Thomas Muller scored a hat trick on his birthday and the Vancouver Whitecaps clinched a playoff spot with a dominant 7-0 win over the visiting Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

The 36-year-old Muller converted a pair of first-half penalty kicks, then added an assist and a goal from open play in the second half.

Emmanuel Sabbi also scored twice for the Caps (15-6-7) as the club secured a post-season berth for the third year in a row.

Mathias Laborda and Rayan Elloumi each added a goal, and keeper Yohei Takaoka stopped two on-target shots to record his Major League Soccer-leading 12th clean sheet of the season.

The Union (17-7-6) came into the game sitting atop the league standings but the Caps were the dominant side for much of the game, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 26,031

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