Inter Miami CF 2-0 Portland Timbers: Messi's crucial goal and assist helped Miami moving forward

Messi goal, assist lead Miami past Portland Timbers.

Match Report:

It took the Portland Timbers 31 minutes to secure a place in an increasingly crowded club in soccer history.

Playing against Inter Miami, Portland fell 2-0 on the road.

Now, Portland has lost before — Sunday was the club’s seventh loss of the season. But in the defeat, Portland (4-7-2, 14 points) became the 127th team in history to allow a goal from superstar Lionel Messi, who joined Miami in 2023, won a pair of MVPs, the 2025 MLS Cup and deposited a shot into the low far post for the match’s first goal in the 31st minute.

It was an effective goal — Messi’s 12th of the season — though far from anything that’ll show up on the career highlights of a player who’s scored more than 900 times. But Messi has also tallied more than 400 career assists — and his first against the Timbers, the one that gave Miami a 2-0 lead in the 42nd minute, was world-class.

Messi slipped past Portland captain Diego Chara, 40, to get the ball at the top of the box, pinballed through Portland’s Cole Bassett and Jimer Fory, then slid a pass behind Kamal Miller for a waiting Germán Berterame to bang home for the 2-0 lead.

The Timbers didn’t otherwise play poorly. James Pantemis made a point-blank save on Messi four minutes into the game, another in the second half when Messi pulled up and tried to curl a ball into the top corner and a third on a stoppage-time free kick. Finn Surman shut the legend down on multiple runs and even Chara, before being part of Portland’s four-player pileup in the 42nd minute, played admirably while defending a player two years his junior.

The Timbers just didn’t have the firepower or cohesion on offense to make Miami (8-2-4, 28 points) sweat. Portland mustered just four shots on net, and when the Timbers got near goal, they often dribbled themselves out of quality attempts in search of a better shot — like Kristoffer Velde did multiple times in the second half.

Portland has had worse losses this season. The difference on Sunday was that Portland had a front-row seat to what world-class looks like in a match where the Timbers just needed to be MLS average to find the back of the net.

Next up: The Portland Timbers return home to Providence Park on Saturday to face San Jose, whose leading scorer, Preston Judge, is only roughly 850 career goals behind Messi. It’s Portland’s last game before the nearly two-month MLS pause for the World Cup.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

0' Match Event for Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

4' Match Event for Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

11' Highlight from Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

15' Highlight from Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

16' Highlight from Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

27' Match Event for Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

31' GOAL! Inter Miami CF 1-0 Portland Timbers (Lionel Messi)

38' Match Event for Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

42' GOAL! Inter Miami CF 2-0 Portland Timbers (Germán Berterame)

53' Match Event for Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

57' Highlight from Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

68' Highlight from Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

71' Highlight from Inter Miami CF vs Portland Timbers

Line-ups

Inter Miami CF XI: Messi, Suarez, De Paul, Reguilon, Germán Berterame, Dayne St. Clair, Telasco Segovia, Gonzalo Luján, Micael, Ian Fray, Yannick Bright

Subs: Maximiliano Falcón, Rocco Ríos Novo, Facundo Mura, David Ayala, Noah Allen, David Ruíz, Dániel Pintér, Preston Plambeck, Alexander Shaw

Portland Timbers XI: Diego Chará, James Pantemis, Kristoffer Velde, Brandon Bye, Kamal Miller, Jimer Fory, Antony, Cole Bassett, David Da Costa, Finn Surman, Kevin Kelsy

Subs: Felipe Mora, Joao Ortiz, Ariel Lassiter, Trey Muse, Alexander Aravena, Juan Mosquera, Alex Bonetig, Gage Guerra, Ian Smith