WASHINGTON — Did you watch the big football game last night? No, not that football game — the one that actually mattered.

D.C. United got its first look at New York City FC, the newly minted second franchise in the nation’s biggest market, featuring aging European stars like David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo. NYCFC flipped United’s season-long script back on the black and red, coming back from a first-half deficit and scoring three second half goals. But despite all that star power, and despite Thursday’s result, NYCFC sits outside the playoff picture looking in, while United continues to lead the Eastern Conference in points.

And they’ve gotten there by winning games in a host of unconventional ways. In fact, nine of their 13 wins have either come in stoppage time or have been come-from-behind victories. So while United will have to wait until next Saturday at RFK to return to their winning ways in MLS, let’s take a look back at the crazy ways they’ve gotten where they are this year.

Flip through the slides above to see highlights from the nine wild victories that have them in position to repeat atop the table in the Eastern Conference.