Cruz Azul will be looking to win another international title when they take on Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the 2026 Campeones Cup, a showdown between the reigning Liga MX champion and the MLS champion.<\/p>\n
This will be the eighth edition of the tournament, and both La M\u00e1quina and the South Florida club will be aiming to lift the trophy for the first time.<\/p>\n
Why are Inter Miami and Cruz Azul playing in the Campeones Cup?<\/p>\n
Inter Miami qualified after winning the 2025 MLS Cup, while Cruz Azul earned its spot by capturing the most recent Campe\u00f3n de Campeones title in Liga MX.<\/p>\n
Since its inaugural edition in 2018, the Campeones Cup has been dominated by Mexican clubs, which enter this year’s match riding a streak of three consecutive titles and owning five championships overall.<\/p>\n
Players to watch<\/p>\n
All eyes will be on Lionel Messi, Inter Miami’s biggest star. The team, coached by Cristian “Kily” Gonz\u00e1lez, also features high-profile players such as Luis Su\u00e1rez, Rodrigo De Paul, Casemiro, and Germ\u00e1n Berterame.<\/p>\n
For Cruz Azul, Erik Lira stands out after boosting his international reputation with Mexico during the FIFA World Cup. Jos\u00e9 Paradela, Carlos Rotondi, and Omar Campos are also expected to play key roles for La M\u00e1quina.<\/p>\n
When and where is the match?<\/p>\n
The match will be played on Wednesday, September 16, at Nu Stadium in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n
Kickoff times:<\/p>\n
Mexico: 6:00 p.m.Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru: 7:00 p.m.U.S. Eastern Time: 8:00 p.m.Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay: 9:00 p.m.<\/p>\n
Projected lineups<\/p>\n
Inter Miami: Dayne St. Clair; Ian Fray, Casemiro, Maximiliano Falc\u00f3n, Fricio Caicedo; Rodrigo De Paul, Yannick Bright, Telasco Segovia; Lionel Messi, Germ\u00e1n Berterame, and Luis Su\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n
Cruz Azul: Kevin Mier; Jeremy M\u00e1rquez, Willer Ditta, Gonzalo Piovi, Omar Campos; Agust\u00edn Palavecino, Erik Lira, Jos\u00e9 Paradela; Charly Rodr\u00edguez, Carlos Rotondi, and Nico Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n
Campeones Cup champions
\n 2018: Tigres UANL2019: Atlanta United2020: Not played (COVID-19)2021: Columbus Crew2022: New York City FC2023: Tigres UANL2024: Club Am\u00e9rica2025: Toluca<\/p>\n
With Messi as the headline attraction and Cruz Azul aiming to extend Liga MX’s dominance, the 2026 Campeones Cup promises to deliver a high-level clash between two of North America’s top clubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cruz Azul will be looking to win another international title when they take on Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-618653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}