{"id":906215,"date":"2026-05-16T09:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/lionel-messi-masterclass-powers-inter-miamis-wild-win-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T09:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:17:12","slug":"lionel-messi-masterclass-powers-inter-miamis-wild-win-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/lionel-messi-masterclass-powers-inter-miamis-wild-win-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi masterclass powers Inter Miami’s WILD win | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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With the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> less than a month away, Lionel Messi<\/a> is in scorching form for Inter Miami CF<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Argentine legend led the Herons to a thrilling comeback win over FC Cincinnati<\/a> on Wednesday night, tallying 2g\/1a and forcing an own goal in a 5-3 victory<\/a> at TQL Stadium.<\/p>\n

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner now has 11g\/5a this season, leads the league in goal contributions, and is one goal off the Golden Boot presented by Audi lead.<\/p>\n

With 4g\/5a in his last three matches, the back-to-back Landon Donovan MLS MVP is firing on all cylinders for the defending MLS Cup presented by Audi champions.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s brilliant what they did today,” interim coach Guillermo Hoyos said after the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an incredible game with ups and downs. We are very happy and comfortable that we can play football at a high level.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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GOL! Second one for our captain. \ud83e\udee1\ud83d\udd25 pic.twitter.com\/nBX76yYYAz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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Man on a mission<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

After becoming the fastest player in MLS history to reach\u00a0100 career goal contributions<\/a> in a 4-2 win<\/a> at Toronto FC<\/a> last Saturday, Messi opened the scoring at Cincy in the 24th minute by deflecting a failed clearance into the net.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Messi found his brace in the 55th minute with a first-time finish off a cross from fellow Argentine star Rodrigo De Paul<\/a>, and it appeared the GOAT sealed Miami\u2019s seventh road win this season with a hat trick in the 89th minute, before it was later ruled an own goal off Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2022 World Cup champion also set up Mateo Silvetti<\/a> for an equalizer in the eight-goal thriller.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are players that truly improve and make the league better,\u201d Hoyos said. \u201cFirst, because of the player and person [Messi] is. He puts in a lot of work \u2026 They left everything on the field today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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GR\u00cdTALO LEO! El 10 marca su gol n\u00famero 10 en la temporada. \ud83d\udcab\ud83d\udd1f pic.twitter.com\/k7uLvmQ6Hx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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With two games remaining before the World Cup break, Inter Miami are second in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Nashville SC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next up, the Herons host the Portland Timbers<\/a> as part of a Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire doubleheader (6 pm ET | Apple TV<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[The players] showed the world that they have the presence, the imagination, the experience, the dream to come out as champions and continue to be champions,\u201d Hoyos said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Soccer With the 2026 FIFA World Cup less than a month away, Lionel Messi is in scorching form for Inter Miami CF. The Argentine legend led the Herons to a thrilling comeback win over FC Cincinnati on Wednesday night, tallying 2g\/1a and forcing an own goal in a 5-3 victory at TQL Stadium. The eight-time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":906216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22672,22673,2005],"tags":[82301,42860],"class_list":{"0":"post-906215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lionel","8":"category-messi","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-lionel","11":"tag-messi"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906215","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=906215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}