Messi-less Miami meets Pumas with Leagues Cup knockout spot at stake
Inter Miami hosts Pumas in the final Leagues Cup Phase One match for both teams. Both sides hope to be among their league's four quarterfinalists.
Inter Miami CF attacking midfielder Telasco Segovia has become an integral part of the Herons’ attack. CREDIT: Major League Soccer
Herons can clinch quarterfinal berth with win
Win and they’re in. Inter Miami CF can add its name to the Leagues Cup quarterfinal bracket with a win tonight against Liga MX side Pumas UNAM; if the Herons lose, they’re eliminated.
If they tie? It’s complicated.
Inter Miami CF vs. Pumas UNAM; Liga MX/MLS Leagues Cup Phase One, Game 3; 6:30 p.m. CT Wednesday; Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Apple TV—MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+
Major League Soccer and Liga MX, the top professional leagues in North America with all but three of 48 teams playing in Mexico and the United States, created the Leagues Cup in 2023 to market their clubs to their rival’s fans (and to make mucho dinero). They’re still tinkering with the best way to shoehorn the competition into their teams’ regular seasons; finally, they seem to be headed in the right direction.
For the 2025 Leagues Cup, Liga MX and MLS limited the field to 32 teams: all 18 Mexican sides and 18 from north of the border. In order to ensure more interleague matches, the leagues created Phase One (a modified group stage) and scheduled each club to play three matches against clubs from the rival league.
And that’s where it gets tricky. In a normal group stage, teams play each team in their group and those results determine which side or sides advance to the knockout rounds from that group. But League Cup’s Phase One pits clubs against the other 17 teams from their league to determine which four move to the quarterfinals, where they are guaranteed to play at least one more inter league match.
Teams earn the usual three points for a Phase One win. If a match ends in a draw, the sides go immediately to a penalty shootout; the winner earns two points and the loser one. The first tiebreaker for league position is matches won, followed by goal differential, goals scored, goals conceded and Fair Play (whichever team has fewer yellow and/or red cards).
Confusing? Yes. But creating unusually high demand for limited opportunities to advance has resulted in a spirited and entertaining competition.
The format is far from perfect: for example, every Leagues Cup match in all three seasons will have been played in the United States. It will be difficult to sell the tournament’s competitive merit until that is changed. And this year, Phase One’s 54 matches are being played over nine days, which maximizes each match’s broadcast value (six games to choose from each evening rather than 18), but puts the 12 teams playing on Days 3, 6 and 9 in the unfair position of knowing exactly what they need to do in order to advance. It may be logistically challenging, but I hope the leagues adopt something like MLS’ “Decision Day,” on which every team plays its last match beginning at the same time on the same day, for future tournaments.
Inter Miami and Pumas are among the teams that comprise the Day 2 cohort; six teams from each league played their third Phase One matches last night. For Leagues Cup standings, results, schedules and more, go to the MLS Leagues Cup website.
Mexico’s Toluca beat New York City FC 2-1 Tuesday to become the first quarterfinal qualifier with eight points. Pachuca has seven points and Tigres and Puebla each has six, but the top four teams have played their three Phase One matches. Juarez, Pumas (currently sixth with five points), Necaxa and Tijuana still could claim a knockout spot.
No MLS team has claimed its spot in the quarterfinals. The Columbus Crew edged Leon 1-0 Tuesday to move ahead of Seattle into first place with seven points, and Seattle, Portland and LAFC have six points each. Miami is fifth with five points, five teams have four points apiece and two sides, the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake, are still alive with just three points each.
The Herons have earned their five Phase One points in nerve-wracking fashion: Miami edged Atlas 2-1 on July 30 when Marcelo “Chelo” Weigandt toed home a pass from Lionel Messi in the fifth minute of stoppage time; Saturday, after losing Messi to injury and center back Maxi Falcon to a red card in the first 17 minutes against Necaxa, Jordi Alba arced a headed shot over the keeper’s head and into the net in the second minute of stoppage time to pull the Herons even at two. Third-string goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo (Drake Callender and Oscar Ustari both are injured) saved a penalty kick and Luis Suarez banged the winning penalty off the crossbar and down into the goal to earn two points in the shootout win.
Pumas earned two points in a 1 (4)-1 (3) shootout win against Orlando City and the other three points in a 3-2 win against Atlanta United.
Messi left the match in the 11th minute Saturday with muscle soreness in his leg; he will miss tonight’s match, and Miami hasn’t provided a timeline for his return. On the bright side, the Leagues Cup disciplinary committee has rescinded the red card shown Falcon in the 17th minute so he will be available against Pumas; the card will not count against the Herons if the Fair Play table is needed as a tiebreaker.
Keep watching Southeast Soccer Report for more news about Inter Miami CF and MLS.