Fort Lauderdale - Saba:
Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was on target on Sunday, but his team, Inter Miami, was held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by visiting Toronto FC in the seventh round of the Major League Soccer (MLS).
Against a team that has not achieved a win this season, this draw was a major disappointment for Inter Miami, who relinquished the lead in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Columbus Crew, who also defeated Montreal 2-1.
Messi and his teammates struggled against the Canadian team, who were unlucky in the early stages of the match after hitting the woodwork twice. Inter Miami then thought they had thwarted their visitors when the Argentine superstar penetrated the area in the 39th minute and fired a low shot from the edge of the area into the corner of the net. However, VAR intervened and disallowed the goal due to a foul by the 2022 World Cup champion on French defender Nexeon Gomis.
Seven minutes later, Inter Miami found themselves trailing to a goal by Italian Federico Bernardeschi (45'2), but Messi refused to let his team go into the halftime break behind and equalized when Venezuelan Telasco Segovia received the ball on the edge of the penalty area. He advanced and fired a left-footed shot into the net (45'7).
Toronto returned to the forefront at the start of the second half through Bernardeschi, who shot wide. The home side then improved, and they would have taken the lead had Uruguayan Luis Suarez not lost his balance while shooting from a good position.
Messi, who played the entire match, tried to create space, but strict defensive marking limited his threat. Nevertheless, he came close to a second goal in the 77th minute after an individual effort, but goalkeeper Sean Johnson was on hand to stop him.
Bernardeschi threatened again late in the match, but Argentine defender Tomas Aviles intervened to deny him.
With this draw, Messi and his teammates, coached by Argentine Javier Mascherano, are preparing poorly for Wednesday's match against their local rivals, Los Angeles FC, in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, where they will attempt to overturn a 1-0 loss in the first leg.
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