{"id":380636,"date":"2026-10-23T09:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T09:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/380636\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T09:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T09:16:31","slug":"lionel-messi-inter-miami-square-off-with-red-bull-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/380636\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi &#038; Inter Miami square off with Red Bull New York"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>9th in Eastern Conference<br \/>\n36 points (10W-14L-6D)<\/p>\n<p>The Red Bulls suffered a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2026\/matches\/rbnyvstor-10-17-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2-0 setback<\/a> at home to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/toronto-fc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto FC<\/a> for their second straight loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Julian Hall: The 18-year-old breakout homegrown striker placed second in this year&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/2026-22-under-22-rankings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">22 Under 22 rankings<\/a> after scoring in his first three USMNT appearances. He also leads RBNY with 11g\/5a.<br \/>\nAdri Mehmeti: The fellow rising homegrown midfielder and US men&#8217;s international has been one of the league&#8217;s top young stars and finished No. 3 on the 22 Under 22 list.<br \/>\nJorge Ruvalcaba: The 25-year-old Designated Player has been a key piece of New York&#8217;s front line this year and is second on the team with eight goals.<br \/>\nRonald Donkor: RBNY&#8217;s third player to feature on the 22 Under 22 list, the Ghanaian has been a constant in Red Bulls&#8217; midfield, contributing 2g\/9a this season.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Michael Bradley&#8217;s first season in charge has been a rollercoaster filled with plenty of positives and work still to be done. However, after back-to-back losses, RBNY have watched their grip on an Eastern Conference playoff spot slip, and they now occupy ninth and final postseason position.<\/p>\n<p>With four games to go, they&#8217;re level on points with Toronto and have eyes on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/columbus-crew\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Columbus Crew<\/a>, who are lurking just one point back. The time is now for the Red Bulls to earn a signature win, especially with difficult matches against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/new-england-revolution\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New England<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/nashville-sc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nashville<\/a> looming.<\/p>\n<p>2nd in Eastern Conference<br \/>\n55 points (15W-5L-10D)<\/p>\n<p>The Herons are on a three-game winning streak, most recently downing southern rivals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/atlanta-united\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Atlanta United<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2026\/matches\/atlvsmia-10-17-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3-1<\/a>, on the road.<\/p>\n<p>The legendary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lionel Messi<\/a> led the way with 2g\/1a, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/german-berterame\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Germ\u00e1n Berterame<\/a> tallied 1g\/2a and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/luis-suarez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luis Su\u00e1rez<\/a> added two assists.<\/p>\n<p>Lionel Messi: Week by week, it looks increasingly likely that the GOAT will claim his third consecutive Landon Donovan MLS MVP award. He&#8217;s up to a league-best 40 goal contributions (25g\/15a) on the year.<br \/>\nGerm\u00e1n Berterame: The Mexican international has rounded into form as the year has gone on. Miami&#8217;s DP striker is now up to 9g\/10a in his first season in the pink and black.<br \/>\nLuis Su\u00e1rez: The 39-year-old has enjoyed a career renaissance in 2026, recording 15g\/12a and forming a formidable attacking trio with Messi and Berterame.<br \/>\nCasemiro: Despite featuring as a holding midfielder during his illustrious career with European giants such as Real Madrid and Manchester United, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/casemiro\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Casemiro<\/a> has deputized as a center back for the Herons, adding a much-needed layer to their defense.<\/p>\n<p>Inter Miami have secured their place in the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs, and Messi looks set to win his third straight MLS MVP. The vibes in South Florida are high.<\/p>\n<p>Though they own a three-point cushion on third-place New England, the Herons will still have eyes on holding off the Revs, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/chicago-fire-fc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago<\/a>, for the second seed in the East.<\/p>\n<p>If the regular season ended today, Miami would face a Round One Best-of-3 Series against Floridian rivals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/antoine-griezmann\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Antoine Griezmann<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/orlando-city\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orlando City<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Miami look to be the favorites heading into this clash with over half of the market (53%) of the market, compared to 27% for the Red Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>Market insights shared are current as of Thursday, Oct. 22 at 12 pm ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"9th in Eastern Conference 36 points (10W-14L-6D) The Red Bulls suffered a 2-0 setback at home to Toronto&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13425,9,24,55,54,56,58753,139527,36179,12687],"class_list":["post-380636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-priority-match","tag-rbnyvsmia-10-24-2026","tag-red-bull-new-york","tag-sendtonews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}