Lionel Messi’s Major League Soccer-record streak of multi-goal games ended at five on Wednesday as his Inter Miami squad was blanked 3-0 at FC Cincinnati.

The 38-year-old Argentine star forward had scored a brace, two goals, in five consecutive matches for Miami, giving him 16 goals on the season as Inter managed four wins and a draw in the run.

Not since 2012 when he played for Barcelona had Messi netted a brace or more in five consecutive matches.

But Cincinnati kept Miami to only two shots on goal in the contest.

“Clearly today we were outplayed from the beginning of the match,” Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano said through a translator.

“It was very difficult for us to win the individual duels. Maybe one of the reasons is that physically we come with a very big hustle and bustle and in the long run we end up paying.

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“Leo suffered a knock at the end but it ended well.”

US 20-year-old midfielder Gerardo Valenzuela opened the scoring for Cincinnati in the 16th minute.

Brazilian striker Evander followed with a goal in the 50th minute and struck again in the 70th to provide all the scoring the hosts needed.

“We didn’t play the game we wanted. They put us under pressure all the time, we weren’t fresh or lucid and they beat us very well,” Mascherano said.

Miami fell to 11-4 with five drawn for 38 points, fifth in the Eastern Conference and eight points adrift of first-place Philadelphia, the overall MLS leader which beat Montreal to stay one point ahead of Cincinnati in the overall MLS standings.

Inter Miami has three games in hand on both clubs but would need to win them all to overtake their rivals for the overall league lead.

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“The opponent outplayed us from start to finish,” Mascherano said. “The result and the way they beat us obviously worries us. Now we have to rest and think about the next game.”

That will come on Saturday when Miami will visit the New York Red Bulls, who got two goals each from Cameroon’s Eric Choupo-Moting and Sweden’s Emil Forsberg in a 5-3 home win over New England on Wednesday.

– De Paul to join Miami –

A source close to negotiations told AFP on Wednesday that Inter Miami has agreed on terms with Argentine international Rodrigo De Paul, a midfielder for Atletico Madrid.

The deal is for the next four seasons with De Paul to play the remainder of 2025 in Miami on loan from Atletico Madrid with a subsequent purchase option for Inter worth more than $12 million.

De Paul could play for Miami for the first time on July 30 against Mexican side Atlas in Inter’s debut match in the Leagues Cup, a tournament between MLS and Mexican League clubs.

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He will leave Europe after four seasons in Madrid to join countryman Messi 11 months before the World Cup to be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

Messi has not said if he will play in the World Cup.

De Paul and Messi were teammates on Argentina’s 2022 World Cup champions and reuniting them could help entice Messi to sign a new contract with Inter, whose deal with the superstar expires at the end of this year.

The club wants Messi to stay for the 2026 season, in which Inter will open a new stadium in Miami.

DePaul, 31, joins a Miami core that includes Messi, Uruguayan Luis Suarez and Spaniards Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.

Charlotte was named host city for the 2026 MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday. This year’s all-star matchup will be in Austin, Texas, next Wednesday with the MLS All-Stars facing the Mexican League All-Stars.

The Hungary basketball team on Wednesday defeated Junior D’Tigress, 77-51, to send Nigeria packing from the ongoing FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Czechia.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigerian girls were completely overwhelmed by their opponents as they struggled throughout the encounter.

They started on a good note, recording a 9-9 scoreline in the first quarter of the game, but fell apart in the second quarter, losing 12-30.

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The team fought back in the third quarter but could only make 15-16 points, which was not good enough to pressure the European team.

Hungary took the 4th quarter more seriously and recorded a 16-15 score to keep their lead and eventually coasted home to victory.

Hungary’s Kinga Jisepovits led the floor for her team with 19 points, while her teammate Eliza Farbas recorded 13 rebounds.

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Nigeria’s Tobenna Nweke led the floor with 12 points as Francis Chukwu recorded 9 rebounds to their credit.

The Nigerian girls crashed out of the competition but became the first African team to win a match in the history of the competition and also play in the round of 16.
(NAN)

Young Barcelona star Lamine Yamal inherited the club’s number 10 shirt, previously worn by all-time great Lionel Messi, on Wednesday.

“Messi made his path and I will make mine,” Yamal told reporters at an event at the club shop at the Spotify Camp Nou stadium.

“I will work as hard as I can, give everything and try to make those Barca fans who are there happy and those who are at home.”

The 18-year-old winger, often compared to the Argentine superstar who also came through the club’s La Masia youth academy, helped the Catalan giants win a domestic treble last season.

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He signed a new contract with Barcelona until 2031 in May, becoming one of the best paid players at the club.

“I hope to enjoy myself more than last year and make my dreams come true,” continued Yamal, who said he wanted to win the Champions League with the Catalan giants, and also the World Cup with Spain.

Yamal has scored 25 goals for the club in over 100 appearances, making his debut in 2023 at the age of 15 wearing the number 41 shirt.

“Barca is my life, I’ve been here since I was seven, for all kids from La Masia their dream is to make it to the first team and I’m doing it and I have to keep working,” said Yamal.

“When I was little I dreamed of being at Barca and having this number.”

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After a season wearing the 27, last summer Yamal followed in Messi’s footsteps by taking the number 19, which the Argentine wore at the club between 2005 and 2008.

Ansu Fati inherited Messi’s number 10 shirt in 2021, when now Inter Miami player left Barca for Paris Saint-Germain.

Beset by a series of injuries Fati was unable to fulfil his potential at Barca and signed on loan for Monaco earlier in July.

Other star names including Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo have worn the Barcelona number 10 shirt in the past.

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“(Messi, Maradona, Ronaldinho) are three legends of football, three legends of this club,” said Yamal.

“I am grateful for what they gave the club and I will try to continue this legacy.”

Yamal made headlines after celebrating his 18th birthday last weekend with a private event involving hired entertainers with dwarfism.

Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights asked the public prosecutor to investigate the party after a complaint from the Association for People with Achondroplasia and Other Skeletal Dysplasias (ADEE).

“In the end I work for Barca, I play for Barca, but when I’m away from (the club) I enjoy my life, and that’s all,” he added.