Amid Extreme Weather, Lionel Messi And Inter Miami Forced To Appear In The Concacaf Champions Cup

Lionel Messi scored Inter Miami's winning goal at the Concacaf Champions Cup in the midst of extreme weather (Instagram/@intermimatif).

JAKARTA - Inter Miami started the 2025 season with a 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup at Children's Mercy Park, Thursday, February 20, 2025.

Although Concacaf postponed the match for 24 hours due to a winter storm that brought heavy snow to Kansas City, the players were forced to play in a very cold condition. Temperatures reached three degrees Fahrenheit or -16 degrees Celsius.

However, Lionel Messi found a way to surprise the opponent's defense and give fans a moment of joy in the second half.

Sergio Busquets provided a pass into Messi's penalty box before he beat the defender and fired into the opposite corner.

The remainder of the match shows the sale and purchase of attacks between the two teams, which resulted in a total of 16 shots (seven from Sporting KC and nine by Miami).

Inter Miami entered the match without Jordi Alba, who was on suspension for receiving a red card in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-final match against CF Monterrey. Drake Callender's first-choice goalkeeper was also sidelined by injury.

Despite the absence, the team won an important victory from the first leg and scored an important away goal that could be a differentiator.

Concacaf rules state that if the goal aggregate is the same, away goals rules are applied and calculated as the first determinant.

Kansas City must now score at least two goals at the Chase Stadium to advance to the next round in normal time as the two teams meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the second leg on February 25, 2025.

Meanwhile, Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano, the game was very inhumane as it played in freezing temperatures.

"I'm so proud that I think it's impossible to play in a condition like this. It's inhumane, you know."

"So, I'm very proud because they gave me 100 percent with intensity, with a lot of attitude, so we're happy."

"We were in the first round of qualifying. So, now try to rest after a very difficult match for us," Mascherano told a news conference after the match.

The delay in the match was based on a winter storm warning warning predicting snowfall as high as five to seven inches in Kansas City.

Even on the night of the match, the temperature had changed. When the kick started, the temperature even reached -5 degrees Fahrenheit or -20 degrees Celsius.

Menjelang turun minum kondisi memburuk, suhu sempat berubah ke tiga derajat Fahrenheit tetapi kemudian menjadi -8 derajat Fahrenheit atau -22 derajat Celsius.

Despite the bad weather, Lionel Messi managed to score his first official goal this year.

"A fantastic goal, I think maybe for people who know him, it's normal because he does things like this or scores goals like this 1,000 times."

"However, we are very lucky to have it in our team," said Mascherano.

Despite competing in extreme weather, the result marked Mascherano's first official win, after he was appointed in November 2024 to replace Gerardo 'Tata' Martino.

Although Mascherano led the team to several wins during pre-season, the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup match was his debut in the official match.