Chicago hold Messi-led Miami to draw in front of record crowd
A club-record crowd of 62,358 packed into Soldier Field for the visit of Lionel Messi and his Inter team to witness a gutsy display from the home side.
Chicago, coached by former USA boss Gregg Berhalter, limited Messi and his former Barcelona strike partner Luis Suarez to just a handful of opportunities.
The best effort from Messi, who played the full game, came in the third minute when he unleashed a snap shot from outside the box which was denied by a fine, diving save from Fire keeper Chris Brady.
There was no sense of Chicago being overawed by the big crowd at the stadium they share with the NFL's Bears and they went close twice in the opening half with Mauricio Pineda forcing Oscar Ustari into a full stretch save and then Philip Zinckernagel striking the outside of the post from a narrow angle.
Suarez had a great chance to put Miami ahead just before the break when Noah Allen floated a ball in but the Uruguayan puts his shot over the bar.
After the break, Chicago enjoyed plenty of pressure with much of the creativity coming from former Lille winger Jonathan Bamba.
The Fire should have grabbed all three points in the 88th minute when Bamba's shot was parried out by Ustari but Maren Haile-Selassie put the follow-up shot wide.
Bamba was denied again by Ustari moments later but in a frantic finale, Miami also could have stolen a win but, from a promising position, Tadeo Allende dragged his shot wide. Miami had looked tired after their midweek exertions in their CONCACAF Champions Cup win over Los Angeles FC on Wednesday and coach Javier Mascherano appeared relieved they had picked up a point.
'We came with a very, very big load not only physically, but also mentally. So not losing is always important, too,' he said.
'I'll take the positives, which is that we didn't concede a goal. We'd been conceding goals for three games, and today we kept a clean sheet. ... Now, luckily, we have a long week of work, which is a bit of a break for us, after the start of the season we've had,' he said.
Former Miami coach Phil Neville saw his improving Portland Timbers team enjoy a 4-2 win at Sporting Kansas City with Venezuelan forward Kevin Kelsy scoring twice. Portland are unbeaten in five games and move up to fourth in the Western Conference.
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The National
5 hours ago
- The National
David Moyes on 'stunning' Everton stadium, setting age limit on career and coaching Wayne Rooney
David Moyes is one of the most respected figures in English football. In his stellar career in management, Moyes has been in charge for 1,169 games at Preston North End, Everton, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham, where he won the club's first trophy for 43 years in 2023. The Premier League manager of the month 11 times, he's managed more games in England's top-flight than any other current manager. Not to mention, he played 540 games as a defender before becoming a manager. The National sat down with Everton's Glaswegian manager recently in Chicago during the club's pre-season tour. How are you feeling going into the new season? Well, we finished last season positively. Not better than we expected, but probably better than we hoped. When I took over [ in January 2025 ], relegation was the word which was kicking around, so we've sort of done a good job in getting rid of that. What did you do? The players made a great reaction. 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There was an advertisement up in the fruit and veg shop saying drivers were needed to deliver fruit and veg. I wanted to help in the community. So I walked round and said, 'Can I help you with the job?' And the man said, 'Yeah'. I hired a van and I'd deliver these big baskets of fruit and veg and collect money for them. I'd say 'That's £12.50' and they'd give me £15 and say 'keep the change, son.' They didn't have a clue who I was. One or two said that I looked like the football manager David Moyes. There were a few where the people didn't have the right money so I just said 'Call it a tenner' and I put the rest in. A lot of the deliveries were around Blackpool. And I'm seen as being Preston because I'd played for and managed Preston North End, but there were no issues. It was at a time when we all needed to do something. How's Premier League football changing? If you watch a game now compared to 10 or 15 years ago, are the tactics changing? Hugely. And I sense another turn. 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Khaleej Times
2 days ago
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LIV Golf standings explained: The winners, losers, and what's next after Chicago
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