{"id":422275,"date":"2026-10-08T14:21:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422275\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:21:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:21:03","slug":"lionel-messi-inter-miami-seek-bounceback-vs-dc-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422275\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi & Inter Miami seek bounceback vs. DC United"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh off hanging up his boots for the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi<\/a> and Inter Miami CF<\/a>\u00a0will look to return to winning ways when they host D.C. United<\/a> for Matchday 29’s Walmart Saturday Showdown.<\/p>\n

3rd in Eastern Conference
\n46 points (12W-5L-10D)<\/p>\n

Although Messi scored a stunning free-kick golazo, the Herons suffered a\u00a02-1 loss<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Columbus Crew<\/a> during last weekend’s Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire thriller at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, courtesy of Jamal Thiar\u00e9’s stoppage-time winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi: With a league-best 21g\/13a, the legendary No. 10 looks set to win his third consecutive MVP award. This will be Messi’s first game since his international send-off<\/a> with Argentina.
\nCasemiro: Deputizing primarily as a center back, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United midfielder has helped improve the Herons’ defense.
\nLuis Su\u00e1rez: With 13g\/8a, the 39-year-old Uruguayan legend has recorded double-digit goals during each of his three seasons in Miami.
\nRodrigo De Paul: Tasked with box-to-box midfield duties, De Paul<\/a> has 4g\/12a this season while remaining Messi’s “bodyguard” on the pitch.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami are still searching for that new coach boost after appointing Cristian “Kily” Gonz\u00e1lez as their manager amid a five-game winless streak in league play.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Herons have won just once in their last 10 league matches since the start of August and have subsequently fallen out of the Supporters’ Shield race.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, they’re still among the favorites to repeat as MLS Cup presented by Audi champions and become the first back-to-back winners since the LA Galaxy<\/a> in 2011-12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s largely because Lionel Messi is once again leading the league in goal contributions (34) as he chases a historic Landon Donovan MLS MVP\u00a0three-peat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

11th in Eastern Conference
\n30 points (6W-8L-12D)<\/p>\n

Summer signing Kimito Nono<\/a> netted his first MLS goals with a brace in a thrilling 3-3 draw<\/a> with Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tai Baribo: The Israeli international has scored a team-leading 14 goals this season, living up to expectations after joining from the Philadelphia Union<\/a> in the offseason.
\nLouis Munteanu: A fellow Designated Player striker, the Romanian international has 6g\/4a in his first MLS season after joining on a club-record transfer (reportedly up to $10 million).
\nKeisuke Kurokawa:\u00a0In his first MLS season, the Japanese defender has produced a joint-best five assists for D.C. from left back.
\nSean Johnson: An MLS veteran between the sticks, Johnson is top 10 in saves per 90 and clean sheets this season.<\/p>\n

Just three points back of the Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand on both New York-based holders, D.C. have their sights set firmly on an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs appearance.<\/p>\n

However, like Miami, the Black-and-Red have won just once in their last nine games since the start of August.<\/p>\n

Freshly returned from international duty with their countries, DP striker duo Tai Baribo<\/a> and Louis Munteanu<\/a> will aim to get D.C. back to winning ways in Miami.<\/p>\n

Fans seem to feel confident in Miami picking up three points this weekend, with the Herons earning over 71% of the market, compared to 14% for D.C.<\/p>\n

Market insights shared are current as of Thursday, Oct. 8 at 10 am ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh off hanging up his boots for the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF\u00a0will look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[34246,5429,123,125,124,166634,76891,76890,4959],"class_list":["post-422275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-d-c-united","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miavsdc-10-10-2026","tag-priority-match","tag-saturday-showdown","tag-sendtonews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422275","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=422275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}