Sports
Lionel Messi became the first player to win the MLS Golden Boot in consecutive seasons on Saturday as defending champions Inter Miami finished second in the Eastern Conference after a 3–3 draw with Charlotte on the final day of the regular season.
Messi did not score at Nu Stadium but helped set up Miami’s first two goals from corners. The Argentine finished the season with 26 goals, four ahead of Dallas forward Petar Musa, who did not score in his side’s 3–1 home win over Colorado.
Miami took the lead in the 14th minute when Charlotte’s Luca de la Torre failed to clear a Messi corner and the ball fell to Ian Fray, who opened the scoring. Another Messi corner found Luis Suárez unmarked at the near post in the 33rd minute, and the Uruguayan glanced his header in to make it 2–0. Rodrigo De Paul added a third before half-time.
Liel Abada pulled a goal back for Charlotte early in the second half and scored again in the 55th minute. Rodolfo Aloko completed the comeback in the 90th minute, reacting first after Smalls’s shot came back off the post. Messi struck the post in stoppage time before Aloko came close to a winner with a powerful shot that hit the side netting.
Miami finished with 60 points, securing home advantage for the first two playoff rounds. New England could have taken advantage of the draw but lost 1–0 at Orlando and finished third with 58 points.
Nashville beat Cincinnati 2–0 to top the Eastern Conference and set an MLS regular-season record with 77 points. Nashville won 23 matches, drew eight and lost three, surpassing the previous record of 74 points set by Miami in 2024.
Miami will open the playoffs against Columbus, who beat Chicago 4–3 to finish seventh and avoid the wild-card round. New England will face Philadelphia, Charlotte will play Chicago, and top seed Nashville will meet the winner of the wild-card match between Orlando and Cincinnati.
Western Conference champions Vancouver beat Montreal 2–0 to finish second overall. That gives the Whitecaps home advantage if they meet Inter Miami again in a rematch of last season’s MLS Cup final.
Six teams entered the final day competing for the last three Western Conference playoff places. Portland, Colorado and the Los Angeles Galaxy could each have qualified with a win, but only Portland did so, beating Austin 2–0. Real Salt Lake defeated the Galaxy 2–1 and secured a postseason place as Colorado lost at Dallas.
Seattle took the other available spot with a 2–1 home win over Los Angeles FC. Albert Rusnák scored in the opening minute and set up Sebastián Gómez in the 31st. Eddie Segura pulled one back for LAFC in the 82nd minute. Minnesota beat San Jose 3–1 but, like the Galaxy, finished one point behind Real Salt Lake.
Vancouver will face the winner of the wild-card match between Seattle and Real Salt Lake. Dallas will play Portland, LAFC will meet St. Louis, and Houston will face San Jose.
