Los Angeles Galaxy wasted a golden opportunity to bridge the gap between themselves and the Western Conference playoff spots when they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw against Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.

In front of their home fans, Galaxy got off to flying start when Chicharito got on the end of a terrific ball from Victor Vazquez to put him through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and he made no mistake with his finish hard and low across the goal.

It was Chicharito's 200th club goal of his career, and his 33rd for Galaxy after arriving at the club in 2020.

That would be the only goal of the first half, but a penalty to Sporting in the 67th minute changed the complexion of the contest, with Johnny Russell equalising.

The visiting Kansas City side would have liked their chances of escaping with all three points after Felipe Hernandez gave them the lead in the 76th minute, but there would be another twist in the tale as Galaxy were awarded a penalty in the dying minutes.

Chicharito stepped up to the spot and tucked away his penalty high into the top-left corner of the goal, giving him 14 in 26 games this campaign, and he had a chance to make it 15 when there was another penalty given in stoppage time.

Trying to secure his hattrick and the match, Chicharito opted for the audacious panenka penalty, but was left red-faced as John Pulskamp in the Sporting goals did not flinch, catching it easily.

Elsewhere in California, Los Angeles FC had a much easier time in their 2-0 victory against Real Salt Lake to strengthen their position atop the Western Conference standings.

After a scoreless first half, LAFC were dominant after the break, with Ryan Hollingshead finding the back of the net in the 49th minute and Cristian Arango doubling the advantage in the 68th.

Carlos Vela also missed a penalty for the home side in stoppage time, but his side were good value for their win, producing 3.16 expected goals compared to just 0.29 for Salt Lake.

The win moves LAFC nine points clear of the chasing pack in the West, while at the other end of the standings, Houston Dynamo were bumped down to the bottom after a 2-1 loss away against the Seattle Sounders.

It was Houston striking first, with Daniel Steres breaking the deadlock in the 26th minute, and that score would hold until Nouhou Tolo's equaliser in the 59th.

A missed penalty from Nicolas Lodeiro in the 75th minute appeared to be Seattle's wasted chance to secure all three points in front of their home fans, but less than a minute later a terrific cross from Tolo found Fredy Montero at the back post the head in the winner.

With Houston losing again, the San Jose Earthquakes took the opportunity to shed the last-placed tag with a 2-0 win against the Vancouver Whitecaps, thanks to first half goals from Jeremy Ebobisse and Jamiro Monteiro.

Despite only owning 35 per cent of the possession and finishing with 0.36 expected goals, New England Revolution treated their fans to an emphatic 3-0 home win against New York City, with Jon Bell, 17-year-old Noel Buck and Thomas McNamara providing the scores.

In the highest scoring game of the day, CF Montreal came away with a 4-3 win despite two goals from Toronto's Lorenzo Insigne.

The Portland Timbers took advantage of two penalties to defeat Atlanta United 2-1, and DC United fought out the only 0-0 draw of the day against the Colorado Rapids, with Christian Benteke missing a penalty for DC.

Atlanta United came out on top after an explosive second half in their 3-2 home win against DC United on Sunday, with all five goals coming after the break.

In fact, all five goals were scored within 22 minutes, starting with DC's Ravel Morrison as he opened the scoring in the 47th minute by controlling a ball on his chest before volleying from outside the box into the bottom-right corner.

Two minutes later Alan Franco equalised for Atlanta with a header from a corner, before DC made it 2-1 in the 55th minute when Ola Kamara got on the end of a terrific whipped cross from Chris Durkin.

The visiting side's joy was replaced with frustration when Josef Martinez equalised in the 62nd minute, before the home crowd finally saw their team take the lead in the 70th through a Juan Jose Purata header.

With the win, Atlanta are now just three points out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, while DC remain stuck on the bottom of the table with 22 points from 27 games, sporting a goal difference of minus 28.

Elsewhere, Orlando City found the back of the net early and extremely late in their 2-1 victory against the visiting New York City.

The home fans only had to wait six minutes before Urso Junior opened the scoring for Orlando, and that would be the only score of the opening half as the hosts produced seven shots compared to just one for New York.

The second half was a more competitive affair, and New York were rewarded with a Maximiliano Moralez equaliser in the 53rd minute, and that 1-1 score would hold until deep into stoppage time.

As the clock ticked past the five allotted minutes of stoppage time, Orlando were able to steal all three points as Tesho Akindele rose up headered home Ivan Angulo's corner for the win.

In the final match of the day, Los Angeles Galaxy jumped up to the seventh and final Western Conference playoff spot with a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution.

It was a dream start for Los Angeles away from home, taking the lead in the fourth minute when Chicharito set up Daniel Aguirre for the opener, before Chicharito scored himself to make it 2-0 after 15 minutes.

New England played well, controlling 62 per cent of the possession to end up with 1.81 expected goals compared to just 0.95 for Los Angeles, but their only goal came in the 82nd minute from Carles Gil.

The Seattle Sounders claimed a vital win to kick-start their MLS season, springing to life in the second half to defeat Minnesota United 3-1 at home.

Goals from Raul Ruidiaz, Nico Lodeiro and Cristian Roldan handed the Sounders a critical three points, after winning two of their opening eight games in the league.

Despite the majority of possession in the opening 45 minutes, they went into the interval down 1-0 after Robin Lod scored in the 34th minute.

The recent CONCACAF Champions League winners were then awarded a penalty which Raul Ruidiaz converted in the 50th minute and they snatched the lead with a long-range blast from Cristian Roldan in the 74th.

Lodeiro sealed the victory for the Sounders in fourth minute of stoppage time, getting on the end of Roldan's incisive cross.

Following wins for the Colorado Rapids and Houston Dynamo, the Sounders needed the three points and remain five points from the Western Conference's last playoff spot in 11th.

After a back-and-forth contest where both sides had the lead, meanwhile, Atlanta United and the New England Revolution drew 2-2 in Sunday's MLS action.

It was Atlanta who jumped ahead early through Thiago Almada's terrific strike from outside the box 15 minutes in, before Adam Buksa equalised for New England 15 minutes later from a tough angle.

Buksa put New England in front with his second goal, coming 10 minutes into the second half, but it would be short-lived as Atlanta's Luiz Araujo equalised eight minutes later, tying things up in the 63rd minute.

There would be another pair of golden chances down the stretch, as Buksa blew his chance at a hat trick in the 83rd minute as he missed from inside the six-yard box, before Araujo missed almost an identical chance down the other end less than a minute later.

The action-packed spectacle featured a combined 40 shots, with Atlanta the more hard-done-by of the two sides, finishing with 26 shots to New England's 14, and 1.81 expected goals to New England's 1.12.

With the draw, Atlanta held on to seventh place in the Eastern Conference, while New England is down in 11th.

Jamaica international and Inter Miami CF defender, Damion Lowe, has been fined an undisclosed fee for failing to leave the field in a timely manner.

The charge, which was announced among the number of sanctions issued by Major League Soccer (MLS) this week, relates to the centre half’s conduct during an encounter against New England Revolution on April 30.

Lowe, who signed with the David Beckham-owned franchise earlier this season, was given his marching orders in the 61^st minute after receiving a second yellow card for what looked like fairly innocuous contact on Revolution forward Adam Buksa.  Clearly surprised by the decision, the defender stayed on the pitch for an extra minute to plead his case with the referee and a few other players.  New England won the encounter 2-0.

New England Revolution claimed their fifth consecutive MLS victory after staving off a late scare to win 3-2 over New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.

The Revolution raced to a three-goal lead but were forced to hold on in the final quarter of an hour after strikes from Patryk Klimala and Andres Reyes midweek.

Carles Gil provided the assist for all three Revolution goals, taking his season tally to an MLS-high 10, stabbing through to Canadian forward Tajon Buchanan for the 26th-minute opener.

Spanish midfielder Gil laid off for DeJuan Jones' 32nd-minute strike, before pumping the ball forward for Gustavo Bou to make it 3-0 six minutes into the second half before the Red Bulls rallied.

The win moved New England five points clear in the Eastern Conference, sitting ahead of Orlando City – who have a game in hand – and Philadelphia Union who are both on 18 points.

Jamiro Monteiro scored the only goal of the game as Philadelphia kept up their good form with a 1-0 victory over Columbus Crew.

Seattle Sounders remain unbeaten after Raul Ruidiaz's 88th-minute penalty clinched a 2-1 win against Real Salt Lake, extending their club-record unbeaten start to 10 matches.

Cristian Roldan had put Seattle ahead five minutes into the second half, reacting fastest to score from a rebound inside the box.

RSL levelled with 12 minutes to go, when they won a penalty which was converted by Slovakian Albert Rusnak.

Ruidiaz had the final say netting his eighth goal of the season with a cool Panenka finish from the spot for the Western Conference-leading Sounders.

New York City continued their rollercoaster run with a 1-0 triumph over Atlanta United via Ismael Tajouri's 69th-minute winner.

Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez got on the scoresheet before late drama as LA Galaxy won 2-1 at Vancouver Whitecaps.

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward Chicharito opened the scoring, sliding home in the 47th minute with Galaxy appearing destined to claim all three points before a 90th-minute equaliser from Janio Bikel.

There would be another late twist, when the Galaxy's Efrain Alvarez scored in the third minute of stoppage – his stunning strike finding the back of the net after hopeful ball into the box.

Mexico international Carlos Vela also netted along with providing an assist as Los Angeles FC won 2-0 over Dallas.

Elsewhere, Sporting Kansas City defeated Colorado Rapids 3-1, Portland Timbers and Houston Dynamo drew 2-2, Nashville outlasted Toronto 3-2 courtesy of a 92nd-minute winner, Cincinnati edged Chicago Fire 1-0, Minnesota United beat Austin 2-0, while 10-man Montreal and DC United played out a goalless stalemate.