Robert Taylor’s Inter Miami has won the league cup played between the major league clubs of the United States and Central America. The American MLS league resumes on Sunday after a month-long summer break.
Finland’s national team berth by Robert Taylor represented by Inter Miami has won the league cup championship. In the final match, the team beat Nashville 2–1 away from home. The final match, which ended in a 1-1 situation after the actual game time, was decided after a whopping 11 rounds of penalty kicks.
Miami played in the finals for the first time in club history, including all competitions. The League Cup is a competition played between major league clubs in the United States and Mexico.
Inter Miami have been undefeated since the Argentine star Lionel Messi joined the team in mid-July.
In the final match, Messi scored his team’s goal in regular time in the 23rd minute of the game, when he shot the ball into the upper left corner in his familiar style.
In the situation, Taylor, who came up from the left side, tried to pass through To Benjamin Cremasch, but the ball drifted to Messi, who rose from behind the feet of Nashville’s defense. The Argentinian took possession of the ball and sought the necessary space on the left, shooting just outside the penalty area.
You can watch Messi’s opening goal of the match below
Messi also scored his team’s first in the penalty shootout. In total, Messi has scored at least one goal for his team in each of his matches. A total of ten goals have been scored in seven matches.
Nashville tied the match from a corner kick in the 57th minute of the game. An unsuccessful clearance attempt drove Nashville Fafa for Picaultwhose header attempt Cremaschi failed to clear and the ball ended up in Inter’s goalkeeper by Drake Callender through to the finish line.
Inter Miami’s lead goal was very close in the 71st minute, when Messi shot again from outside the penalty area and hit the post.
In the final, Taylor was substituted in the 81st minute of the game, and because of this, he was not involved in the penalty shootout, where only one of Miami’s 11 attempts failed. In the last remaining round, goalkeepers Callender and Elliot Panicco.
The place in the final match of the League Cup already ensured Inter Miami access to the North American, Caribbean and Central American Concacaf Champions Cup for the year 2024. A total of 27 club teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean will play in the cup.
Before the League Cup final, Messi said that he was very satisfied with his decision to move to the United States and Miami.
– I came here to play and enjoy football, which I have loved all my life. I chose this place because of that and I’m really happy with this experience and how everything went, Messi told CNN.
The League Cup playoffs were played during the summer break of the American major league MLS, so Messi has yet to play a single match in the main league. In the MLS league, Inter Miami is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. There are 12 points to the last playoff qualification spot with 12 rounds remaining.
The team was supposed to continue with the MLS league on the coming night between Sunday and Monday Finnish time, but the match against Charlotte has been postponed due to the final match, and the new time is not yet known.