Lionel Messi goes scoreless, Inter Miami needs late goal to tie Cincinnati 2-2

MIAMI (AP) — Riquelme Fillipi tallied his first Major League Soccer goal in the 90th minute to cap a late-game barrage of scores, and Lionel Messi and Inter Miami escaped with a 2-2 tie against FC Cincinnati on Wednesday night.

>Luis Suárez scored in the 61st minute to give Inter Miami a 1-0 lead, and then the reigning MLS Cup champions needed some late-game heroics to salvage a point. They still fell to third in the Eastern Conference, after New England beat Red Bull New York 3-2 on Wednesday.

>That gave New England 58 points, two ahead of Miami with two matches left — including one between those clubs in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Sunday.

>Evander had a brilliant chance to win it for Cincinnati with a shot from around the penalty spot on what became the last real chance of the match in stoppage time — but Inter Miami defender Ian Fray got his body in front of the ball to deflect it away.

>Cincinnati's ensuing corner kick was harmless and time expired.

>Kenji Mboma Dem scored in the 80th minute and Samuel Gidi got his first MLS goal six minutes later for Cincinnati, which is still aiming to clinch a playoff spot. Gidi scored on a counterattack from the top of the box, and Cincinnati — briefly — looked like it was going to pull off a stunner.

>Fillipi saved the day for Inter Miami, connecting from the left side of the box. It was nearly the same spot that Suárez scored from earlier.

>And now, Sunday becomes massive for Inter Miami. Messi's team will travel to play the Revolution, with the outcome certain to go a long way not only to determining which team gets the No. 2 seed in the East — but potentially the No. 2 seed in the MLS Cup playoffs.

>That will be the next-to-last regular season game for Miami, which closes Nov. 7 at home against Charlotte.

>Before the game, MLS announced that next year's Sprint Season will have Cincinnati visiting Miami on Feb. 19 — the first game of the shortened season that will serve as the bridge between the league's current calendar and the more international-aligned one that will begin in July 2027.

>Cincinnati missed a chance to move closer to clinching a playoff spot. It needed a win at Miami on Wednesday and a Columbus loss against Dallas to formally lock up a berth.

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