German Berterame and Rodrigo De Paul each scored a goal and recorded an assist, Lionel Messi added an assist and Dayne St. Clair made four saves to lead host Inter Miami to a 2-0 victory over New York City FC on Wednesday night.
Inter Miami (14-5-10, 52 points) clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive season and remained in second place in the Eastern Conference.
Despite matching Miami with 14 shots, New York City FC (8-11-9, 33 points) missed an opportunity to close the three-point gap on the New York Red Bulls and FC Cincinnati, who both lost Wednesday and remained tied for the conference’s two play-in berths.
Messi, who is set to play in the playoffs for the third consecutive season since joining Inter Miami in 2024, assisted De Paul’s goal in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Miami recorded consecutive clean sheets for the first time across all competitions since March 11 and 14. It was the club’s first back-to-back shutouts in consecutive league matches since blanking Nashville and FC Cincinnati in last year’s playoffs.
St. Clair made a spectacular save on a penalty kick by Nicolas Fernandez-Mercau just before the final whistle. The shutout was his second straight after he recorded one in Miami’s previous match.
Berterame scored his first league goal since May 24 when he finished a well-constructed attack in the 20th minute.
Messi played the ball to De Paul near the top of the box, and De Paul fed Luis Suarez near the goal. Suarez drew New York City FC goalkeeper Matt Freese (four saves) off his line before crossing to Berterame, who finished into the open net.
On Miami’s second goal, Berterame led a counterattack and passed ahead to Messi, who crossed to De Paul at the top of the box. De Paul fired past Freese and into the upper-left corner.
–Field Level Media
