The Seattle Sounders defeated Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami 3-0 to reach the 2025 Leagues Cup final, and Alex Roldan scored from the penalty spot late in the second half and added an assist in the first half.
A melee involving several players from both teams occurred at the final whistle, which ended the match on Sunday. Luis Suarez, a Miami striker, appeared to be one of the players in the middle of the melee, and video cameras captured him spitting at a Seattle staff member after the game.
Major League Soccer (MLS) and Liga MX jointly hold the Leagues Cup, which results in a disciplinary panel that is uncontracted from either league or continental federation. Although MLS might also be involved, it would likely be in charge of deciding whether to discipline the incident.
Seattle, which won its second Concacaf award and ninth all-time major trophy since MLS play began in 2009, scored Osaze De Rosario’s fourth goal of the tournament.
The Sounders’ victory in the 2022 Concacaf Champions League, which ends a string of 16 consecutive Mexican champions, is their first since they defeated Mexico’s Pumas UNAM in a two-leg victory.
In the final moments of a victory, Paul Rothrock scored the third, giving Seattle a first-round bye into the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.
Miami lost their second League Cup title after winning the 2023 competition and their third major trophy since Messi’s arrival during the summer of the 2023 season.
If they fail to win the MLS Cup in 2025, the Herons will still be guaranteed a spot in the Concacaf next year. However, they will start in the first round.
Seattle held the lead in the opening minute and won admirably so in the 26th.
De Rosario met it with a decisive header after Jesus Ferreira played the opening ball out wide to Roldan on the right.
Suarez provided the link-up play for Miami, who wasted two excellent chances to equalize just before the break.
Suarez sent a spinning cutback pass to Messi, who arrived just above the six-yard box, but the Argentinian star fired over goalkeeper Andrew Thomas in the 50th minute.
Tadeo Allende then sent his strike wide of the right post as Thomas slammed off his line in the 60th minute, despite Suarez’s clever backheel.
Georgi Minoungou, a substitute for the Sounders, scored from the left of the field in the 82nd minute to make the cost of that. Yannick Bright was chasing back to defend when Minoungou made a cutback and was snuck into Bright’s sliding challenge.
A 69, 314-person crowd at Lumen Field, which is a Leagues Cup and club single-game attendance record, were pampered by Roldan’s coolly converted penalty that was past Oscar Ustari in the 84th minute to lift the lid on the match.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply