Messi, Nashville’s Sam Surridge tied atop MLS Golden Boot race

By Official Florida FC

A match that featured three of the top five candidates for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award was decided by an eternal match-winner.

Lionel Messi scored a brace to lift Inter Miami to a 2-1 win over visiting Nashville SC on Saturday night in South Florida. Inter Miami (11-3-5, 38 points) is five points behind Philadelphia (13-5-4, 43 points) in the Supporters’ Shield race with three games in hand.

Silencing Nashville’s attack

A Nashville win would have lifted the Tennessee side (12-5-5, 41 points) to the top of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference as well as atop the Supporters’ Shield race.

Messi’s brace marked the fifth straight MLS match where he has scored two goals – another league record. Messi is now tied with Nashville’s Sam Surridge in the league’s Golden Boot race with 16 goals. However, Messi has played 522 fewer minutes than Surridge has this season.

Nashville’s other MVP candidate, Hany Mukhtar, equalized in the 49th minute. Inter Miami left a gap in the back that Mukhtar sought and exploited with a near-post header shortly after intermission.

But, that’s the thing with Inter Miami. The concentration lapses in defense are tolerated because the Herons have enough attacking firepower to score against almost anyone – Paris Saint Germain is a noted and acceptable exception. 

Messi’s second in the 62nd minute came when he intercepted a pass from Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis, then kept his cool to find the back of the net once again.

As for his performance, there are no words. It is incredible what he keeps doing, breaking records every three days,” Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano told the Miami Herald after the match. “I have said it a million times, he is the flag bearer of this team, he marks our path, he’s our leader. He’s the one who shows his teammates how we have to maintain our form right now and it’s a blessing for me to be alongside him in this stage of his career.”

On the horizon for the Herons

Inter Miami has a chance to vault up the table when it plays Cincinnati FC on July 16 in the Queen City. Cincinnati (13-6-3, 42 points) is second in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference and third in the Supporters’ Shield race.