How to watch Inter Miami vs. Cavalier: Lionel Messi's club heavily favored in Concacaf Champions Cup match
Messi missed Miami's last MLS outing, a 4-1 beatdown of the Houston Dynamo on Sunday. He is expected to play Thursday. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner netted goals in both of his opening round matches against Sporting Kansas City.
La conexión Suárez 🤝 Messi para el gol de Inter Miami 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SSP7aSqhoT
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 26, 2025
¡Gol de Miami! ¡Gol de Messi! 🦩#ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/DB3tGeSLTL
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 20, 2025
Miami advanced past KC with a 4-1 aggregate score. Tadeo Allende and Luis Suárez provided the rest of the scoring. Cavalier secured a bye through winning the 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup. It lost to Cincinnati 6-0 over two legs in last year's tournament. If the heavily-favored Herons advance once again, they'd be slated to see fellow MLS clubs Columbus Crew or Los Angeles FC in the quarterfinals. LAFC won the first leg of that Round of 16 matchup 3-0 at home.
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The hosts are -3000 favorites on BetMGM to win in regular time. Cavalier is a seismic underdog at +5000. Predictably, Messi leads all players in first goal odds at +188. He's followed by Suárez (+240), Leo Afonso (+400) and Allende (+575).
Next week's leg in Kingston has been relocated from Cavalier's 3,000-seat home ground to the National Stadium, commonly referred to as The Office and familiar to U.S. men's national team fans as the home of the Jamaican national team. The venue change means at least 30,000 fans can show up to see Messi in action.
The Athletic's Felipe Cardenas on Messi's first MLS fine:
'Messi's behavior during the opening weekend of MLS play revealed a side of him that has always been an overlooked feature, even if it hadn't been a big part of his MLS experience to date. Whether it's attempting to exert an oversized influence or simply being uber-competitive, Messi is showing he won't hold back.
… Messi has been lauded for his desire to win since coming to MLS in 2023. His competitiveness remains intact — as is his willingness to cross a line in the heat of the moment.'
With Lionel Messi out vs. Houston, Dynamo offer fans complimentary ticket to future match
San Diego FC's CEO can turn to a past playbook to fix a new fan problem
(Photo credit: Leonardo Fernandez / Getty Images)
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