FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, USA. (AP) — Lionel Messi He scored his 12th goal of the season in his final Major League Soccer game before the Copa America and MLS-leading Inter Miami rallied to draw 3-3 with St. Louis City on Saturday.
Miami is two points ahead at the top of the Eastern Conference and MLS standings over Cincinnati, which is second and did not play on Saturday.
The Uruguayan Luis Suárez also reached 12 goals with Inter Miami and Jordi Alba tied the game at 85.
Suárez and Messi are tied as the team’s scoring leaders and are one of the league leaders, Real Lake City’s Christian Arango and DC United’s Christian Benteke. But Messi’s 12 goals have happened in four fewer duels than Arango (16) and three less than Benteke.
Chris Durkin and former Inter player Indiana Vassilev scored in the first period for St. Louis. Suárez had an own goal in the 69th minute that seemed to seal the victory for St. Louis until Alba scored a goal that the referee first marked as offside, but reversed his decision when reviewing the video.
Messi tied it at one after 25 minutes of play before leaving to applause. He will now join the Argentine national team next week to try to defend the Copa América title they won in 2021.
After Vassilev’s goal, Suárez tied the score again.
In other matches of the day, Chicago Fire ended a nine-game winless streak by beating the LA Galaxy 2-1. While Sporting Kansas City lost for the seventh consecutive game, falling 3-1 to Minnesota United.
John Tolkin scored for the first time this season and the New York Red Bulls beat Orlando City 1-0.
CF Montreal rallied to draw 2-2 with Philadelphia; DC United rescued a draw with Toronto 2-2; same score with which the duel between Portland and Houston ended
New York Revolution beat Nashville 2-1, Salt Lake beat Austin FC 5-0, Los Angeles FC narrowly beat Dallas and Vancouver beat Colorado 2-1.
Source: AP
