Tom Barlow scored a hat-trick as Chicago Fire stormed to a 7-1 victory over D.C. United in MLS on Saturday.

The Fire were flying at half-time, with Maren Haile-Selassie scoring after just eight minutes by picking out the bottom-left corner.

Jonathan Bamba added their second 15 minutes later, before Barlow struck two more blows. His first came on the half-hour mark, finishing off a fast break, with his second coming in similar fashion on the stroke of half-time.

Philip Zinckernagel piled more misery on D.C. 56 minutes in, though substitute Dominique Badji did pull one back for the hosts just four minutes later.

Barlow completed his hat-trick with a lovely volley to restore the five-goal cushion before Jason Gutierrez beat Luis Barraza one-on-one to complete the rout.

Chicago move up to ninth, back into the playoff places in the Eastern Conference, while D.C. are 12th.

Elsewhere, Austin FC snapped an eight-match winless streak, and scored more than once for just the second time in MLS this season, as they beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0.

Mikkel Desler opened the scoring with his first MLS goal of the season six minutes in, finishing low into the centre of the goal.

Brandon Vazquez then struck the post shortly after the break, before they wrapped up all three points thanks to a stroke of luck as Rafael Navarro steered the ball into his own net.

Austin leapfrogged Colorado in the table, moving up to seventh. The Rapids drop to ninth.

Data Debrief: No Cuypers, no problem

Hugo Cuypers is Chicago's top scorer this season, netting 10 goals in MLS, but he was not even in the squad as they stormed to victory in D.C.

The Fire still put on a stunning attacking display, accumulating 2.49 expected goals (xG) from their 15 shots, with 11 of those on target.

Barlow was particularly clinical. All three of his attempts were on target, as he contributed 0.81 xG to the team's total.

The victory also snapped Chicago's five-match winless streak against D.C. (D3 L2), a run dating back to April 2023.