MIAMI -- Riquelme Fillipi scored his first MLS goal in the 90th minute to cap a late-game barrage as Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF escaped with a 2-2 tie against FC Cincinnati on Wednesday night.

Luis Suárez scored in the 61st minute to give Miami a 1-0 lead, and then the reigning MLS Cup champions needed some late-game heroics to salvage a point. They still fell to third in the Eastern Conference, after New England beat Red Bull New York 3-2 on Wednesday, moving the Revs up to second.

That gave New England 58 points, two ahead of Miami with two matches left -- including one between those clubs in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Sunday.

"What I know is that we made mistakes again, I think, in part, due to a great deal of anxiety, especially in the second half," manager Kily González said after the game. "In my view, we were far too passive in the first half, which is something we tried to address at halftime. I'll say it again: our fate is in our own hands -- we need to win a match -- but we have to improve significantly.

"We need to better analyze and interpret the game and understand how it should be played. We need to be more aggressive, and in the first half, we simply weren't."

Evander had a brilliant chance to win it for Cincinnati with a shot from around the penalty spot on what became the last real chance of the match in stoppage time - but Inter Miami defender Ian Fray got his body in front of the ball to deflect it away.

Cincinnati's ensuing corner kick was harmless and time expired.

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Kenji Mboma Dem scored a stunner in the 80th minute and Samuel Gidi got his first MLS goal six minutes later for Cincinnati, which is still aiming to clinch a playoff spot. Gidi scored on a counterattack from the top of the box, and Cincinnati -- briefly -- looked like it was going to pull off an upset.

Fillipi saved the day for Inter Miami, connecting from the left side of the box. It was nearly the same spot that Suárez scored from earlier.

"The match demanded a lot of individual duels, one-on-one situations, and play out on the flanks," González added. "We needed to be clinical, but we lacked the sharpness to execute what we had prepared during the week. So, yes, we're very frustrated, but we have to keep going."

And now, Sunday becomes massive for Inter Miami. Messi's team will travel to play the Revolution, with the outcome certain to go a long way not only to determining which team gets the No. 2 seed in the East -- but potentially the No. 2 seed in the MLS Cup playoffs.

That will be the next-to-last regular season game for Miami, which closes Nov. 7 at home against Charlotte.

Before the game, MLS announced that next year's sprint season will have Cincinnati visiting Miami on Feb. 19 -- the first game of the shortened season that will serve as the bridge between the league's current calendar and the more international-aligned one that will begin in July 2027.

Cincinnati missed a chance to move closer to clinching a playoff spot, but the draw still helps its chances off making the postseason. It needed a win at Miami on Wednesday and a Columbus loss against Dallas to formally lock up a berth.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this recap.