Former England captain Wayne Rooney scored twice – including a half-volley from 40 yards – as DC United beat Montreal Impact 5-0 on Saturday.
The win puts DC United in position to qualify for the play-offs in Rooney’s first Major League Soccer season.
With five games to go they are two points behind Montreal – who sit in the final Eastern Conference play-off spot – with a game in hand.
“We’ve been building momentum at the right time,” Rooney said.
“We’ve put ourselves in a great position.”
Rooney’s first goal made it 2-0 in the 48th minute after a shimmy gave him space on the edge of the box.
He finished off the scoring by lobbing the ball into an empty net from 40 yards out after Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush had left his area to clear the ball.
The former Manchester United and Everton forward, 32, also created the third goal with a no-look reverse pass to Luciano Acosta, who set up Paul Arriola for one of his two goals.
Former Boca Juniors midfielder Acosta also found the net.
“It’s obviously great to score five goals,” Rooney added. “It gives us more confidence and especially it’s great tonight to have so many attacking players score goals.”
Elsewhere, Rooney’s former United team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 36, scored two goals to take his total for the season to 20 as the Los Angeles Galaxy beat Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0.
Galaxy are only a point off play-off contention in the Western Conference.
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Source: BBC