Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will headline the start of the Major League Soccer playoffs and will begin their round one best-of-three series on October 25.
As recently crowned Supporters’ Shield champions, Miami is the top seed in the Eastern Conference and has clinched home-field advantage. They will face the winner of the Eastern Conference Wild Card match to be played three days prior.
This will be Messi’s first-ever appearance in the MLS postseason and the first time he will participate in a playoff-style format of this kind. Last season, Miami failed to qualify for the postseason after Messi’s arrival earlier that summer. They will enter the 2024 playoffs as overwhelming favorites to win the club’s first-ever MLS Cup.
MLS plans to capture the moment by broadcasting Messi’s inaugural playoff match live on screens in New York’s Time Square. According to the league’s announcement, the screen to be used stretches an entire city block, located on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets.
Messi scored twice in Miami’s win against the Crew on Wednesday night (Photo: Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
The regular season ends on October 19 with Miami still on pace to break the league’s points record of 73 set by the New England Revolution in 2021. After Miami’s 3-2 win over defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew on Wednesday night, Miami became the best team of the MLS regular season. The Supporters’ Shield trophy is awarded annually to the team with the most regular-season points. Messi told Apple TV that the winning MLS Cup remained the club’s primary focus.
“The points record is a secondary objective,” he said. “We have the chance to make history in that sense but we have to focus on the three-game series. Then it’s single elimination and anything can happen. We’ll have an advantage because we’ll play our (playoff) games at home. It’s not easy to play away in MLS but we have (home-field) advantage… We’re strong at home and now we have to show it.”
Miami’s opening playoff match will be broadcast free on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV. The entire MLS Cup Playoffs bracket will be announced on October 19, the final day of the MLS regular season.
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(Top photo: Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
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