Lionel Messi scores again as Inter Miami advances to Leagues Cup final

Lionel Messi has developed a habit of scoring goals each time Inter Miami takes the field The star forward ripped a shot from 30 yards past three Philadelphia defenders in the 20th minute that made fans who paid a record price for soccer tickets in the Philly area rejoice and Inter Miami beat the Union 41 in a Leagues Cup semifinal on Tuesday nightMajor League Soccer is Messirsquos league nowMessi exchanged jerseys with fellow Argentinian and Union forward Juliaacuten Carranza then skipped out on the traditional postgame interview and instead saved his message for his 483 million Instagram followersldquoWe worked our way to the finals and we made it Wersquore still on the last steprdquo he wroteThe seventime Ballon drsquoOr winner scored his ninth goal in six matches with his new team in front of a crowd that pushed 20000 fans with ticket prices soaring past 1000 on the secondary marketThere were few complaintsCertainly not from three Union seasonticket holders who ditched the home teamrsquos garb for a night and traded it for Messi gear Or fans that lined up for Messi jerseys mdash authenticity not guaranteed mdash and the ones hungry at a food truck for Messi friesAlso Read Lionel Messis regularseason Inter Miami debut delayed likely to be on Aug 26And certainly not from the Union who of course wanted to win but otherwise stuffed the coffers and received more worldwide attention on one night than in any game theyrsquove played in their historyFans erupted when the 36yearold Messi was introduced and went wild again when he scored past diving goalkeeper Andre Blake Messi ran with his arms extended and then punched his fist in the air as he leapt in celebrationThe rest was almost incidentalJordi Alba and Josef Martinez also scored in the first half for Miami and David Ruiz scored in the second Miami will play in the Leagues Cup championship game Saturday against Nashville which beat Mexican club Monterrey 20 later Tuesday nightAlejandro Bedoya scored in the second half for PhiladelphialdquoTheyrsquore only going to get better That Miami team is gonna gordquo Union coach Jim Curtin said ldquoTheir ownership is going to spend like crazy Theyrsquore going to make them the best team in the league They might already be the best team in the league Thatrsquos coming and I donrsquot think anythingrsquos stopping themrdquoUnion principal owner Jay Sugarman told The Associated Press there was no real consideration given to moving the game from Subaru Park to Lincoln Financial Field home of the Eagles While the football stadium would have packed in another 40000plus fans Sugarman said told him the game would stay putPhilly native and Hall of Fame boxer Bernard Hopkins struck the 6foot drum that welcomed the team to the field and Sixers center and NBA MVP Joel Embiid who played soccer as a child in Cameroon showed interest in the gameldquoMake sure yrsquoall show love to the goat in our city tonight but letrsquos first get this dub DOOP Phillyrdquo he wrote on social mediaInter Miami already played in Chester before Messi had signed leaving Union officials to study the Leagues Cup field like an NCAA Tournament bracket once it was announcedldquoYou try not to but of course we were like if we do this and they do thisrdquo Sugarman said laughing ldquoWe hope wersquore playing in front of a worldwide audience tonight Itrsquos a chance for the Philadelphia Union to put on the best show we can against one of the best teams and best playersrdquoThe Union fell well short of that standardldquoI think there is a little bit of we were too excited maybe we showed a little too much respectrdquo Curtin said ldquoWe got punished by a good team We got humbled a bitrdquoLed by the rabid supporters group called ldquoSons of Benrdquo the Messi game sold out in less than 10 minutes and the price exploded this week on the secondary market River End seats that normally go for 43 spiked to more than a grand and the average price of 556 was the highest in Union history An hour or so before the game tickets in the lower level were still going for 450 and upldquoPeople love Messirdquo Inter Miami defender Sergii Kryvtsov saidAll around the world and especially Tuesday outside the stadium where it was Messi Mania for the superstar who led Argentina to the World Cup title last year and has essentially become a oneman 1992 Dream TeamAngel Pagan and her family of Vineland New Jersey all wore Messi shirts mdash even though they are Union seasonticket holders They love Messi so much their youngest son is named Lionel in his honor She upgraded her tickets for the game to sit closer to the field and said only they were ldquovery very expensiverdquoldquoWe didnrsquot care what it costrdquo she said ldquoItrsquos MessirdquoUnder Curtin in his 10th season the Union blossomed into one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and clinched their first Supportersrsquo Shield trophy mdash awarded to the MLS team with the best regularseason record mdash in 2020 A season ago the Union fell to LAFC in the MLS Cup NBA superstar Kevin Durant now with the Phoenix Suns thought enough of the Unionrsquos potential to buy a stake in the teamThe Unionrsquos path mdash and all other teamsrsquo mdash to an MLS championship suddenly seems complicated by Messirsquos arrivalldquoThis is a fantastic league with a growing fanbase but you always need that match to really light itrdquo Sugarman said ldquoMessi is the matchrdquoWith agency inputs