Lionel Messi's great form has led Inter Miami to take the top MLS spot in the CONCACAF rankings, though they're still trailing the overall Top 3. Lionel Messi has been the driving force behind an Inter Miami side that has spent the first portion of the 2026 season rediscovering the form that carried them to the MLS Cup title last year. The progress is now showing in the standings, with the Herons reclaiming their status as the top MLS club in the CONCACAF rankings, though they still find themselves outside the overall top three. Back in March, Inter Miami suffered a significant setback with their Round of 16 exit from the CONCACAF Champions Cup at the hands of Nashville, and a string of poor results through early April sent them tumbling to seventh in the rankings. Since then, the club has undergone a reset, including the dismissal of Javier Mascherano and the appointment of Guillermo Hoyos, and the results on the pitch have followed. With CONCACAF releasing its latest club ranking update on May 18, Inter Miami have climbed from sixth to fourth overall, now sitting as the highest-ranked MLS side on the list. LAFC and the Seattle Sounders had been positioned above them, but both clubs have shed points in the most recent update following difficult stretches of form. After a strong start to the season, LAFC hit a wall in May, falling in the Champions Cup semifinals against Toluca and then collecting just one draw and three consecutive MLS defeats. The Sounders followed a similar trajectory, bowing out of the Champions Cup in the quarterfinals to Tigres UANL before managing only one win, two draws and one defeat in May league play. Germán Berterame #19 celebrates with Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami. Messi’s contribution to Inter Miami’s revival Hoyos took charge of his first Inter Miami match on April 18 against the Colorado Rapids, and under the Argentine coach the team has found a level of consistency that was largely absent earlier in the season. A significant factor in that turnaround, beyond the improvement from several players across the squad, has been Lionel Messi returning to his best form. Since that Colorado Rapids fixture, Messi has featured in seven games, scoring seven goals and adding five assists. In May alone across four appearances, he has posted four goals and four assists, performances that have positioned him as the leading candidate for the MLS Player of the Month award. Who sits at the top of the CONCACAF rankings? Over the stretch that includes the Colorado match, Inter Miami have posted five wins, one draw and one defeat with 20 goals scored, accumulating 1,241 points in the CONCACAF index. Despite the momentum, the gap between the Herons and the Liga MX clubs occupying the top three remains considerable. Tigres UANL and Deportivo Toluca hold the top two spots with 1,277 and 1,276 points respectively, as the two CONCACAF Champions Cup finalists. Cruz Azul, who reached the quarterfinals and are set to face Pumas UNAM in the Liga MX Clausura final, sit third with 1,258 points, leaving a 17-point gap between them and the highest-ranked MLS club.
Bruce Arena urged his San Jose Earthquakes team to “hang in there” before the MLS pauses for the World Cup, amid a hectic fixture schedule over the past few weeks. San Jose played out a 1-1 draw with fellow Western Conference high-flyers Vancouver Whitecaps last time out, as Sebastian Berhalter cancelled out Preston Judd’s early […] The post Seattle Sounders v San Jose Earthquakes: Arena urges injury-hit visitors to ´hang in there´ appeared first on Soccer News.
With Inter Miami going from a 3-0 lead to a 4-3 defeat against Orlando City in the MLS, questions rose whether this has been the worst comeback Lionel Messi has suffered in his career. Lionel Messi contributed to the scoresheet and put Inter Miami in a seemingly commanding position before Orlando City pulled off a stunning 4-3 comeback at Nu Stadium. The shocking result has raised the question of whether this is the most dramatic reversal Messi has ever experienced in his professional career. The Herons jumped out to an early lead through Ian Fray in the fourth minute, before Messi teed up Telasco Segovia in the 25th, and then scored a stunning goal himself in the 33rd to make it 3-0. From there, the unthinkable unfolded, as Martín Ojeda completed a hat trick and Tyrese Spicer struck in stoppage time to complete an extraordinary comeback, leaving Inter Miami still searching for any semblance of consistent form. The result also marked a historic first in Messi’s senior professional career: never before had a team he was part of surrendered a three-goal lead in the same game. In fact, throughout his career, a three-goal cushion had never even resulted in a draw for his side, yet Orlando not only leveled the score but went on to claim all three points. On the Champions League stage, Messi did experience two seismic collapses with Barcelona. The first came in 2018 when, after a 4-1 first-leg victory over AS Roma in the quarterfinals, the Blaugrana were eliminated following a 3-0 defeat in Rome. The second and more iconic collapse came the following season when Liverpool overturned a 3-0 aggregate deficit at Anfield with a stunning 4-0 victory. However, both of those examples unfolded across two legs. Within a single game, Wednesday night against Orlando represents the first time in Messi’s career that a three-goal lead has been squandered entirely. He has seen two-goal advantages slip away before, most memorably in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinal and final against France, but never has a team of his lost from three goals up inside 90 minutes. The alarming result against Orlando continued to spotlight two persistent weaknesses in Inter Miami‘s 2026 campaign. The striking corps of Germán Berterame, Luis Suárez and Tadeo Allende have struggled badly for goals, while the defensive record has been equally worrying, with 13 goals conceded across the last seven matches. Unwanted history in MLS too Inter Miami played their first five MLS games on the road ahead of the inauguration of Miami Freedom Park, now Nu Stadium, on April 4. But with three draws and a defeat in four home games since, the Orlando collapse added yet another unwanted footnote to what has been a difficult stretch at their new ground. Orlando’s comeback from 3-0 down to win is only the third time in MLS history that a team has overturned such a deficit to claim victory. They join the LA Galaxy, who came from 3-0 down to win 4-3 in the first-ever Los Angeles derby in 2018, and the Seattle Sounders, who completed the same feat against D.C. United in a 4-3 result in 2017.
Nashville SC take on Tigres UANL in the first leg of the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals, and here’s everything you need to know about the date, venue, kickoff time, and viewing options, including live stream details in the United States. Here are all of the details of where you can watch Nashville SC vs Tigres UANL on US television and via legal streaming: WHO Nashville SC vs Tigres UANL WHAT CONCACAF Champions Cup WHEN 8:30 PM ET / 5:30 PM PT • Tuesday, April 28, 2026 WHERE Fubo, DirecTV Stream, Sling, FS1, TUDN and ViX STREAM WATCH NOW Match Overview After navigating pressure-packed paths to get here, Nashville SC and Tigres UANL collide in what shapes up as a tightly contested showdown. Nashville’s route tested their composure, squeezing past Inter Miami on away goals before locking down a narrow 1-0 aggregate win over Club America. Tigres, on the other hand, showed their grit by overturning a daunting 3-0 first-leg hole against FC Cincinnati and then advancing past Seattle Sounders, also on away goals. With both teams proving they can survive—and thrive—in razor-thin margins, expect a tense, high-stakes battle you won’t want to miss. More details of how to watch With Fubo, you can watch Nashville SC vs Tigres UANL and tons more games. With the legal streaming service, you can watch the game on your computer, smartphone, tablet, Roku, Apple TV or hook it up to your TV with Google Chromecast. Now with Fubo, you can stream USA Network, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, CBS Sports Network, FS1, FS2, beIN SPORTS, beIN SPORTS en Español, beIN SPORTS Connect, beIN SPORTS XTRA, NBC (in select cities), CNBC, USA, FOX (in select cities), FOX Soccer Plus, FOX Deportes, Telemundo, Universo and Galavision. Plus Fubo, the legal streaming service, also streams Liga MX, World Cup, Women’s World Cup, MLS, UEFA Champions League (in Spanish), Europa League (in Spanish), Primeira Liga, Ligue Un, World Cup qualifiers, NWSL, select USMNT games, select USWNT games, select Mexico games, select England games and more. The Fubo app is available for Windows PC, Mac, Apple iPhones, Android phones, Amazon Fire TV, Android Mobile, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Hisense TVs, iOS devices, LG TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, Vizio Smartcast TVs and Xbox One. If you’re planning to follow more games on this platform, you can check out the full Fubo soccer schedule to stay up to date with upcoming matches available via the service. How to watch anywhere with VPN If you’re abroad, you may need to use a virtual private network (VPN) in order to watch games using your usual streaming service. A VPN, such as NordVPN, allows you to establish a secure connection online when streaming. If you are not sure which VPN to use, check out World Soccer Talk’s guide to the best VPNs for streaming soccer. Free resources available to you World Soccer Talk is the number one destination in the United States for soccer television and streaming information. We recommend that you bookmark our soccer games on TV today page as well as subscribing to our free daily email newsletter that includes TV schedules and the latest soccer news and opinion from around the world. Courtesy of World Soccer Talk, download a complimentary copy of The Ultimate Soccer TV And Streaming Guide, which features details on where to watch all of the leagues from around the world on US TV and streaming. To find out when soccer games are on, download the free Soccer TV Schedules App which includes listings of all of the live soccer matches available in the United States (available on Apple iOS devices and Android devices).
