Inter Miami Club And Chicago Fire Club They are in the midst of chasing six teams for the last two available playoff spots Eastern Conference.
It would have been a huge boost for Miami if Lionel Messi could return to the court after missing his team’s last three matches (one of which was the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final).
However, Messi is suffering from a lingering leg injury that has kept the 2022 World Cup champion and seven-time Ballon d’Or winner on the sidelines for much of last month, including Wednesday night’s match at Soldier Field.
Messi’s recent injuries have sparked panic among ticket buyers in the cities Inter Miami visits, with fans eager to catch a glimpse of the greatest footballer of all time.
More than 61,000 tickets (or nearly three times the attendance for Game 1 of the Texas Rangers-Tampa Bay Rays AL Wild-Card Series at Tropicana Field) were sold for the game at Soldier Field, which is approaching capacity. With Messi’s playing status in doubt, the Chicago Fire announced on Tuesday that it would offer all fans a credit to purchase season tickets for next season, or for a future match.
Follow along as USA TODAY Sports provides live updates for the Chicago Fire-Inter Miami matchup:
Chicago almost scored the first goal
The first corner kick of the match resulted in tense moments in front of the goal, as the Fire team almost scored the first goal of the match in the 15th minute.
Fabian Herbers’ effort from close range was blocked, resulting in a second corner kick, an opportunity that Chicago wasted.
How to watch Messi’s Inter Miami match today against Chicago Fire
Inter Miami-Chicago Fire FC match at 8:30 PM ET is available on MLS Season Pass on Camel.
Starting lineup: Lionel Messi is unavailable for Inter Miami
As expected, Lionel Messi is neither a starter nor available on the bench.
Here is Inter Miami’s starting lineup:
Jordi Alba, Messi’s former Barcelona teammate, is also unavailable.
Inter Miami collected more points in the two away matches with Messi (6) than in the 13 away matches without him (5).
Here is the starting lineup for Chicago Fire FC:
Xherdan Shaqiri represented Switzerland in the 2022 World Cup. Kei Kamara, the team’s top scorer with five goals, starts the match on the bench.
Chicago enters Wednesday night’s game having won three of its previous five meetings against Miami.
Did Lionel Messi train with Inter Miami during his injury period?
“If it doesn’t happen, it’s seen as, ‘Okay, today I look like the biggest ticket seller in Major League Soccer.’ “It might have something to do with selling tickets,” but no, we’re worried about the players, Martino said. “I would make a very grave mistake if I said something hastily. That’s why I avoid the exact times. I understand that you want to know the exact times, but if I had the exact times I would say so, but I don’t have them either.”
What matches did Lionel Messi miss?
After playing (and scoring the winning goal) in Argentina’s 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Ecuador on September 7, Messi missed Argentina’s September 12 World Cup qualifying match against Bolivia. Meanwhile, he missed Inter Miami’s 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City on September 9.
Messi returned to Miami after the international break, but did not dress for his team’s 5-2 loss to Atlanta United on September 16. He played briefly in a 4–0 win over Toronto FC on September 20, and left the game on September 20. He lost the first half due to fatigue and has not played since.
With Lionel Messi’s participation in doubt, the Chicago Fire are giving credit to the fans
The Chicago Fire seem well aware that it could be a disappointing night for many in attendance at Soldier Field for the game against Inter Miami, with some of those fans paying big bucks for the chance to catch a glimpse of Lionel Messi. At work.
With Messi’s questionable playing status,… The Chicago Fire announced that they will offer all fans in the audience a credit to purchase season tickets for next season or a future match.
What do you know about Chicago Fire Club?
The Chicago Fire entered MLS as an expansion team In the year 1998 And he went to Winning the American League Cup (Beside US Open Cup) Under the leadership of coach Bob Bradley.
The Chicago Fire are the only major men’s professional sports franchise in the United States to win a league championship in its inaugural season. (Although, to be fair, MLS only had 12 teams at the time. Most recently, the Vegas Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final as an expansion team during the 2017-18 NHL season.)
The Chicago Fire reached the MLS Cup three times in their first six seasons (losing in 2000 to the Kansas City Wizards and 2003 to the San Jose Earthquakes). However, since 2010, the Chicago fire has been on a real struggle bus. The team qualified for the American League playoffs only twice in the last 13 seasons. If the Chicago Fire pull off a win over Inter Miami on Wednesday night, they will reach the 40-point mark for only the third time in the past 10 seasons. Yes!
Inter Miami could set a goal-scoring record
Inter Miami and the Los Angeles Galaxy tied a single-season Major League Soccer team record by having 18 different players score a goal over the course of the 2023 regular season. Each could set a new record on Wednesday night.
Inter Miami’s top scorers entering Wednesday’s match are Leonardo Campana (9 goals), Josef Martinez (6), Robert Taylor (4), Facundo Farias (3), Benjamin Cremaci (2), David Ruiz (2), Jordi Alba (2). . 1), Noah Allen (1), Dixon Arroyo (1), Tomas Aviles (1), Shanider Borgelin (1), Ian Fry (1), Diego Gomez (1), Corentin Gunn (1), Sergei Krivstov (1) . Lionel Messi (1), Franco Negri (1), and Nicholas Stefanelli (1).
Three key players to watch for to score their first Inter Miami goal of the season and put the Hirons in the record books are Sergio Busquets, Kamal Miller, DeAndre Yedlin and Jean Motta. Busquets, Miller and Yedlin start, while Motta is available as a substitute.
Where does Inter Miami stand in the MLS playoff race?
Inter Miami enters the 36th round of MLS on Wednesday sitting in 13th place in the 15-team conference with 33 points from 30 games played. New York City FC (38 points) and CF Montreal (37 points) currently occupy the bottom two qualifying places (eighth and ninth, respectively) in the standings. Also ahead of Inter Miami in the standings are DC United (37 points), Chicago Fire (37 points), and New York Red Bulls (34 points). Each of those teams played at least one more game than Miami, which helped the Herons’ postseason chances.
What is Inter Miami’s remaining schedule for 2023?
The remaining Inter Miami matches and the rest of the American League matches are available to watch via MLS Season Pass on Camel.
MLS playoff picture
These will be the MLS playoff games during the first round, if the season ends before Wednesday night’s games…
Eastern Conference
Atlanta United, FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew, Orlando City SC, Nashville SC, New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union earned playoff spots. FC Cincinnati won the Supporters’ Shield.
Wild card match:
- New York City FC (seeded No. 8) vs. Montreal (9)
Round 1 (Best of Three Series)
- FC Cincinnati (1) vs. New York City FC (8) – FC Montreal (9) Winner
- Orlando City (2) vs Nashville (7)
- New England Revolution (3) vs Atlanta United (6)
- Philadelphia Union (4) vs. Columbus Crew (5)
Western Conference
The St. Louis City SC for a playoff spot and the top seed in the conference.
Wild Card Match
- San Jose Earthquakes (seeded No. 8) vs. FC Dallas (9)
Round 1 (Best of Three Series)
- St. Louis City FC (1) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (8) – FC Dallas (9) Winner
- Real Salt Lake (2) vs. Portland Timbers (7)
- Seattle Sounders (3) vs Vancouver Whitecaps (6)
- Los Angeles (4) vs Houston Dynamo (5)
What is the format and schedule of the MLS playoffs?
A total of 18 teams qualify for the MLS playoffs – the best nine teams from each conference.
The eighth- and ninth-place finishers in each conference will play in wild-card games. The top seven seeds advance to the first round of a best-of-three series.
Here is the qualifying schedule:
- October 25-26: Wild Card Matches (Single Elimination Matches)
- October 28 – November. 12: Round 1 (Best of Three Series)
- November 25-December. 3: Conference semifinals and finals (single-elimination matches)
- December 9: MLS Cup (One Winner Takes All Match)
What are the MLS games on Wednesday?
Here are the matches for round 36 of the American League:
- Charlotte FC vs Toronto FC7:30 p.m. ET
- FC Cincinnati vs. New York Red Bulls7:30 p.m. ET
- CF Montreal vs. Houston Dynamo FC7:30 p.m. ET
- New England Revolt against the Columbus Crew7:30 p.m. ET
- Philadelphia Union vs Atlanta United7:30 p.m. ET
- Austin FC vs DC Unitedat 8:30 p.m. ET
- Chicago Fire FC vs. Inter Miami CFat 8:30 p.m. ET
- FC Dallas vs Colorado Rapidsat 8:30 p.m. ET
- Nashville SC vs. Orlando City SC8:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
- Los Angeles FC vs Minnesota United10:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
- Seattle Sounders vs. Los Angeles Galaxyat 10:30 p.m. ET
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. St. Louis City SCat 10:30 p.m. ET
All games are available on MLS Season Pass on Camel.
Lionel Messi has the best-selling jersey in the American League
In news that will shock absolutely no one, Lionel Messi has become the No. 1 best-selling shirt in the American Football League. The league revealed last week.
The top 25 best-selling shirts on MLSstore.com are:
- Lionel Messi, Inter Miami FC
- Joao Klaus, St. Louis City SC
- Hani Mokhtar, Nashville SC
- Sebastian Driusi, Austin FC
- Carlos Vela, Los Angeles Football Club
- Jordan Morris, Seattle Sounders
- Raul Ruidiaz, Seattle Sounders
- Thiago Almada, Atlanta United
- Edward Lewin, St. Louis City SC
- Christian Roldan, Seattle Sounders FC
- Walker Zimmerman, Nashville SC
- Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Los Angeles Galaxy
- Sergio Busquets, Inter Miami Club
- Tim Parker, St. Louis City SC
- Riqui Puig, Los Angeles Galaxy
- Brandon Vazquez, FC Cincinnati
- Carol Swiderski, Charlotte FC
- John Tolkien, New York Red Bulls
- Diego Chara, Portland Timbers
- Dennis Bwanga, Los Angeles Football Club
- Joseph Martinez, Inter Miami
- Carles Gil, The New England Revolution
- Daniel Gazdag, Philadelphia Union
- Enzo Copetti, Charlotte FC
- Xherdan Shaqiri, Chicago Fire FC
There are 15 different teams represented in the list of the 25 best-selling shirts, as well as 13 different nationalities:
- Argentina (Thiago Almada, Enzo Copetti, Sebastian Driusi, Lionel Messi)
- Brazil (Joao Claus)
- Colombia (Diego Chara)
- Gabon (Denis Bwanga)
- Germany (Edward Lewin, Hani Mukhtar)
- Hungary (Daniel Gazdag)
- Mexico (Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Carlos Vela)
- Peru (Raul Ruidiaz)
- Poland (Carol Swiderski)
- Spain (Sergio Busquets, Carles Gil, Riqui Puig)
- Switzerland (Xherdan Shaqiri)
- United State (Jordan Morris, Tim Parker, Christian Roldan, John Tolkien, Brandon Vasquez, Walker Zimmerman)
- Venezuela (Joseph Martinez)
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