Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros bring on MLS 360 host Kevin Egan to discuss Lionel Messi’s new deal with Inter Miami and what it means for the future of Major League Soccer. They also preview the MLS Playoffs and share their predictions. Later, the guys react to another Champions League matchday and a hilarious moment from NBC’s Premier League coverage.
2025 MLS playoffs preview: Matchups, schedule, how to watch and more
The 2025 MLS playoffs will run until the Cup Final on Dec. 6. Here's everything to know, from the matchups, how to watch and more.
Danny Röhl off to losing start at Rangers as Brann expose deep flaws
Danny Röhl discovered Rangers’ problems run deeper than their former manager Russell Martin as they were blitzed 3-0 by Brann in Bergen. The 36-year-old German head coach was installed as Martin’s successor on Monday with Rangers sitting sixth in the Premiership and having lost their opening two games in the Europa League to Genk and Sturm Graz.
However, a new era at Rangers continued along familiar lines against a side third in the Norwegian top flight. Emil Kornvig scored five minutes before the break to give Freyr Alexandersson’s side a deserved interval lead, Jacob Sørensen added a second with Noah Holm firing in a third on a night when once again the beleaguered Light Blues performed to an embarrassingly low standard.
Continue reading...Go Ahead Eagles hold on to stun Aston Villa after Buendía’s spot-kick miss
Aston Villa suffered a Europa League humbling as they were beaten by the Dutch minnows Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer. Unai Emery’s side looked on course to extend their winning streak to six matches in all competitions when they went ahead in the fourth minute through Evann Guessand. They missed a host of chances to finish the game, though, and came unstuck as goals from Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl either side of half-time gave Go Ahead Eagles a famous victory in one of the biggest games in their history.
This was an unexpected blip in Villa’s quest to finish in the top eight of the league phase as Emery plots a fifth Europa League title, and after Emiliano Buendía missed a penalty late on to get his side back on level terms the head coach lamented that his side must be more clinical from the spot. It was also a disappointing night for Jadon Sancho, who failed to make a telling impact on the second start since his loan move from Manchester United and was withdrawn in the second half.
Continue reading...Lionel Messi, Inter Miami Sign 3-Year Contract Extension
Lionel Messi has signed a contract extension with Inter Miami, the MLS club announced Thursday. It is a three-year agreement through the 2028 season. No financial details were released. Messi, who turned 38 in June, originally joined Inter Miami in 2023 under a two-and-a-half-year contract worth $150 million, or $60 million per year, including a …
Lionel Messi signs Inter Miami contract extension to 2028
Messi won MLS MVP in 2024, is favored to repeat
Deal will keep him in Miami for new stadium opening
Lionel Messi has signed a multi-year contract extension with Inter Miami, sealing a deal that will keep him in South Florida until the end of the 2028 season and is expected to be the last contract of his professional career.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in Miami’s announcement on Thursday, but Messi has been MLS’s highest-paid player by a distance since joining Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. His first deal paid him over $20m per year in guaranteed compensation – more the total payroll of about two-thirds of the 30-team league in 2025. His deal also includes equity in the club upon his retirement as a player.
Continue reading...Lionel Messi signs extension to remain with Inter Miami through 2028 season
Messi won the MLS Golden Boot after scoring 29 goals this past season.
Champions League review: A deluge of goals as youth rules for Barcelona and Bayern
This week’s action saw an astonishing 71 goals over two nights, with the Premier League responsible for many of them
• Barcelona’s youth system. Ahead of Sunday’s edition of El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two clubs won their midweek matches. Real Madrid’s opponents were Juventus, in the type of heavyweight clash the Champions League’s rejig into a 36-team group stage was supposed to throw up on a regular basis. Wednesday’s meeting fell short of classic encounters like 2003’s meeting of Madrid’s Luís Figo and Zinedine Zidane with Juve’s Pavel Nedvěd and Alessandro Del Piero. In 2025, Juventus are not the force of yore, though they made Madrid sweat. The sole goal came from Jude Bellingham, England’s great enigma.
Continue reading...Felipe Mora double leads Timbers over RSL and into MLS Playoffs’ next round
Justen Glad scores for RSL after two from Mora
Kamal Miller header seals result for Phil Neville’s side
Felipe Mora’s first-half brace halted an extended dry spell and helped lift the Portland Timbers to a 3-1 victory over visiting Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference wild-card game on Wednesday night.
Kamal Miller’s late header gave eighth-seeded Portland some insurance as the Timbers sealed a first-round series meeting with Western Conference No 1 San Diego FC. The best-of-three set will begin Sunday in Southern California.
Continue reading...Chicago Fire brush aside Orlando City to win first MLS playoff game since 2009
Hugo Cuypers scores twice to win Wild Card match
Chicago advances to face Philadelphia in Round 1
Hugo Cuypers recorded a second-half brace and the Chicago Fire picked up their first playoff win in 16 years with a dominating 3-1 triumph over Orlando City in an Eastern Conference wild-card match on Wednesday night in Bridgeview, Illinois.
Brian Gutiérrez also scored for the eighth-seeded Fire, who ended the longest playoff-victory drought in MLS history. It also was Chicago’s first postseason match since 2017.
Continue reading...Championship roundup: Whittaker gives Boro win at sorry Sheffield Wednesday
Middlesbrough move to one point of leaders Coventry
QPR beat 10-man Swansea, Watford edge out West Brom
Morgan Whittaker’s early goal at a near-empty Hillsborough gave Middlesbrough a 1-0 win at bottom club Sheffield Wednesday and lifted them to within a point of Championship leaders Coventry.
Whittaker struck for the second game running in the sixth minute and that proved enough for Rob Edwards’ side, who should have won by a wider margin and had what looked a certain penalty turned down.
Continue reading...Eintracht Frankfurt 1-5 Liverpool: Champions League – as it happened
Liverpool put an end to their losing run in swaggering style
20 secs: … and so Knauff immediately races down the right and wins a corner off Van Dijk!
To the strains of a ballad set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, the hosts get the ball rolling. Eintracht have left out their leading scorers, Jonathan Burkardt and Can Uzun, for Dino Toppmöller’s aforementioned pacy duo of Jean-Matteo Bahoya and Ansgar Knauff. Let’s see how that pans out, then.
Continue reading...How to watch the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs
The MLS Cup playoffs begin this week, here's how to watch.
MLS playoffs 2025: Everything you need to know — from how it works to who could win it all
Who's favored? How does the format actually work? And can Lionel Messi carry Inter Miami all the way? We've got answers before the MLS postseason kicks off.
Championship roundup: Thomas-Asante double stretches Coventry’s lead
Portsmouth 1-2 Coventry; Millwall beat Stoke to go third
Bristol City 3-1 Southampton; Ipswich 0-3 Charlton
Brandon Thomas-Asante’s double secured Coventry a fifth successive victory as Frank Lampard’s side extended their lead at the top of the Championship table by defeating Portsmouth 2-1.
Thomas-Asante converted his seventh and eighth goals of the season to move the unbeaten Sky Blues four points clear, before Middlesbrough visit Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday.
Continue reading...