{"id":904983,"date":"2026-05-11T07:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/messi-de-paul-show-world-cup-class-in-inter-miami-rout-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T07:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:13:17","slug":"messi-de-paul-show-world-cup-class-in-inter-miami-rout-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/messi-de-paul-show-world-cup-class-in-inter-miami-rout-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi, De Paul show World Cup class in Inter Miami rout | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<p>  <main role=\"main\" id=\"main-content\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-label=\"Page main content\"><\/p>\n<div data-bucket-name=\"main-content-before-middle-adv\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/inter-miami-cf\">Inter Miami CF<\/a> fans had plenty to cheer about in Saturday\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2026\/matches\/torvsmia-05-09-2026\">4-2 win<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/toronto-fc\">Toronto FC<\/a>. And, more than likely, so did the Argentina national team.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>The Albiceleste duo of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/rodrigo-de-paul\/\">Rodrigo De Paul<\/a> notched 1g\/2a each at BMO Field in the Herons\u2019 fourth-to-last game before the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/\">FIFA World Cup<\/a> break.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Messi and De Paul both starred during Argentina\u2019s run to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/thiago-almada-becomes-first-active-mls-player-to-win-a-world-cup-title\">2022 World Cup trophy<\/a> and are poised to help lead their country\u2019s title defense at this summer\u2019s tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey express themselves in an extraordinary way,\u201d Miami interim head coach Guillermo Hoyos told reporters post-match of his star-studded squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when they express themselves, they open any defense, any game situation. We\u2019re talking about people who are cracks, cracks, cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YsmvBxeBidM?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Rodrigo De Paul Free Kick GOAL for Inter Miami is a BANGER off the rebound!\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Statement performance<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Seeking a bounce-back result after last week\u2019s shock Florida Derby loss to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/orlando-city\/\">Orlando City<\/a>, the Herons responded by scoring and scoring often.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>De Paul broke the deadlock right before halftime, following up on his own deflected free kick with a stunning volley to the lower left-hand corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the second half, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/luis-suarez\/\">Luis Su\u00e1rez<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/sergio-reguilon\/\">Sergio Reguil\u00f3n<\/a> added to the lead before Messi tacked on a fourth for Miami.<\/p>\n<p>With his 75th-minute strike, the legendary No. 10 became the fastest player in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/history-lionel-messi-shatters-mls-100-goal-contributions-record\">MLS history<\/a> to reach 100 career goal contributions, doing so in 64 games to shatter the previous record held by TFC icon Sebastian Giovinco (95 games).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s an extraordinary record, one that marks a path,\u201d Hoyos said of Messi\u2019s latest milestone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I believe we have to protect him even more. He needs more protection. Because there aren\u2019t many Leo Messi\u2019s. There\u2019s only one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xlBInwyTZNg?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Messi Makes it FOUR Goals For Inter Miami with a Lovely Run and Finish!\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>World Cup-ready<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>With their standout displays, Messi and De Paul are maintaining top form ahead of Argentina\u2019s World Cup opener against Algeria on June 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Messi, the back-to-back Landon Donovan MLS MVP, has 9g\/4a in 11 starts, while De Paul improved to 3g\/5a on the season.<\/p>\n<p>Both are considered locks to make Albiceleste manager Lionel Scaloni\u2019s 26-man roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat class of players [like Messi], Rodri [De Paul] as well, guys like Su\u00e1rez, and successive players like that, we have to protect them and take care of them,\u201d said Hoyos. \u201cWhy? Because they fill stadiums.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 The real protagonists in all this are the players. It&#8217;s as clear as that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>  <\/main><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/messi-de-paul-show-world-cup-class-in-inter-miami-rout\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Christeen Pepper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Inter Miami CF fans had plenty to cheer about in Saturday\u2019s\u00a04-2 win at Toronto FC. And, more than likely, so did the Argentina national team. The Albiceleste duo of Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul notched 1g\/2a each at BMO Field in the Herons\u2019 fourth-to-last game before the 2026 FIFA World Cup break.\u00a0 Messi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":904984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22673,2005,644],"tags":[42860,5489],"class_list":{"0":"post-904983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-messi","8":"category-soccer","9":"category-world","10":"tag-messi","11":"tag-world"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904983","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=904983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}