Tom Barlow scored his first career MLS hat trick for his first three goals of the season and the Chicago Fire romped to a 7-1 victory over D.C. United on Saturday night.
Maren Haile-Selassie, Jonathan Bamba, Philip Zinckernagel and Brian Gutierrez also scored for Chicago (7-5-4, 25 points), which has won four out of five in the league and six out of seven overall.
The result propelled the Fire above New York City FC on goal difference into ninth in the Eastern Conference and into the final East playoff spot for now. The Fire have also played one fewer match than all but one side above them in the table.
Dominique Badji scored a late consolation tally for D.C. (4-8-6, 18 points), which allowed an opponent to score at least six goals for the second time this season after losing 6-1 at San Jose on April 6.
Chicago’s 35 goals rank second in MLS, while D.C.’s 36 allowed are tied for the most. The Fire became the second MLS team to score seven goals in a match this season.
Barlow made his first start of the season in place of Hugo Cuypers, who was listed as questionable on the league’s injury report with a lower-body issue but did not make manager Gregg Berhalter’s matchday roster.
Haile-Selassie and Bamba had already scored before Barlow contributed his first goal in the 30th minute on one of Chicago’s best sequences of the match.
After Andrew Gutman intercepted a pass in his own half with his first touch, he curled a perfect long, left-footed pass down the left side and into the path of Barlow, who had made an ambitious slanting run through D.C.’s two center backs.
Barlow ran onto the pass in stride, then curled an easy finish past goalkeeper Luis Barraza and inside the far right post.
The journeyman striker made it 4-0 just before halftime after another strong break from the Fire. Haile-Selassie provided the final assist before Barlow poked a one-time finish beyond Barraza.
Barlow completed his hat trick and the second multi-goal performance of his MLS career in the 65th minute, this time improvising a volley from the rebound of Barraza’s save.
–Field Level Media
