SAN DIEGO — When Don Garber was named Major League Soccer’s commissioner in 1999, the league consisted of 12 teams. The Mutiny, MetroStars, Fusion, Burn and Clash, among others, settled ties with 35-yard shootouts. The clock counted down from 90 minutes to zero instead of the other way around. Players wore uniforms made by Nike and Adidas �...Read more

MIAMI — Memo to all the Lionel Messi fans who have been fretting about their beloved Argentine hero since he exited the field at the 69-minute mark of Inter Miami’s 3-1 home win over Sporting KC on Tuesday night:

Coach Javier Mascherano said Messi is fine and he trained with the team Friday morning ahead of the road game Sunday against the ...Read more

MIAMI — Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were fined an undisclosed amount by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for touching the necks of a New York City FC player and coach during separate heated arguments during their season opener on Saturday night at Chase Stadium.

The MLS Disciplinary Committee announced on Tuesday that both players violated the...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Before joining the Galaxy two years ago, Christian Ramírez spent two seasons with the Columbus Crew, winning an MLS Cup one year and then failing to get out of the first round of the playoffs the next.

The lesson, Ramírez said, is it’s far easier to climb to the top of the league than it is to stay there. And if the Galaxy, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — As first impressions go, this was close to perfection.

San Diego FC introduced itself to Major League Soccer Sunday night with a 2-0 road victory over the league’s most prestigious franchise, and nothing about the performance screamed fluke.

Before the match, the Los Angeles Galaxy celebrated its league-record sixth MLS Cup ...Read more

It was just 11 weeks ago that the Galaxy raised the MLS Cup for a record sixth time, an occasion the team celebrated Sunday with a relay of supporters and first responders carrying the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy back to midfield at Dignity Health Sports Park.

A triumphant video played on the stadium's huge video screens, fireworks filled the air...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi, wearing a longer haircut and Inter Miami’s new pink striped jersey, looked like the same old Messi as the 2025 MLS season got underway Saturday night, battling for 105 minutes and playing a major role in both Miami goals in a 2-2 tie against NYCFC.

The second came at the 100-minute mark, when some fans ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As a British expat living in Los Angeles, Paul Martin found the thing he missed most about home was soccer.

"If I'm walking across a park and I see two people playing, I'll stop and watch it," the documentary film producer said.

So the idea of making a documentary about a soccer league wasn't a hard sell. The challenge was ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Will Kuntz knew something few others did when the MLS Cup final kicked off in December: The Galaxy team Kuntz had so carefully rebuilt, the one that would win the league title that day, would begin to be dismantled shortly after the game.

"We knew well in advance that change was coming," said Kuntz, the Galaxy's second-year ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — At the start of Inter Miami’s new MLS season, the question of last season lingers.

Not how they lost to bottom-seed Atlanta in the playoffs’ opening round.

Not if they win any of the trophies they missed out on last year in this season’s four competitions.

Not even if Messi’s presence can set more attendance ...Read more

MIAMI — Finally, after more than two months at his new job as Inter Miami coach, Javier Mascherano’s heart and refrigerator are full.

The Argentine former FC Barcelona star sheepishly admitted that until his wife, Fernanda, and three children arrived for an extended February visit, he had little food in his kitchen since replacing Tata ...Read more

Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates disembarked from their team plane in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday bundled up in ski hats and parkas. A few hours later, the Argentine captain scored in frigid conditions to give the visitors a 1-0 victory over Sporting KC in their Concacaf Champions Cup opener at Children’s Mercy Park.

The game was...Read more

MIAMI — Lionel Messi has a half-dozen new Inter Miami teammates this season, and they will play their first game that counts Wednesday night on the road against Sporting KC in the Concacaf Champions Cup opener, which was postponed from Tuesday due to a snowstorm.

Those newcomers, who will be bundled up in ski caps and gloves for the sub-zero ...Read more

INDIO, Calif. — San Diego FC had yet to play an MLS opponent when the team's players filed onto one of the manicured fields at the Empire Polo Club earlier this month to take on New York City in a preseason exhibition. Spotting one player in particular, a small army of kids rushed the white picket fence guarding the field and broke into a ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Officially, it was a soccer friendly. A random, meaningless exhibition game between two teams with neither roots nor rationale for spending a Friday night in Tampa Bay.

And yet, standing above the tunnel leading from the locker room to the field in Section 118, it felt more like a religious experience. A pilgrimage in pink.

...Read more

A crowd of 42,000 showed up at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., Friday night for Inter Miami’s final preseason game against Orlando City and based on the sea of pink No. 10 shirts, many of the fans were there to show love for Lionel Messi on Valentine’s Day.

They saw an entertaining game that ended in a 2-2 tie. The Miami equalizer was...Read more