Sean Nealis headed home his first goal of the season 13 minutes into the second half to give his team the lead, and the visiting New York Red Bulls overcame the first MLS hat trick from D.C. United’s Christian Benteke in a wild 5-3 victory on Saturday night.

Omir Fernandez scored his team-leading fifth and sixth goals of the season early for the Red Bulls, and Cameron Harper leveled the match at 3-3 just before halftime.

John Tolkin, after assisting Nealis, scored his second goal of the season to cap the victory. Tolkin’s first goal came in a 1-0 home win against D.C. just more than a month ago.

The Red Bulls’ highest-scoring performance home or away this season came after they scored just seven times in 14 previous league away fixtures. And it moved New York (8-12-10, 34 points) within two points of D.C. (9-13-9, 36 points), which entered the night in possession of the ninth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Benteke scored his team-leading 11th, 12th and 13th goals for D.C., which went a fourth consecutive match without a victory while trying to boost its playoff chances.

The Black-and-Red also finished a stretch of five home matches out of six with just six points total taken.

Down 3-2 after Benteke completed his hat trick in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, the Red Bulls climbed ahead on a pair of goals from corner kicks.

Harper leveled it at 3-3 in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time with his feet, popping up at the back post to side-foot a first-time finish after Frankie Amaya’s service deflected off attacker Tom Barlow.

Then in the 58th minute, Nealis simply escaped his marker to head in Tolkin’s in-swinging service past helpless D.C. goalkeeper Alex Bono.

Benteke scored his hat trick in the space of 26 minutes.

On his first, he guided in a near-post header on a corner kick after a clever initial flick-on from Gabriel Pirani in the 21st minute.

The second was a messy goalmouth scramble that ended with the former Belgium international stabbing home a finish from close range in the 36th minute.

And the third was a penalty he earned himself on a powerful run into the left side of the penalty area that was halted by Andres Reyes’ illegal lunge. Benteke found the bottom left corner on the subsequent spot kick.

–Field Level Media

FC Cincinnati maintained their stellar home form, earning their 13th win in 15 MLS home outings with a 3-0 decision over Charlotte FC on Saturday.

Alvaro Barreal’s right-footed free kick found the top right corner of the goal in the opening minute of first-half stoppage time, and Aaron Boupendza doubled the home team’s advantage by depositing a score five minutes into the second half.

Luciano Acosta assisted on Boupendza’s tally, then added a goal in the 78th minute after Obinna Nwobodo found him on a breakaway.

Andrew Privett’s header in the third minute missed to the left, wasting a solid opportunity for Charlotte FC (7-10-12, 33 points) to go in front.

FC Cincinnati’s Boupendza went wide on a header two minutes after that, then set Acosta up for a shot on target in the 16th minute.

Charlotte FC’s Kristijan Kahlina had a pair of saves about five minutes apart in the first half, keeping the match scoreless.

FC Cincinnati (18-4-8, 62 points), MLS’ Eastern Conference leader, got their first victory since downing Atlanta United 2-1 on Aug. 30. They lost once and drew twice in the three matches since.

Conversely, the defeat damages Charlotte FC’s postseason hopes. The visitors entered the matchup outside the playoff picture and have now gone 0-1-4 in their past five contests.

Charlotte FC didn’t manage a shot on goal in the match and were outshot in total by FC Cincinnati 20-9. Charlotte FC had more chances on corner kicks, 6-3.

Charlotte FC will stay on the road, facing the New England Revolution on Sept. 30. FC Cincinnati will travel to oppose Toronto FC the same day.

–Field Level Media

Xande Silva and Thiago Almada each had a goal and an assist to help Atlanta United clinch a playoff spot with a 4-1 win against visiting CF Montreal on Saturday.

United (13-8-10, 49 points) remained unbeaten in six all-time home matches (5-0-1) against the Canadian side.

Montreal (11-15-4, 37 points) is winless in five straight (0-3-2) after a three-game winning streak.

It was all Atlanta for the bulk of the first half, dominating possession with nearly 71 percent of the touches.

United broke through in the 30th minute. Silva hustled up the left wing into the box, and Saba Lobjanidze found him just above the six for a shot that grazed off Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, who came off his line, and bounced into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Lobjanidze has three goals and three assists in his six MLS matches.

Almada doubled the lead in the 33rd minute. Silva took a pass at the top of the box and the ball rolled in front of him, drawing Sirois off his line to try to get to it first. But Silva stayed on it at the edge of the goal area and fed it to Almada inside for a quick strike.

Montreal had its first quality chance of the half in the 36th minute when Kwadwo Opoku received a pass above the six-yard box but volleyed the ball over the net.

Despite minimal time on the attack, the visitors got on the board in the 40th minute. Lassi Lappalainen sent a pass from the goal line toward the top of the box, and on-rushing Ahmed Hamdi connected to cut it to 2-1.

Giorgos Giakoumakis extended it to 3-1 for Atlanta in the 46th minute with a chip shot from above the box into the far side of the net.

The play went to video review after a flag went up for offside, but the goal stood after it was determined the ball went off Montreal defender Gabriele Corbo before reaching Giakoumakis.

Montreal came close to narrowing the deficit in the 53rd minute on a Chinonso Offor header that hit the left post.

Montreal defender Joel Waterman, who was shown a yellow card earlier in the match, was assessed a red card in the 87th minute for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

Edwin Mosquera struck from the area to make it 4-1 in the 89th minute.

–Field Level Media

The match Saturday night between Toronto FC and host New York City FC has been postponed until 1 p.m. ET Sunday because of a water main break to the pipeline that services Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.

“As local authorities assess the damage, all water to the stadium has been shut down,” NYCFC said in a statement.

The game site is the home of the New York Red Bulls because NYCFC’s usual home field, Yankee Stadium, was unavailable due to the Yankees’ series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In an unrelated situation, the Saturday baseball game was postponed because of heavy rain and rescheduled for Monday.

NYCFC (7-10-13, 34 points) are 2-0-2 over their past four matches, and with four matches left they were two points behind ninth-place D.C. United and three behind eighth-place CF Montreal going into Saturday’s play.

Toronto (4-15-10, 22 points) stopped an eight-match losing streak and an 11-match winless skid with a 3-1 home win over Philadelphia on Aug. 30, but since then it has dropped two straight and remains in last place in the Eastern Conference.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Galaxy arrive with plenty of momentum when they travel to face enigmatic Austin FC on Sunday in a key late-season Western Conference match between sides desperate to make a move in the standings.

Austin FC (9-13-7, 34 points) begin the weekend 12th place in the West, three spots and four points below the conference’s wild-card playoff line. The Galaxy (8-11-9, 33 points) can leapfrog Austin FC with a victory.

Austin FC have five matches remaining in the regular season, counting Sunday, while the Galaxy has six.

The Galaxy have captured four of the five MLS matches with Austin FC and the past three meetings between the sides.

LA heads to Austin after a stirring 4-3 win at home over Minnesota United on Wednesday. The Galaxy trailed 3-1 at halftime but rallied over the final 27 minutes on two goals by Billy Sharp and the game winner by former Austin stalwart Diego Fagundez in the 82nd minute.

Sharp recorded a hat trick in the win, to earn MLS Player of the Matchday.

“These points are transitioning from one team to the next every single matchday,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “If anybody wins, and if you lose, you can end up separated immediately. Picking up the three points (against Minnesota) obviously was massive. Maybe it was the difference in us even having a chance at this thing.”

The Verde, in their third year of existence, have never lost four straight games to a league opponent but head to Sunday’s match on a four-match home losing streak over all competitions.

Austin’s most recent outing was a 1-1 draw on the road against the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday. The Verde bounced back after conceding an early own goal, tying the match on Sebastian Driussi’s strike off a set piece just before halftime.

Driussi, Austin’s leading scorer with 10 goals, is likely to miss Sunday’s game with a lower-body injury, Austin coach Josh Wolff said Friday.

The Verde is winless in their past eight matches (0-6-2) going back to Leagues Cup play. Austin has not won in MLS play since a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on July 15.

“We have had battles with LA Galaxy in the past and we expect this match to be very similar,” Wolff said. “They’re in a similar situation as we are where they’d have to win to keep hopes alive. So you know, we’re home – we have to win.

“We know the playoffs are on the line, and it’s a big match. We’re going to need to bring that same grit and fight, and more, that we did against Red Bulls.”

–Field Level Media

Inter Miami will be trying to pick up another crucial result in their pursuit of the playoffs without Lionel Messi when they travel a few hours north to visit Orlando City on Sunday evening.

Messi has played only 41 of Miami’s last 270 minutes in league play, first missing out due to international duty with Argentina and then because of fitness concerns.

The official explanation is not a new injury but the aggravation of a previous ailment due to fatigue. But it had the appearance of a player leaving the field injured when Messi exited with a slight limp in the first half of Miami’s 4-0 home win against Toronto FC on Wednesday.

“It’s bothersome,” said manager Tata Martino, via an interpretation from Goal.com. “I don’t know if it hurts. I can’t really explain as it’s more a medical topic. It’s probable it bothers (Messi) to the point, including mentally, that he isn’t able to play freely.”

The Herons (9-15-4, 31 points) entered the game five points beneath the playoff line and have recently fared OK without their star. They beat Sporting Kansas City at home and lost at Atlanta United in games Messi did not dress. All four of their goals against Toronto came after his exit.

But a trip to second-place Orlando (14-7-8, 50 points) is a tougher assignment given how well the Lions have played of late.

A 2-0 loss at New York City FC in midweek halted an impressive six-match unbeaten run (5-0-1). The Lions clinched a playoff spot anyway thanks to results elsewhere later in the evening. They had needed until the final day to secure their postseason place a season ago.

“To clinch now is a tremendous achievement from our team and our club and our fans,” coach Oscar Pareja said postgame. “We would have loved to celebrate that with a victory today and a better result and a better performance, but we couldn’t. We have no excuses. We are responsible for the good and the things we did not do good.”

Club scoring leader Facundo Torres has scored 10 of his 12 goals since the start of June and is just three off the pace of the league lead. He’s led an attack that has scored two or more in six consecutive home matches.

–Field Level Media