Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) celebrates with defender Sergio Reguilón (3) after scoring a goal against Nashville SC in the first half of their Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 second-leg soccer match at Inter Miami CF Stadium on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Photo by Matias J. Ocner
mocner@miamiherald.com
Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates, still stinging from their unexpected Round of 16 Champions Cup elimination midweek, now turn their focus squarely on the MLS season for the next few months until the league breaks for the World Cup.
The team heads to New York for a 1 p.m. Sunday game at Yankee Stadium against Eastern Conference leader NYCFC.
Messi is healthy and expected to play before leaving for Argentina to join the Argentine national team for two friendlies March 27 against Mauritania and March 31 against Zambia.
After that, he returns home to prepare for the inaugural Inter Miami game at Nu Stadium at Miami Freedom Park, which will be April 4 at 7:30 p.m. against Austin FC.
Messi scored his 900th goal against Nashville SC in the second leg of the Champions Cup in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday, but Miami was eliminated because the away goals tiebreaker rule gave Nashville the edge in the 1-1 tie. The teams played to a scoreless draw in the first leg in Nashville.
Miami coach Javier Mascherano met with the media Saturday morning before the team headed to New York and attempted to diffuse any suggestion that the team is panicking or in a state of desperation after failing to advance in the Champions Cup.
“We can’t change what happened, and there’s no point in dwelling on it and regretting it. Clearly, we’re still in the process of accepting and coming to terms with the disappointment of being eliminated,” he said. “That’s soccer. It happens. But I think it’s up to us to prove that what happened the other day was just a fluke. And well, the best way to prove it is to focus on the league now.”
He said the team can’t afford to think about the past because it is about to face an opponent that reached the Eastern Conference final a few months ago, has not changed much and is playing well. The last time the teams met, in the MLS Eastern Conference final, Miami won 5-1.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to turn the page and to focus on the league and what comes next,” Mascherano said.
Miami sits in third place in the East with seven points after two wins, one tie, and one loss. NYCFC has 10 points and is tied atop the table with Nashville.
One of the points of emphasis on Sunday (1 p.m., Apple TV) will be finding the scoring touch the team enjoyed during the 2025 playoff run.
Messi has scored four of Inter Miami’s seven goals so far this season. Mateo Silvetti, Telasco Segovia and Rodrigo De Paul scored the other three.
De Paul, a teammate of Messi’s on the Argentine national team, was not at training Saturday and the club later announced that he had suffered a left leg contusion during the Nashville game and would miss the NYCFC game as a precaution.
Striker German Berterame has been scoreless since joining Miami in a $15 million transfer from Mexican club Monterrey. Tadeo Allende, who set the MLS record with nine playoff goals, has yet to score and Luis Suarez also has not yet found the back of the net.
Mascherano addressed the scoring struggles, saying there are games during which the team did not create chances, such as the season opener against Los Angeles FC, and also the away game at Nashville. He said the other games Miami had had ample chances, but failed to finish, such as at Charlotte, when Miami had eight or nine chances.
“We are well aware that one of the best things about our team last year was the number of goals we scored,” he said. “We have Leo, who always delivers an incredible number of goals, whether by scoring or providing assists, and now we need the rest of the team to start scoring and contributing to those numbers. We need to work much harder on that.”
Mascherano said the defense has stepped up, especially since the retirement of Spanish legends Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. The bigger issue is lack of scoring, which the coaching staff is working on this week.
Asked whether losing so early in the Champions Cup is the toughest moment since taking the job last season, Mascherano replied: “No. A year ago, after being eliminated from the Champions Cup, we had a poor run where there were rumors and questions about whether I could continue as coach.
“This is normal. The day you become a coach, you know that when you don’t get results, you’ll be questioned and could get fired. I don’t worry about those things. The only way to go forward is to believe in what you’re doing and keep improving.”
He said the team’s overall record thus far (two wins, three ties, one loss) is no reason for drastic measures.
“It’s not a bad start, not a disaster, but there are very high expectations for this club so everything seems worse,” he said.
Center back Maxi Falcon (knee) and left back Sergio Reguilon (leg muscle strain) will not play against NYCFC due to injuries, Mascherano said. Falcon started running again and will benefit having next week off during the FIFA window. The hope is that Falcon will return to training the week of the Austin game.
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 3:43 PM.
Miami Herald
Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman has covered 14 Olympics, six World Cups, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, NCAA Basketball Tournaments, NBA Playoffs, Super Bowls and has been the soccer writer and University of Miami basketball beat writer for 25 years. She was born in Frederick, Md., and grew up in Miami.