{"id":17669,"date":"2025-08-28T06:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T06:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=17669"},"modified":"2025-08-28T06:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T06:04:05","slug":"messi-brace-puts-miami-into-leagues-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=17669","title":{"rendered":"Messi brace puts Miami into Leagues Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lionel Messi scored twice late on as Inter Miami fought back to beat Orlando City 3-1 and reach the final of the Leagues Cup on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

After missing two straight matches with a right thigh injury, Messi converted a penalty in the 77th minute to pull Inter level at 1-1 then combined with Jordi Alba to put the hosts ahead in the 88th.<\/p>\n

Telasco Segovia added a third in injury time as Miami returned to the final of the Leagues Cup, the cross-border competition featuring teams from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga-MX.<\/p>\n

Inter won it in 2023, Messi’s first season in MLS.<\/p>\n

They will face reigning MLS Cup champions Los Angeles Galaxy or Seattle Sounders in Sunday’s final.<\/p>\n

Orlando will play in a third-place game, and the top three finishers in the tournament earn berths in the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup.<\/p>\n

In a high-energy first half, Croatia’s Marco Pasalic silenced the crowd at Miami’s Chase Stadium with a goal in first-half added time.<\/p>\n

Luis Muriel slipped a pass into the area and Maximiliano Falcon’s attempt to clear it instead saw the ball deflect back to Pasalic, who rifled a left-footed shot into the net.<\/p>\n

Inter players appealed saying the ball hit Pasalic’s arm but VAR confirmed the goal.<\/p>\n

Orlando, who had twice humbled their cross-state rivals this season, continued to stymie Inter in the second half.<\/p>\n

Luis Suarez forced a save from Orlando keeper Pedro Gallese while Messi twice threatened in the area only to find himself swamped in a sea of defenders.<\/p>\n

Inter coach Javier Mascherano was visibly frustrated as he watched from the stands, having received a red card during the quarter-final win over Tigres UANL.<\/p>\n

Orlando lost some momentum in the 59th minute when Guatemalan referee Walter Lopez denied them a penalty shout after Sergio Busquets’ foul on Ivan Angulo.<\/p>\n

And the momentum shifted irrevocably Miami’s way in the 74th minute when substitute Tadeo Allende drew a foul in the box.<\/p>\n

David Brekalo’s challenge included a tug on Allende’s jersey and earned him a second yellow card.<\/p>\n

He departed as Messi went to the spot, the Argentine great firing past Gallese into the lower right corner of the net.<\/p>\n

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi sparked joyous celebrations with his second goal 11 minutes later.<\/p>\n

Orlando had won two prior matches against Miami this season by a combined 7-1 margin, including a 4-1 rout earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi scored twice late on as Inter Miami fought back to beat Orlando City 3-1 and reach the final of the Leagues Cup on Wednesday. After missing two straight matches with a right thigh injury, Messi converted a penalty in the 77th minute to pull Inter level at 1-1 then combined with Jordi Alba […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}