Lionel Messi, Inter Miami win MLS Supporters Shield with 3-2 win at Crew. It’s Messi’s 46th trophy.

By The Associated Press on October 2, 2024.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have another trophy, along with home-field advantage throughout the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Messi scored twice in the final minutes of the first half, goalie Drake Callender stopped a penalty kick in the 84th minute and Inter Miami beat the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew 3-2 on Wednesday night, wrapping up the Supporters Shield – given annually to the team with the best regular-season record.

It was Messi’s 46th major trophy won for club or country, extending his record for the most by any men’s soccer player in history. And it becomes the second he has won with Inter Miami, this Supporters Shield being added to the Leagues Cup trophy the Herons claimed shortly after Messi joined the club in 2023.

Luis Suarez also scored for Inter Miami, which will open the playoffs at home in the final weekend of October to start a best-of-three first round series. If the team wins that series, it would have the right to host every match it plays the rest of the season – an Eastern Conference semifinal (scheduled for Nov. 23 or 24), the East final (Nov. 30 or Dec. 1) and the MLS Cup final on Dec. 7.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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