Lionel Messi will return to Kansas City as Sporting draws Miami in Concacaf Champions Cup
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF will return to Kansas City for the second straight year to face Sporting Kansas City.
Sporting KC was drawn into a first-round matchup with Inter Miami during Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup draw. That means Sporting will face Miami twice to open the season in February, including one matchup in KC.
The specific date for the game is still to be determined.
Messi and Miami put on a show in Kansas City in April, defeating Sporting KC 3-2 in MLS regular season action. Messi scored and assisted, while Erik Thommy added two spectacular goals of his own, dazzling a crowd of 72,610 fans that packed GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Could this match be moved to Arrowhead again? One source with knowledge of the situation told The Star they anticipate the game being at Children’s Mercy Park this time around.
After all, there was a one-in-11 chance Sporting would get drawn against Inter Miami, and this match’s turnaround time is anywhere from eight to 10 weeks from Tuesday’s draw. In Sporting’s news release, the club wrote that the match would be at Children’s Mercy Park.
After that April game at Arrowhead, Messi went on to win the MLS MVP award in 2024, posting 20 goals and 16 assists in just 19 games. Inter Miami posted the best record in Major League Soccer history (22-4-8) and clinched its Champions Cup berth with the Supporters’ Shield before getting bounced in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs by Atlanta United, which had the worst record among teams that qualified for the postseason.
Sporting posted the second-worst record in Sporting or Wizards history (8-19-7) in 2024, but still qualified for the Concacaf Champions Cup by appearing in the U.S. Open Cup final. (The club is planning a major rebuild this offseason.)
Usually, the U.S. Open Cup winner claims the Champions Cup berth, but LAFC (who defeated Sporting KC 3-1 in the final) had already clinched a berth in the tournament by finishing in the top three of the 2024 Leagues Cup, meaning the berth went to Sporting.
Each matchup is split into a home-and-away two-leg series. The team with the highest aggregate goal total over the two games advances. Sporting, the lower seed, will host the first leg. The first-leg matchups for the first round are either February 4-6 or February 18-20.
On Friday, official dates and times will be learned for Sporting’s matchups with Messi and Miami.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 7:34 PM.