{"id":874712,"date":"2025-09-21T23:11:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T04:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/21\/lionel-messis-golden-boot-form-keeps-miami-in-shield-race-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T23:11:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T04:11:41","slug":"lionel-messis-golden-boot-form-keeps-miami-in-shield-race-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/21\/lionel-messis-golden-boot-form-keeps-miami-in-shield-race-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi’s Golden Boot form keeps Miami in Shield race | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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Lionel Messi<\/a> is not slowing down any time soon.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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With two goals and an assist, the legendary No. 10 took the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi lead (22g\/12a) to guide Inter Miami CF<\/a> to a 3-2 home victory<\/a> over D.C. United<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s win left Miami in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, with 52 points, keeping them in contention for a Supporters’ Shield repeat with six games remaining.<\/p>\n

“It was an important victory,\u201d coach Javier Mascherano said after the final whistle at Chase Stadium. \u201cWe won the six points we needed to win at home.<\/p>\n

“We’ve gone up, we still have several games left to get us [higher up the table].”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Messi masterclass<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

With Messi in peak form, Miami look like a major threat ahead of the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs. The Argentine dropped a perfect through ball to Tadeo Allende<\/a> to put Miami in the lead, before taking over the game after the break with a second-half brace.<\/p>\n

In response to a Christian Benteke<\/a>‘s 53rd-minute equalizer, Messi used a vintage first touch in the box to slot home a pass from fellow FC Barcelona icon Jordi Alba<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, five minutes from time, the GOAT produced the dagger, subtly feinting away from a defender and curling home his second of the night.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Class of his own<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Messi now has 22 goals on the season, one more than Nashville SC<\/a>\u2019s Sam Surridge<\/a>, despite playing 803 fewer minutes, to go along with 12 assists.<\/p>\n

Last year’s Landon Donovan MLS MVP is making a strong case to become the league’s first-ever back-to-back winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother totally normal night for him,\u201d Mascherano said. \u201cIt is an advantage to have him, and we have to capitalize.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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With two goals and an assist against D.C. United, @InterMiamiCF<\/a> forward Lionel Messi recorded his 16th game with at least one goal and one assist, tying Carlos Vela (16) for the second-most in a player\u2019s first three MLS seasons and trailing only Preki (17). pic.twitter.com\/gIXVYaCSRs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) September 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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Full speed ahead<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

The win over D.C. is key for Miami\u2019s position in the tight Eastern Conference. They now sit in fifth place, only a point behind New York City FC<\/a> in fourth and eight points behind Supporters’ Shield-leading Philadelphia Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the Herons have at least two games in hand on the teams in front of them. And Mascherano hopes to combine Miami\u2019s dominant attack with a stout defense heading into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, we have very good players that win games,” he said, “but (defense) is going to win us championships.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Tomi Stoval<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Lionel Messi is not slowing down any time soon. With two goals and an assist, the legendary No. 10 took the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi lead (22g\/12a) to guide Inter Miami CF to a 3-2 home victory over D.C. United. Saturday’s win left Miami in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":874713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22672,93020,2005],"tags":[82301,108989],"class_list":{"0":"post-874712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lionel","8":"category-messis","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-lionel","11":"tag-messis"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}