MLS
Inter Miami, with 11 winless streak set for Messi unveiling
Inter Miami will celebrate the signing of Lionel Messi on Sunday but will do so after their winless run extended to 11 games with a 3-0 defeat at St. Louis City this Saturday, leaving them rock bottom of Major League Soccer.
Miami confirmed the arrival of Messi hours before their game kicked off in Missouri, but that couldn’t inspire Gerardo Martino’s team to victory as they suffered their 14th defeat in 22 games.
Miami are bottom of the Eastern Conference and their latest loss also left them in last place in the overall standings — 29th of 29 clubs.
That leaves Messi, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner and Argentina World Cup hero, playing for officially the worst team in MLS.
Fortunately for the club and their new star, MLS does not, like most leagues in the world, have relegation. But Messi will need to have a transformational impact on the field if the club are to make a push towards the playoffs.
Messi has been expected to make his debut on Friday against Cruz Azul in the new Leagues Cup, a tournament featuring all the top-flight teams from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX.
MLS is suspending its play for a month while the Leagues Cup is played, meaning the 36-year-old former Barcelona star won’t have a chance to start helping Miami up the league table until they host Charlotte on August 20.
But while the move has excited fans and gives Miami and MLS a chance to grow their popularity and revenue, the Florida club clearly hope that Messi will be able to raise the levels of his teammates.
“Lionel Messi is an incomparable talent. What he brings on and off the field will elevate everyone around him and we’re excited to have him at Inter Miami,” the club’s Sporting Director Chris Henderson said on Saturday.
There was nothing exciting about Miami’s performance in St. Louis, however, with the home side taking the lead in the 28th minute thanks to a header from a corner buried by Samuel Adeniran.
St. Louis, top of the Western Conference in their debut season, made it 2-0 five minutes before the break, with Miami again unable to defend a corner as Tim Parker glanced in a header at the near post.
German Eduard Loewen completed Miami’s misery with a thundering free-kick, 10 minutes from the end.
– Disappointing debut –
It was a disappointing first game in charge for former Barcelona and Argentina coach Martino, who said fans would need to be patient with Messi and left open the question of whether he would feature against Cruz Azul.
“We look to the future with hope (given) that the best player in the world will play for our team, but also with the patience that we have to have so that he can get in good physical shape and can play at the right moment,” he said.
“We ended up losing the game with three set pieces, which, of course, is valid and that’s how games are won. We have a lot of stuff to correct,” he added.
Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati continued their outstanding home form with their 11th win in 12 games thanks to a 3-1 win over a Nashville team who ended with nine men for the second straight game.
USA defender Walker Zimmerman put Nashville ahead in the 31st minute with a tap-in after Cincinnati keeper Roman Celentano failed to hold onto a cross.
The home side drew level through a 42nd-minute Luciano Acosta penalty but then Nashville saw Taylor Washington and Fata Picault both sent off for second yellow cards, leaving them two men down for the final 20 minutes.
Acosta set up Santiago Arias with a clever diagonal pass in the 74th minute before newly signed Gabonese striker Aaron Boupendza made sure of the win.
Ian Harkes, son of former US international John, scored twice for the New England Revolution, second in the East, as they beat Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United 4-0.
Last season’s runners-up, the Philadelphia Union beat 2021 champions New York City 2-1 with goals from Jose Martinez and Chris Donovan.
-AP
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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U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host global football icon Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates at the White House following the club’s historic Major League Soccer triumph.
According to The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism arm of The New York Times, Inter Miami CF received an invitation to the White House to commemorate their 2025 MLS Cup championship. The Miami Herald confirmed that the ceremony will take place on Thursday, just two days before the Herons face D.C. United in Washington, D.C.
Reports indicate that the entire squad — including Messi — is expected to attend the event with President Trump.
Inter Miami secured the first MLS Cup title in franchise history with a 3–1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps FC on December 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The triumph marked a milestone moment for the relatively young club and capped a season highlighted by Messi’s continued influence both on and off the pitch.
White House visits have long been a tradition for championship-winning American sports teams, and Inter Miami’s appearance will place the club alongside a distinguished list of title holders honoured in Washington.
The visit will also carry added significance for co-owner David Beckham, who previously attended a White House ceremony in 2012 during his time with the LA Galaxy after the club’s 2011 MLS Cup victory.
For Messi, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, the White House reception adds another high-profile chapter to a decorated career that has spanned Europe, South America and now North America.
The ceremony is expected to take place in Washington before Inter Miami shifts focus back to league action, with their upcoming fixture against D.C. United is looming shortly after the White House engagement.
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