the opening 10 minutes. SKC defender Dany Rosero’s header was stopped by St. Louis keeper Roman Burki in the third minute.

Then, four minutes later, St. Louis midfielder Indiana Vassilev had a glorious chance from the center of the box, but Melia got enough of his arm on the strike to deflect it wide.

Klauss had a couple of opportunities to put St. Louis on the board. In the 30th minute, Melia made a diving save on Klauss’ right-footed strike from in close. Then, two minutes later, Anthony Markanich sent a cross for Klauss, who couldn’t get enough of his foot on the ball to redirect it on goal.

Before the first-half whistle, Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi split two St. Louis defenders, but Burki got a hand on Salloi’s shot to keep it out.

–Field Level Media