MIAMI: Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi won his second consecutive MLS Golden Boot award on Saturday after the defending champions finished second in the Eastern Conference with a wasteful 3-3 draw against Charlotte on the final day of the regular season.
The Argentine superstar did not score but set up the first two goals at Miami’s Nu Stadium, both from corners, helping secure home-field advantage for his club in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Messi’s 26 goals this season were enough to make him the first player to win back-to-back MLS Golden Boot awards. Petar Musa of Dallas finished second with 22 goals, having failed to score in his club’s 3-1 home victory over Colorado.
Ian Fray, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul scored three first-half goals for Inter Miami before Liel Abada’s brace soon after the break began a comeback that was completed by Rodolfo Aloko’s late strike.
Runaway overall leaders Nashville broke the all-time MLS record for points in a season, reaching 77 after beating Cincinnati 2-0. With a record of 23 wins, three losses and eight draws, Nashville won the Eastern Conference and surpassed the previous mark of 74 points set by Miami in 2024.
Miami finished second in the East on 60 points, while third-placed New England failed to capitalise on Inter’s draw, suffering a surprise 1-0 defeat at Orlando to finish on 58 points.
Messi’s men will face Columbus to begin the MLS playoffs. Other Eastern Conference match-ups will see New England take on Philadelphia, Charlotte face Chicago and top seed Nashville meet the wild-card winner, either Orlando or Cincinnati.
Columbus took advantage of Cincinnati’s defeat with a 4-3 victory at Chicago to finish seventh and avoid the wild-card round.
At Miami, Messi’s 14th-minute corner fell unexpectedly to Charlotte’s Luca de la Torre, who lifted the ball for Fray to open the scoring.
Another Messi corner in the 33rd minute found Suarez unmarked at the near post. The Uruguayan glanced in a header to make it 2-0.
De Paul made it three before half-time, but Abada pulled a goal back for the visitors early in the second half and scored again in the 55th minute.
In the 90th minute, Aloko scored the equaliser, reacting first to the ball after Smalls’s shot ricocheted off the post.
A visibly frustrated Messi hit the post in stoppage time before Aloko came inches from scoring an unlikely winner with a powerful shot that struck the outside of the net.
Seattle, Real advance
Western Conference champions Vancouver beat Canadian rivals Montreal 2-0 to finish second overall, giving the Whitecaps home-field advantage should they face Inter Miami in a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup final.
Six teams were competing for the last three Western Conference playoff spots on “Decision Day”, with every MLS team in action.
Portland, Colorado and the Los Angeles Galaxy needed only to win to secure a playoff berth, but only Portland managed it. The Timbers won 2-0 at Austin, while Real Salt Lake beat the Galaxy 2-1 and Colorado lost at Dallas, allowing Real Salt Lake to qualify for the post-season.
Seattle claimed the other spot with a 2-1 home win over Los Angeles FC. Albert Rusnak scored in the first minute and assisted Sebastian Gomez’s goal in the 31st for Seattle, while Eddie Segura’s response in the 82nd minute came too late.
Minnesota beat visiting San Jose 3-1 but, like the Galaxy, finished a point short of the final qualifying spot, which went to Real Salt Lake.
The opening Western Conference playoff pairings will see Vancouver face the winner of the Seattle-Real Salt Lake wild-card match, Dallas take on Portland, LAFC meet St. Louis and Houston face San Jose.
