{"id":19387,"date":"2025-09-17T09:04:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T09:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19387"},"modified":"2025-09-17T09:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T09:04:15","slug":"messi-scores-goal-and-sets-up-another-as-miami-beats-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=19387","title":{"rendered":"Messi scores goal and sets up another as Miami beats Seattle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up another to spark Inter Miami over the Seattle Sounders 3-1 on Tuesday in an MLS rematch of a melee-capped Leagues Cup final.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old Argentine striker who starred for Barcelona and led his homeland to the 2022 World Cup set up Spaniard Jordi Alba&#8217;s goal in the 12th minute and scored in the 41st to give Miami a 2-0 halftime lead in the grudge-match contest.<\/p>\n<p>American Ian Fray added a Miami goal in the 52nd minute for a 3-0 edge before Mexican midfielder Obed Vargas pulled one back for Seattle in the 69th.<\/p>\n<p>The Sounders had routed Miami 3-0 on August 31 in Seattle in a Leagues Cup final that ended with a benches-clearing brawl and Inter striker Luis Suarez spitting on a Sounders staff member.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was important, beyond having good feelings, to find ourselves with the victory against a great rival that took away the possibility of winning a competition a couple of weeks ago,&#8221; Miami coach Javier Mascherano said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We understood it in the best way. We played the game we had to play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Suarez, who apologized two weeks ago, was banned from the 2026 Leagues Cup and issued a three-match ban by MLS for his actions. The Uruguayan served his second match of the suspension in the home rematch with Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>Inter Miami had slid to eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-0 loss at Charlotte on Saturday but by beating Seattle improved to 14-6 with seven drawn for 49 points, leaping into fifth in the East and only eight points adrift of pace-setter Philadelphia with three matches in hand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have seven finals left and our goal is to win all seven to finish first in the conference,&#8221; Mascherano said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It makes the expectations with us high, invites us to be competitive, always have our guard up and not relax.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Sounders fell to 12-8 with nine drawn for 45 points to stand fourth in the Western Conference, just one point ahead of Los Angeles FC.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up another to spark Inter Miami over the Seattle Sounders 3-1 on Tuesday in an MLS rematch of a melee-capped Leagues Cup final. The 38-year-old Argentine striker who starred for Barcelona and led his homeland to the 2022 World Cup set up Spaniard Jordi Alba&#8217;s goal in the [&hellip;]<\/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-19387","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\/19387","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=19387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}