How to watch Inter Miami vs. Cavalier: Lionel Messi's side seeks Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals

New York Times

13-03-2025

Lionel Messi makes his first trip to Jamaica, the 48th country covered in his storied career. His Inter Miami club looks to advance past Cavalier FC into the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals after winning the opening leg, 2-0.
This match was relocated from Cavalier's usual 3,000-seat home ground to the National Stadium, familiar to international fans as 'The Office.' Inter Miami is in a groove, unbeaten in its six total matches of 2025. It thoroughly triumphed in last Thursday's action even with Messi resting, as Tadeo Allende struck in the 61st minute and Luis Suárez added a goal in the 83rd.
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'Leo Messi is on the roster and will travel with the team to Jamaica,' Mascherano told media on Wednesday. 'Tomorrow we will decide for the game what is best, if he starts or waits on the bench and comes in later.'
Allende also scored in Sunday's MLS tilt with Charlotte, which Miami won 1-0. He has a goal in four consecutive outings, while Suárez has three goals in that four-match span.
Cavalier won the 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup and finished first in the Jamaica Premier League. They lost in last year's tournament to MLS' Cincinnati FC, 6-0 in the aggregate. If Miami holds on Thursday night, they'll face league peers in LAFC.
The Athletic's Conor O'Neill on Messi's first trip to yet another country:
'Across 1,086 club and international matches in 48 countries and 179 cities, Messi has scored 852 goals. Yet this will be the first Caribbean stamp on his footballing passport. For a player who struggled with intense homesickness after leaving Rosario for Barcelona at 13, the Argentinian has since enjoyed a career that's taken him across six continents. Completing the continental set with a match in Antarctica is logistically challenging — though last month's trip to Kansas City, played in -9°C (16°F), was a suitable proxy for the ice-capped, largely uninhabited landmass.'
Pablo Maurer, live from Kingston:
''He's going to love Jamaica,' Campbell, who is in his 60s, says with a laugh. 'We love him here, he's gonna love us. Only Pelé was better.' The shadow of the Brazilian legend looms large in the entire Caribbean, where he was and still is widely idolized. Some 30,000 fans will fill The Office to watch Miami play, but the number won't approach the 45,000 who showed up in 1975 to watch Pelé's New York Cosmos face a Jamaican all-star team. Even tiny Cavalier FC has its own story about him, having faced Santos in 1971.
'Soccer has grown rapidly in popularity over the last two decades in a country where track and field (locally referred to as athletics) is still king. Cricket, too, has its own strong following on the island, but Jamaican football clubs have made inroads recently. Cavalier's head coach, Rudolph Speid, sees the encounter with Messi as an obvious means to continue growing the game.'
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(Photo of Lionel Messi: Rich Storry / Getty Images)