{"id":265496,"date":"2026-05-10T07:46:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/265496\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T07:46:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:46:49","slug":"messi-de-paul-show-world-cup-class-in-inter-miami-rout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/265496\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi, De Paul show World Cup class in Inter Miami rout"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Albiceleste duo of Lionel Messi<\/a> and Rodrigo De Paul<\/a> notched 1g\/2a each at BMO Field in the Herons\u2019 fourth-to-last game before the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> break.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Messi and De Paul both starred during Argentina\u2019s run to the 2022 World Cup trophy<\/a> and are poised to help lead their country\u2019s title defense at this summer\u2019s tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\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

\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

\n Statement performance<\/p>\n

Seeking a bounce-back result after last week\u2019s shock Florida Derby loss to Orlando City<\/a>, the Herons responded by scoring and scoring often.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

In the second half, Luis Su\u00e1rez<\/a> and Sergio Reguil\u00f3n<\/a> added to the lead before Messi tacked on a fourth for Miami.<\/p>\n

With his 75th-minute strike, the legendary No. 10 became the fastest player in 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

\u201cThat\u2019s an extraordinary record, one that marks a path,\u201d Hoyos said of Messi\u2019s latest milestone.<\/p>\n

\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

\n World Cup-ready<\/p>\n

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

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

Both are considered locks to make Albiceleste manager Lionel Scaloni\u2019s 26-man roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\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

\u201c\u2026 The real protagonists in all this are the players. It’s as clear as that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Albiceleste duo of Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul notched 1g\/2a each at BMO Field in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5429,1660,16163,123,125,124,76891,27823,4959,112727],"class_list":["post-265496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-lionel-messi","tag-match-reaction","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-priority-match","tag-rodrigo-de-paul","tag-sendtonews","tag-torvsmia-05-09-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}