Category: Soccer

By JACK WILLIAMS NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lionel Messi scored a late goal but sixth-seeded Nashville beat No. 3 seed Inter Miami 2-1 in Game 2 of the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs on Saturday night. The teams will meet in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8 for a decisive Game 3. It was Nashville’s first playoff win since the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs, when it defeated Orlando 2-1 at home in first round. Saturday’s victory was also Nashville’s first over Miami since May 17, 2023, in a 2-1 result. Sam Surridge opened the scoring in the ninth minute, finding the back of the net on a penalty shot with...

By TIM REYNOLDS FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. Messi opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the Major League Soccer playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, which now gets two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s 2...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lionel Messi scored his second career MLS hat trick nearly a year after his first in Inter Miami’s 5-2 win over Nashville SC on Saturday night. The last time Messi scored a hat trick was Oct. 19, 2024, in Inter Miami’s 6-2 win over the New England Revolution. It was the 19th scored hat trick of the 2025 MLS season. He scored his first of the game from the top of the box in the 35th minute to give Inter Miami a 1-0 lead. Messi was awarded a penalty kick in the 63rd minute and scored to tie the game 2-2. He completed the hat trick in the 81st minute, scoring from the...

FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi had a goal in each half and added an assist to help Inter Miami clinch home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 4-0 victory over Atlanta United on Saturday night. Messi found the net in the 39th minute when he took a pass from Baltasar Rodríguez and scored to put Inter Miami (18-7-8) up 1-0 at halftime. Jordi Alba, who has announced he will retire at the end of the season, made it 2-0 seven minutes into the second half with his sixth goal. The 36-year-old defender has 11 goals and 27 assists in 64 appearances — all with Miami. The club...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Tadeo Allende and Jordi Alba each scored two goals, Lionel Messi had three assists and Inter Miami beat the New England Revolution 4-1 on Saturday night. Messi has 24 goals and 17 assist and his 41 goal contributions this season are the second most in MLS history. Carlos Vela had 49 (34 goals, 15 assists) for Los Angeles FC in 2019. Miami (17-7-8) is third in the Eastern Conference with 59 points, three behind second-place Cincinnati and three ahead of Charlotte and New York City. Philadelphia, the points leader in all of MLS, has 66 points. Allende ran onto a...

TORONTO (AP) — Djordje Mihailovic scored in the 60th minute and Toronto FC played to its seventh straight draw, a 1-1 tie with Inter Miami on Saturday. Toronto (5-13-13) has conceded just six goals during the seven consecutive draws. Toronto is winless in its last nine games at 0-2-7, with its last victory coming on July 16. Miami (16-6-8), which clinched a playoff spot midweek, came into the game 28 points above Toronto in the Eastern Conference. Tadeo Allende scored in first-half stoppage time for Miami, which had 10 goals in its three previous wins. Jordi Alba’s cross went just over the...

NEW YORK (AP) — Lionel Messi had two goals and an assist to reach 37 goal contributions this season and Inter Miami clinched a playoff spot with a 4-0 victory over New York City FC on Wednesday night. Miam (16-6-7), which won its third straight game, extended its league-leading goal total to 64 this season. Five of Miami’s last six MLS matches have featured at least three goals, most recently a 3–2 victory over D.C. United. After his first-half assist, Messi became the first player in MLS history to record at least 35 goal contributions in consecutive seasons. After two second-half goals,...

FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi had a first-half assist before scoring two goals in the second half to take over the league lead and propel Inter Miami to a 3-2 victory over D.C. United on Saturday night. Messi scored the go-ahead goal in the 66th minute before adding some insurance in the 85th. He has 22 goals this season, one more than Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge in the race for the Golden Boot Award. Defender Jordi Alba collected his 10th assist on Messi’s first goal and Sergio Busquets notched his seventh for the brace. First-year midfielder Tadeo Allende scored his eighth goal — with an...