Lionel Messi making Canada trip for Inter Miami's clash with CF Montreal
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Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano said Friday the Argentine great is expected to travel to Montreal and be available to play in Saturday's Major League Soccer match at Stade Saputo.
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Mascherano dismissed the idea of leaving Messi in Florida, noting the team had a long week to recover from Sunday's 4-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup.
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The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner last played in Canada on April 24, when Inter Miami fell 2-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal at B.C. Place Stadium.
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Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
Lionel Messi's brace helps Inter Miami rout CF Montreal
(Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images) Lionel Messi scored twice to help Inter Miami to a 4-1 win against host CF Montreal on Saturday. Miami (9-3-5, 32 points), playing its first MLS match in over a month, has won three straight. Prince Owusu scored the lone goal for Montreal (3-13-5, 14 points), which had won two of its previous three. Owusu gave Montreal a 1-0 lead in the second minute. Messi missed on a pass attempt and an uncovered Owusu collected the ball at the top of the box before putting a strike through goalkeeper Oscar Ustari's legs into the back of the net. Miami went more than 10 minutes before registering its first shot attempt, but once it finally did, it couldn't beat Montreal's Jonathan Sirois. He got his hands up to deny the visitors off a corner in the 13th minute and two minutes later got his fingertips on a Jordi Alba chance to send it off the right post and out. In the 20th minute, Sirois came off his line to the penalty area and slid to deny Tadeo Allende of a quality opportunity, and in the 27th minute came out to the top of the box to steal a chance from Telasco Segovia. Miami finally broke through in the 33rd minute. Messi fed Allende outside the top right of the box, and Allende took a couple of strides before firing a dart into the net to tie it 1-1. Messi then put Miami ahead 2-1 in the 40th minute. Coming up the right side, the Argentine cut inside toward the middle of the box and curled a low shot in the bottom far corner. Segovia made it 3-1 in the 60th minute when he fired a strike from outside the box that grazed the underside of the crossbar and landed in the cage. Messi added his second of the match two minutes later. He took the ball from near midfield to inside the box, where he briefly lost possession. But Montreal couldn't corral the loose ball, and Messi retrieved it for a high shot into the net. --Field Level Media
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Sports scoreboard for Saturday, July 5, 2025
Saturday's Scoreboard CFL B.C. 21 Montreal 20 — MLB American League Toronto 4 L.A. Angels 3 (11 innings) Minnesota 6 Tampa Bay 5 Detroit 1 Cleveland 0 National League St. Louis 8 Chicago Cubs 6 Philadelphia 5 Cincinnati 1 Miami 4 Milwaukee 2 Interleague N.Y. Mets 12 N.Y. Yankees 6 Boston 10 Washington 3 Arizona 7 Kansas City 1 Baltimore 9 Atlanta 6 (10 innings) Houston 6 L.A. Dodgers 4 Chicago White Sox 10 Colorado 3 Seattle 1 Pittsburgh 0 Texas 7 San Diego 4 San Francisco 7 Athletics 2 — MLS Miami 4 Montreal 1 Houston 4 San Diego 3 Orlando 2 Charlotte 2 Atlanta 0 DC United 0 Cincinnati 2 Chicago 1 Nashville 1 Philadelphia 0 Salt Lake 3 St. Louis 2 New York Red Bulls 1 San Jose 1 Portland 2 New England 1 Los Angeles FC at Austin, ppd. — Canadian Premier League Forge (Hamilton) 2 Vancouver FC 1 — WNBA Los Angeles 89 Indiana 87 Minnesota 82 Golden State 71 — CEBL Saskatchewan 93 Ottawa 90 —
Montreal Gazette
4 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
Zurkowsky: Sean Whyte's last-second field goal carries visiting Lions past Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes By Death, taxes and an Alouettes' loss against B.C. The Lions have now defeated the Als five consecutive times following Saturday night's bizarre 21-20 victory at Molson Stadium before 21,144 spectators. Montreal hasn't defeated B.C. since Jason Maas became head coach in 2023 and hasn't scored a victory against that team since Sept. 9, 2022. There are many reasons why a team loses, and there was enough blame to be shared on this night, as the Alouettes lost their second straight game without injured starting quarterback Davis Alexander. Montreal, which was threatening to run away with the East Division following a 3-0 start, now has a 3-2 record and is only two points ahead of Hamilton, with the Tiger-Cats holding a game in hand that will be made up next week, when the Als have a bye in the schedule. Among the many culprits, the leading candidate must be Alouettes guard Pier-Oliver Lestage, who continues hurting the team with his lack of discipline. With Montreal clinging to a 20-18 lead following Jose Maltos 's 24-yard field goal with 28.1 seconds remaining in regulation time, Lestage took a 15-yard misconduct penalty, forcing Maltos to kick off from his 15 as opposed to the 30. Maltos did his best to kick the daylights out of the ball, but the visitors still scrimmaged from their 43 with 22.1 seconds remaining. Lions Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke, who returned from an oblique injury, passed twice to Keon Hatcher. Following an incompletion, a 13-yard pass to Jevon Cottoy moved the ball to the Montreal 36 with 0.2 seconds remaining. Sean Whyte then kicked the game-winning 43-yard field goal as time expired. Lestage refused to speak to The Gazette postgame. The Alouettes only took five penalties for 50 yards. Instead, it was the Lions who were more undisciplined, taking 11 penalties for 146 yards. 'We talk about nothing they say, nothing they do,' Maas said. 'That means anything they say to you, anything they do to you, can't result in an action that would get a 15-yard penalty. He's remorseful about it. He's been very good about that, trying to be a disciplined player. He just let the emotions get the best of him. I always say it's a learning lesson. I hope this is the last time and he reiterated to me he learned his lesson there. 'That's as a team. If one guy does it that means everybody can learn a lesson. That 15 yards turned out to be a huge deal at the end. It's not anything he's intending to do. Sometimes the emotions get the best of you. I can understand that better than anybody. We'll have his back, but it has to be something we never let happen again to us.' The Alouettes started well. After cornerback Kabion Ento intercepted an underthrown pass in the end zone for Hatcher, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, replacing Alexander, directed Montreal on a three-play, 80-yard scoring drive — capped by a 45-yard pass-and-run touchdown to Tyson Philpot, who broke numerous tackles. But for the second consecutive game, Bethel-Thompson, 37, simply didn't do enough to put Montreal's offence in a position to win. He completed 15 of 23 passes for 192 yards and a second touchdown on a 14-yard pass to tailback Sean Thomas-Erlington just before halftime. The Alouettes, however, were held to a pair of field goals following the intermission. Bethel-Thompson missed open receivers, didn't move the pocket frequently enough and had to leave the game temporarily following an eight-yard run in the third quarter when he left his upper-body exposed and was viciously tackled by linebacker Deontai Williams. Bethel-Thompson should know better at this stage of his career. 'It's a loss. There's no individual performances, it's just a loss,' Bethel-Thompson said. 'There were a lot of big plays we left out there. A lot of inches we couldn't quite accomplish. If we do that, if we don't kick ourselves in the foot, we should be pulling away with this game. 'I'll say it bluntly, I don't think 20 points is enough to win a game. We can do better on offence. We were right there on a lot of situations.' The Als had 23 first downs and 312 yards' net offence, but ran only 50 plays and had the ball for 29:15. But at least — unlike last week at Hamilton — they ran the ball. Thomas-Erlington, playing the 100th game of his career, gained 76 yards on 11 carries. Montreal produced 120 yards along the ground. Defensively, the Alouettes held B.C. to a pair of touchdowns. Rourke, the CFL's highest-paid player, scored on a two-yard run early in the second quarter. He also passed 46 yards to Stanley Berryhill III 10 minutes into the fourth quarter after safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy fell on the play. 'Bad footing. That's pretty much it,' Dequoy said. 'I tripped and let a big play happen. We didn't win, so I don't think (our pass defence) did great.' Rourke, who missed the last two games with an oblique injury, shredded the Alouettes' pass defence, completing 22 of 36 for 352 yards. There was an incident postgame when B.C.'s Kemoko Turay, a defensive-end, appeared to inexplicably try to enter Montreal's dressing room. He undoubtedly will be fined by the league. Montreal's next game is July 17, at home, against Toronto. Alexander is expected to return that night. The Alouettes surely require his presence before this promising season further deteriorates.
