{"id":13041,"date":"2026-02-22T10:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T10:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13041"},"modified":"2026-02-22T10:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T10:37:49","slug":"lionel-messi-inter-miami-routed-by-lafc-in-mls-season-opener-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13041","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi, Inter Miami routed by LAFC in MLS season opener | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The Inter Miami player began his club\u2019s MLS Cup title defence with a crushing away loss to rivals Los Angeles FC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">2 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 22 Feb 2026<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">22 Feb 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>David Martinez scored in the first \u200chalf, Denis Bouanga scored and added an assist in the second \u2060and Los Angeles \u2060FC completed a 3-0 victory over Lionel Messi and visiting Inter Miami in the teams\u2019 season opener on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>Substitute Nathan Ordaz \u2060added the final goal for the hosts, who moved the match to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and drew a crowd of 75,673, the second-largest in Major League Soccer (MLS) \u2060history for a regular-season game that was not part of a double-header.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Son Heung-Min provided the final assist on Martinez\u2019s opener for the Los Angeles-based football club, who have lost only twice in 16 games since signing the South Korean star last summer.<\/p>\n<p>Hugo Lloris made three saves \u200cfor the hosts, who held Messi\u2019s Herons scoreless in a match he played for the first time in 15 matches in all competitions, a stretch that dates back to a 3-0 regular-season loss at Charlotte on September 13.<\/p>\n<p>Mexican-Argentinian striker German Berterame made his debut for Miami, which held 63 percent of the possession.<\/p>\n<p>But LAFC threatened constantly in transition, especially during the first half, and \u2060finished the night leading 16-13 in shots and 6-3 \u2060in efforts on target.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez put LAFC in front in the 38th minute on one such moment.<\/p>\n<p>Timothy Tillman began the attack when his dogged defensive work turned over Messi\u2019s national team teammate Rodrigo de \u2060Paul in midfield.<\/p>\n<p>The ball fell to Stephen Eustaquio, who played a first-touch pass to Son above the box. Son \u2060played it on into the run of Martinez \u2060down the left, and Martinez finished crisply past Dayne St Clair for his eighth career MLS goal.<\/p>\n<p>St Clair created trouble for himself on Bouanga\u2019s tally in the 73rd minute, racing outside the box \u200cin an attempt to reach Tillman\u2019s diagonal ball.<\/p>\n<p>But Bouanga was first by a healthy margin and headed the ball beyond the goalkeeper before finishing into a \u200cstranded \u200cgoal.<\/p>\n<p>Bouanga then set up Ordaz to seal it in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, beating his defender down the left flank before driving in a low cross.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4328992\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4328992\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4328992\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26053191504743-1771748089.jpg?w=770&amp;resize=770%2C513&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"Lionel Messi in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4328992\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Messi, right, was ineffective in attack against the LAFC defence in the first fixture of the new 2026 season [Jessie Alcheh\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Inter Miami player began his club\u2019s MLS Cup title defence with a crushing away loss to rivals Los Angeles FC. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a02 mins info Published On 22 Feb 202622 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share David Martinez scored in the first \u200chalf, Denis Bouanga scored and added [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}