MIAMI — Get ready to see, hear, and even smell Messi Mania as Argentine icon Lionel Messi and top-seeded Inter Miami kick off the MLS playoffs at home Friday night.

If you think Messi has been showing up in a lot of commercials and headlines all season, brace yourself. The Messi marketing push just went into overdrive with the launch of a ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Back when the San Diego Wave were deep into a victory drought that would exceed four months, I wrote they’d eke out a playoff berth.

My prediction stands now as a shanked shot.

Saturday’s 4-1 road loss to the Kansas City Current dropped the Wave to 5-13-7 this season and ensured San Diego won’t be the subpar team that gets ...Read more

MIAMI — In a storybook ending to his already remarkable first full MLS season, Lionel Messi scored a hat trick over the span of 11 minutes after coming off the bench in the second half to lead Inter Miami to a 6-2 win over the New England Revolution in the regular season finale on Saturday.

He electrified the Chase Stadium home crowd with a ...Read more

Supporters’ Shield? Check.

Top seed and home field advantage for the MLS playoffs? Check. Check.

Heading into the regular-season finale against the New England Revolution Saturday, Inter Miami has already established itself as the team to beat in the MLS Cup race.

But there is one regular-season prize still up for grabs: the MLS points ...Read more

Like everyone else who watched Lionel Messi score a hat trick and deliver two assists for Argentina Tuesday night, his Inter Miami teammates were bewildered.

“Unreal,” defender Noah Allen said smiling Wednesday morning before training, when asked about Messi’s performance in the 6-0 Argentina victory over Bolivia. “He’s still got it, ...Read more

AUSTIN, Texas — If there was any doubt about whether the U.S. men's soccer team was under new management, it faded Saturday when fans arriving at Q2 Stadium for Mauricio Pochettino's first game as coach were handed a poster bearing his face, the same face that stared out from a red banner behind the south goal.

"It was a massive shock for me,...Read more

MIAMI — Inter Miami and Toronto FC were locked in a scoreless tie at the 86-minute mark last Saturday, both teams desperate to find the back of the net, when suddenly, during stoppage for a free kick, a young fan in a No. 10 Barcelona jersey jumped over a BMO Field barrier and sprinted onto the field in hopes of getting a selfie with Lionel ...Read more

AUSTIN, Texas — Before new coach Mauricio Pochettino had even left the locker room for one of his first training sessions with the men's national soccer team, many of his players were already bathed in sweat.

Under Pochettino, even stretching has taken on a new emphasis.

"Everything feels a little bit more intense," forward Ricardo Pepi said...Read more

George Baldock, a soccer player for Panathinaikos and the Greek national team, was found dead Wednesday at 31 years old.

Baldock was reportedly discovered unresponsive in the swimming pool at his home in the suburbs of Athens.

No other details regarding the circumstances or the cause of his death were made available, according to state news ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Nick Theslof's grandmother taught him to ice skate at about the time he was learning to walk, which really didn't prove to be much of a life skill since Theslof went on to play professional soccer, not hockey.

But there was another lesson Theslof learned from his grandmother simply by being near her. And it has proved infinitely...Read more

MIAMI — Major League Soccer announced Monday that it set a regular-season attendance record of more than 11 million fans with 16 matches yet to be played. It comes as no surprise that Inter Miami star Lionel Messi had a massive impact on ticket sales.

The overall average MLS attendance this season is up to 23,240, surpassing last year’s ...Read more

The players of the Orlando Pride can be forgiven for not knowing the history and heritage of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

After all, they were born decades after Don Shula’s Dolphins completed their 17-0 season to become the first and only NFL team to go through the season unbeaten.

“The only NFL team ever to go undefeated?” Pride midfielder...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Angel City was hit with multiple penalties Thursday after an investigation by the National Women's Soccer League determined it violated the league's salary cap.

Angel City was given a $200,000 fine, a three-point deduction in the standings and president Julie Uhrman and general manager Angela Hucles Mangano were suspended from ...Read more

This is why Inter Miami owners worked so hard to sign Lionel Messi, for magical moments like the ones he produced Wednesday night, scoring two brilliant goals in the span of five minutes to lead Miami to a 3-2 road win against the Columbus Crew and the first Supporters’ Shield in club history.

The third goal came from Messi’s close friend ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Mauricio Pochettino named his first roster as coach of the men's national soccer team Wednesday. And in many ways it was little different than the rosters that have come before.

It's a little older, with the 25 players averaging just more than 25 years of age, and a bit more experienced, with 17 of the 21 outfield players ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A few years back Jimmy Nordberg, then coach of an indoor soccer team in Ontario, Calif., was trying to come up with a way to build interest in a sport that, so far, had generated very little.

"So we thought 'what's the best rivalry we have in this country as far as soccer goes?'," said Nordberg, now executive vice president of ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Albertin Montoya doesn’t remember everything about his childhood in Cuba. But he does recall what happened when he tried to escape his homeland.

“We never thought we were going to make it,” Montoya, Bay FC’s coach, says now.

But he did.

And that moment set the stage for everything to come in Montoya’s future: a ...Read more

MIAMI — Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will travel to the road games against Atlanta United on Wednesday and New York City FC on Saturday, but it has not been determined how much they will play in each game, Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said before training Tuesday morning.

Messi returned from a two-month injury layoff over the weekend, ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It was just a fleeting moment in a sport full of them. And it happened after a game, not during one, so the only cameras rolling were the ones that knew to look for it.

But it did happen, and that's all that matters: Cavan Sullivan, the Union's teen phenom, got to meet Lionel Messi, soccer's greatest of all time who ...Read more