MLS
Atlanta crush Messi-less Miami 5-2
Inter Miami rested Lionel Messi and suffered their first defeat since the Argentine joined the club, with a 5-2 hammering at Atlanta United damaging their playoff hopes on Saturday.
Messi had not made the trip to Atlanta, after a busy run of games since making his Miami debut in late July.
Miami coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said after the loss that Messi had been suffering from “muscle fatigue” and that it would have been “very reckless to bring him to play this game”.
The 36-year-old sat out Argentina’s World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in La Paz on Tuesday but watched his team-mates from the bench.
With no Messi last week, Miami defeated Sporting Kansas City 3-2 but this time it was a very different story for Martino’s team.
Miami went ahead in the 25th minute with a superbly taken goal from in-form Ecuadoran striker Leonardo Campana.
But the response from Atlanta, sixth in the Eastern Conference, was emphatic with three goals in eight minutes.
A glancing header from French midfielder Tristan Muyumba, which struck the inside of the post, was ruled to have crossed the line by the assistant referee.
Five minutes later, Atlanta had the lead when Brazilian winger Xande Silva dribbled to the byline and his pull-back was turned into his own net by Miami defender Kamal Miller.
Miami’s defence, without former Spain international left-back Jordi Alba, were reeling and Brooks Lennon added the third in the 44th minute with a sweetly struck shot.
Miami got back in the game in the 54th minute through a Campana penalty but — while they have made a habit of comebacks with Messi — there was no such revival this time.
As they pushed forward in search of an equalizer, Atlanta caught them on the counter with Greek striker Giorgos Giakoumakis slotting home his 14th goal of the season, bringing him level as joint top scorer in the MLS.
Another well-worked break resulted in the fifth in the 89th minute with Saba Lobzhanidze setting up Tyler Wolff to blast home.
Miami remain next to bottom of the Eastern Conference, six points behind D.C United who occupy ninth place, the last playoff spot.
Martino defended the decision to leave Messi and Alba — who he said also had muscle fatigue — at home ahead of a busy run of games with league matches on Wednesday and Sunday before the US Open Cup final on September 27.
“We risked worse consequences if they came to play this game,” said the coach.
Comebacks
Eastern Conference leaders Cincinnati, already assured of a post-season berth, battled back for a 2-2 draw at last year’s MLS Cup runners-up the Philadelphia Union.
A Jose Martinez goal and a penalty from Daniel Gazdag had put Philadelphia in command, but the impressive Aaron Boupendza pulled a goal back for Cincinnati in the fourth minute of the second half.
The visitors grabbed a point when Boupendza found Brandon Vazquez with a magnificent low ball and the USA striker found the net.
In-form Orlando City produced an even more impressive comeback at home to Columbus, winning 4-3 after trailing 3-1.
Ramiro Enrique levelled in the 86th minute with an opportunist strike and then won the game in the seventh minute of stoppage time, taking advantage of chaos in the Crew defence.
In the Western Conference, Denis Bouanga scored twice for champions Los Angeles FC as they beat cross-city rivals Los Angeles Galaxy 4-2.
Bouanga headed LAFC in front in the 23rd minute but the Galaxy struck back immediately with English forward Billy Sharp firing home his third goal in five appearances since joining the club from Sheffield United.
But a Ryan Hollingshead strike restored LAFC’s lead only for Japanese veteran Maya Yoshida to bring the Galaxy back on level terms again.
Bouanga’s second and an 84th minute goal from Timothy Tillman clinched the derby win and allowed LAFC to narrow the deficit on leaders St. Louis City to six points.
The New England Revolution had a tumultuous week with the resignation, after an MLS investigation, of their head coach Bruce Arena and then a reshuffle of the interim coaching staff.
A win at Colorado would have secured a playoff spot but the Revolution fell to a 2-1 defeat to a team which had won just one of their last 18 games and have the worst record in the league.
The ‘Hudson River derby’ between New York City and New York Red Bulls ended goalless.
-AP
Lionel Messi is facing a lawsuit from a Miami-based event promoter that alleges the soccer star breached a contract by failing to play in an exhibition match last year, according to court records filed on March 31.
VID Music Group last month filed claims of fraud and breach of contract against Messi and the Argentine Football Association in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, court records show. The lawsuit also names sports executive Julian Marcos Kapelan.
According to the complaint, VID signed an agreement with the AFA last summer , granting it exclusive rights to organise and promote Argentina’s international friendlies in October against Venezuela and Puerto Rico, in exchange for ticketing, broadcast and sponsorship revenue.
The promoter says the deal required Messi to play at least 30 minutes in each match unless he was injured, with his participation “a central element of the match’s commercial value” and the “primary economic driver of the matches.”
The lawsuit accuses Messi of conspiring with Kapelan and the AFA “to engage in conduct” designed to induce VID into entering the contracts with AFA “under false pretences”. Messi is also accused of negligent misrepresentation.
The claims against the AFA include alleged negligent misrepresentation and breaches of contract relating to the match against Venezuela, the October fixture versus Puerto Rico, and two proposed matches that were scheduled to take place in the United States in June 2026, while Kapelan is accused of fraud.
Messi, 38, did not play in Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Venezuela on October 10, instead watching the match from a suite at Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida, according to the lawsuit.
The following day, Messi started and scored twice for Inter Miami in a 4-0 win over Atlanta United.
He later appeared for Argentina in a 6-0 victory over Puerto Rico on October 14, recording two assists in a match that was also organised and promoted by VID, a game that was moved from Chicago and played at Inter Miami’s then home ground, Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
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Lionel Messi scored his 900th career goal on Wednesday to become the second player to reach the mark in elite men’s football after Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 38-year-old Argentine World Cup winner brought up the milestone with a left-footed strike in Inter Miami’s 1-1 draw with Nashville SC in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The 900th goal came 21 years after Messi scored his first in senior football for Barcelona as a 17-year-old in 2005.
Inter manager Javier Mascherano said Messi’s tally was “insane”.
“I’ve been lucky enough to see most, or many, of the goals he’s scored, much closer than you all, and that’s a privilege,” he added.
“The number we’re talking about is insane, and that’s why Leo is a one of a kind.”
Messi, who has won the Ballon d’Or eight times, reached the landmark in his 1,142nd appearance for club and country, nearly 100 games fewer than Ronaldo, who took 1,236 games to reach the milestone in September 2024.
Portuguese forward Ronaldo has now reached 965 goals and has targeted the 1,000-mark before he quits the game.
The majority of Messi’s goals came during his spell at Barcelona, where he scored 672 times. He added 32 at Paris St-Germain and 81 for Inter Miami and scored 115 for Argentina, with whom he won the World Cup in 2022.
Messi’s teammates have been able to depend on him at crucial times with 175 of his goals coming in knockout matches, including 35 in finals.
His 129 goals in Europe’s Champions League is second only to Ronaldo’s 140.
Messi’s milestone goal came on a bittersweet night for Miami, who exited the competition on away goals after the first leg of their tie ended 0-0.
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami team to the White House on Thursday, but confessed he had no idea that one of the world’s greatest soccer players was coming — until his son told him.
Trump celebrated the 2025 Major League Soccer Cup champions, Inter Miami, in a ceremony that blended athletic prowess and military might, as the president boasted about the United States’ ongoing operation in Iran.
“The United States military, together with the wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy, far ahead of schedule and at levels that people have never seen before,” Trump said as Argentine great Messi stood next to him.
Trump then turned his attention to what he called “soccer-slash-football,” mixing both the American and international terms for the game.
“It’s my distinct privilege to say what no American president has ever had the chance to say before: Welcome to the White House, Lionel Messi,” Trump said.
Trump said Messi’s visit snuck up on him, as the White House has been engulfed in the operation in Iran since Saturday, and that he realised Thursday’s event was scheduled only after his son pointed it out to him.
“I got a lot of things going on,” Trump quipped.
With a World Cup on America’s doorstep, Trump praised Miami coach Javier Mascherano, and other soccer greats like Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazilian legend Pele, but raved the most over Messi and the Florida team.
“Leo is the reigning FIFA World Cup MVP. You could have gone anywhere in the world. You could have chosen any team in the world, and you chose to go to Miami. I don’t blame you. The weather’s extremely good,” Trump said.
As the president regaled the East Room crowd with a play-by-play of the team’s victory, Trump gushed about the “good-looking” men on the team, who stood lined up behind him.
Surveying the squad, Trump paused to single out Argentine midfielder Rodrigo De Paul and asked, “Do you have any bad-looking players?”
“I don’t like good-looking men,” Trump joked, “You don’t feel so good about yourself.”
The team presented the president with a jersey featuring the number 47, a reference to Trump as the 47th president, and a soccer ball and watch with the team’s signature pink colour.
Trump also looked ahead to the summer. “We have the World Cup and the Olympics,” he said. The World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., across 16 cities, runs from June 11 to July 19 and will be the first to feature 48 teams.
Argentina will arrive as defending World Cup and Copa America champions.
Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi had previously been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic predecessor, in January 2025. However, Messi said he was unable to attend the ceremony due to scheduling conflicts.
Turning back to politics, Trump complimented Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s handling of the Iran operation, and said when that war is finished, the United States could turn to focus on communist Cuba.
Cuba wants “to make a deal so badly,” Trump said.
-Reuters
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