Inter Miami vs Charlotte FC score, result, highlights as Lionel Messi scores in rout to snag Leagues Cup semifinal
Christian Lattanzio and Charlotte became the latest MLS side to fall victim to Messi and Inter Miami's brilliance, as a total team effort put the Eastern Conference's last-placed team into the Leagues Cup semifinals. They will match up against the Philadelphia Union, who downed Queretaro 2-1 on a 101st minute winner.
Messi was less influential than usual in the opening half, but all that did was create openings for his teammates. Josef Martinez got the game started with a penalty in the 12th minute, and Robert Taylor continued his own hot streak to put Inter Miami up 2-0 before halftime. In the second half, Charlotte FC failed to make the necessary changes and an own-goal put Miami 3-0 up, before Messi finished it off three minutes from full-time.
The Sporting News followed the Inter Miami vs Charlotte FC match live, providing score updates, commentary and highlights as they happened.
Inter Miami vs Charlotte FC: Second Half
7th min: GOAL! INTER MIAMI! LIONEL MESSI GETS HIS GOAL! Charlotte FC look tutterly defeated, and Inter Miami appeared happy to see the game out, but a speculative ball forward to Leonardo Campana sees the No. 9 pick up possession on the doorstep, and after being closed down initially, he dribbles away and fires centrally to Messi who puts the cherry on top for Inter Miami!
Lionel Messi is now the third-highest goal scorer in Inter Miami history, and he's played five matches.
77th min: Chance, Charlotte! OH NO AGYEMANG HAS MISSED! The Charlotte substitute has a free header at the far post and puts it into the ground and then over the bar! It's a glorious cross by Kerwin Vargas on the right, but Agyemang can't hit the target.
72nd min: We've come to our second half hydration break. Two more substitutes enter for the home side, as Benjamin Cremaschi and Robert Taylor are withdrawn in favor of Diego Gomez and David Ruiz.
Here's a fun side-by-side photo of David Beckham and Lionel Scaloni face-to-face during their playing days and now arm-in-arm at halftime of tonight's game.
69th min: Chance, Inter Miami! MESSI SHOT IS BLOCKED ON THE DOORSTEP! Robert Taylor down the left cuts back for Lionel Messi at the penalty spot, but Adilson Malanda gets a tiny touch right before Messi makes contact, and the shot is blocked by Andrew Privett. If it found its way through, it would have been a third goal for Inter Miami, as Kristijan Kahlina was rooted to the spot.
66th min: Christian Lattanzio makes another change, withdrawing Ben Bender in favor of Kerwin Vargas. Bender wasn't very influential, but he was deployed out of position on the wing.
64th min: Now Kamal Miller goes into the book for a huge shirt pull on Patrick Agyemang. The 22-year-old Ghanan has been bright since coming on.
62nd min: Ashley Westwood earns the game's first booking from referee Ismael Elfath for basically bear hugging Lionel Messi off the ball.
60th min: Gerardo Martino makes his first substitution, withdrawing Josef Martinez for Leo Campana, which has become a consistent change on the hour mark. Martinez looks a bit out of gas. This is a fierce battle for the striker position, and neither has really snatched the lead.
58th min: Chance, Charlotte FC! Now off a turnover it's the substitute Patrick Agyemang who has a go from the top of the penalty area, but Drake Callender saves! He had lots of space to shoot that, but picked out the goalkeeper!
That's by far Charlotte FC's best chance of the match! It comes off a bad Inter Miami turnover thanks to a poor first touch from Kamal Miller.
57th min: Chance, Charlotte FC! Karol Swiderski has had enough of this no shots thing, and lets fly from VERY far away, maybe 30 yards out, and it's not far off! He nearly picks out the net, but it flies just wide of the top corner. Not far off!
54th min: Robert Taylor absolutely skins Adilson Malanda, and his run earns space for Lionel Messi two-on-two, but Messi's immediate return is fed through too much traffic and snatched away.
50th min: Chance, Inter Miami! The whole of DRV PNK Stadium nearly exploded as Lionel Messi, fed by Sergio Busquets, charged diagonally through the 18-yard box. He finally has a hit towards the end of the run, but the whole way he was blanketed well by two defenders, and the shot is blocked by Jaylin Lindsey.
Miami have held the majority of the early possession, but have little reason to drive forward with it. They look cagey.
Kickoff: Charlotte FC head coach Christian Lattanzio, who told the MLS broadcast going into the break that they have to just keep staying the course, then makes two halftime changes. Withdrawn are Scott Arfield and Kamil Jozwiak, with Patrick Agyemang and Brecht Dejaegere coming on as the second half begins.
It's harsh on Jozwiak, whose defensive work rate did well to hem Lionel Messi in, but he offered little in the final third, and with Charlotte chasing the game, they needed an attacking impetus.
HALFTIME: Inter Miami 2-0 Charlotte FC
Christian Lattanzio becomes the latest opposing manager to shake his head while heading into the locker room. Charlotte FC played alright through that 45 minutes, but come away down a pair. Their offensive threat has been somewhat sparse, and as such, two defensive mistakes have proven costly.
Inter Miami attacked Harrison Afful, who's in for the suspended Nathan Byrne, and profited off it twice, getting him out of position on both occasions. Lionel Messi hasn't been terribly influential, but it hasn't mattered as his presence alone has had a major effect. Inter Miami continue rolling, through these 45 minutes.
Let's give a shoutout to the security crew at DRV PNK Stadium, who are wearing boots to help run down any would-be pitch invaders. Not messing around in Ft. Lauderdale!
Inter Miami vs Charlotte FC: First Half
45+1 min: With five minutes of stoppage time shown, Inter Miami appear comfortable to allow Charlotte to possess the ball through the rest of the first half. They haven't threatened much in the attacking third, with Inter Miami showing a renewed defensive structure not yet seen in this Leagues Cup. If they can make this impressive improvement a consistent thing moving forward, they'll be a true problem when MLS play returns.
44th min: Charlotte FC have their best chance of the game on a cross from Scott Arfield deep on the right flank, but Drake Callender commands his area well and snatches it out of the air before Kamil Jozwiak can get on the end of it.
39th min: Like the aftermath of the first goal, Charlotte FC have held a long spell of possession, but have had trouble creating anything to trouble Drake Callender's goal. Inter Miami are relieving pressure by stealing the ball and earning fouls from a somewhat desperate Charlotte team.
The visitors have just one lone shot thus far, which was blocked.
32nd min: GOAL! INTER MIAMI! Inter Miami double their lead through Robert Taylor! For how hard Charlotte FC has worked, this one's far too easy to concede.
22nd min: Kamil Jozwiak snatches away another sloppy ball, this time in the attacking half, but it's deflected out of play. A bit more Charlotte possession ends in Karol Swiderski taking a good looking shot from just inside the top of the penalty area, which is blocked.
Jozwiak has been a menace with Inter Miami on the ball, pouncing on a number of mistakes. A few more and Charlotte may end up punishing the hosts.
20th min: Inter Miami are cooking in the final third, but suddenly Charlotte out of nowhere have a counter through Kamil Jozwiak. The Polish international gets between two defenders, but he doesn't have the pace on the ball to keep the Inter Miami center-backs from catching up, and as he touches back to settle, he slips and loses the ball.
8th min: Charlotte FC's early possessional impetus is gone and Inter Miami are now starting to dominate on the ball. They've held 61 percent possession throughout this Leagues Cup, and at times it's been even more overwhelming than that.
5th min: Chance, Inter Miami! That's the magic of this attack! There's an opportunity in front of goal as the ball is filtered in from the left, with Jordi Alba setting it up for Josef Martinez in front of goal, but Andrew Privett makes a necessary sliding intervention to concede the corner.
4th min: Charlotte FC has started the match well. They are having to work hard to keep the ball, but have forced Inter Miami to do a lot of chasing early while they knock the ball around. They're doing well to maintain possession under pressure.
Of course, just as I type that, Lionel Messi snatches the ball away in midfield and immediately springs Josef Martinez down the left. Martinez's first touch is a bit sloppy and he can't set the chance up in front of goal right.
Kickoff: The match is under way from Ft. Lauderdale! The MLS broadcast has billed this as "David vs. Goliath" which is notable because Inter Miami, the perceived Goliath of the matchup, is last in the Eastern Conference standings. But they have yet to see Lionel Messi take the field in MLS play, where all that can change. For now, the small sample size proves they are the clear favorite in this quarterfinal game.
inter Miami vs Charlotte FC: Pre-match commentary, analysis, stats, and more
5 mins to kick: The winner of this match takes on the winner of Philadelphia Union vs. Queretaro, and in classic MLS fashion, the start of that match (scheduled for 8 p.m. ET) has been delayed due to power outages.
1 hour to kick: While we wait for lineups to be posted (they're late), let's bask in the glory of tonight's kit matchup, which is an MLS all-timer. Both teams have excellent use of color, as Inter Miami sport their pink with black accents (I personally prefer the black kit with pink accents, but they're both great), and visiting Charlotte FC have their royal purple with teal accents. Just spectacular.
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