Inter Miami advances to MLS Cup Final with 5-1 rout of NYCFC, Allende hat trick
Lionel Messi and his high-profile Inter Miami team are finally living up to the hype and meeting expectations, heading to their first MLS Cup Final in club history after an emphatic 5-1 win over NYCFC in the Eastern Conference final on Saturday night at Chase Stadium.
A year after a disappointing first-round playoff exit, the men in pink are one home win away from lifting the trophy that has eluded them. Miami will stay home and face the Vancouver Whitecaps Dec. 6 at 2:30 p.m. in the MLS Cup Final.
“This is for you, for all the fans, we have one game left,” Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas said on the field after the game as the team celebrated on a stage at midfield with pink fireworks and confetti filling the air.
The crowd, which included tennis star Carlos Alcaraz and 19 members of the U.S. Women’s National Team, enjoyed the historic moment from the stands.
A spot in the final was on the line and Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano took no chances. He went with the same starting lineup against New York City FC that worked so well in back-to-back playoff routs of Nashville and FC Cincinnati.
His decision paid off with a victory in a spicy conference final on a windy Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale. Mascherano’s exuberant celebrations after the goals showed how delighted he was with the result.
“Before the game, the night before, you always imagine the best...playing great, dominating the game, having more clear chances, and of course, winning,” he said, as his players celebrated in the locker room. “We knew it would be difficult, until the 60-something minute they were still in the game. But the power these players have when they are convinced of how good the team can be and where we want to go, that is what brought us here. When a group has that mentality, it is immeasurable and can overcome a lot.”
He added that he has been impressed with his players for the past few months, not just the past three games. His team has played 58 games, the most in MLS history, had some dips, but is peaking at just the right time.
“We are on the cusp of the game we dreamed about at the start of the season, the final game of the year, at our home, in front of our fans,” Mascherano said. “It will also be the last MLS game in this stadium, so hopefully the fans will come support us as they did [Saturday] because with them we are very strong.”
Uruguayan 38-year-old legend Luis Suarez was left out of the lineup, replaced by the speedy and confident 19-year-old Argentine Mateo Silvetti, who comes from Messi’s hometown of Rosario and changed the dynamic of Miami’s offense in the previous two games.
Having Silvetti and Tadeo Allende flanking Messi gave the team more options in the final third, more speed, and that proved to be the perfect recipe again on Saturday.
Allende, coming off back-to-back braces, scored his first Miami hat trick. He scored a pair of goals in the first 23 minutes to give Inter Miami a 2-0 lead and Silvetti scored the insurance goal in the 67th minute. Messi provided the assist on Silvetti’s goal, the 405th of his career, which set a record for most assists in soccer history.
“I waited for Leo’s pass, he found me, and all I had to do was finish,” Silvetti said. “Playing with Leo makes things alot easier.”
“That third goal was key, with an assist from Leo that only he could see, and it gave us breathing room,” Mascherano said.
Allende completed the hat trick in the 89th minute and equalled a new MLS record with his eighth playoff goal. Telasco Segovia scored the fourth Miami goal of the night after coming in as a late-game sub.
Allende’s first goal came at the 14-minute mark, a right-footed bullet of a shot from the right side of the box. Allende received a long pass from Sergio Busquets and then out-muscled NYC defender Raul Gustavo to get in position for the shot.
The stadium erupted as Silvetti, Busquets, Messi and Baltasar Rodriguez ran over to celebrate with Allende.
Things got testy shortly thereafter. New York’s Argentine No. 10 Maxi Moralez was issued a yellow card after a hard foul on Miami’s Maxi Falcon. Moralez got into a heated argument with Inter Miami players Marcelo Weigandt, Rodrigo De Paul, Messi and Jordi Alba. Weigandt was shown a yellow card in the 22nd minute.
One minute later, while tempers were finally settling down, Allende scored his second goal of the night, a header off a cross from Alba.
Allende struggled earlier in the season and was criticized for missing what looked like easy scoring chances. But he is making up for it in the post-season.
“I worked very hard for this moment,” Allende told reporters on the field after the game. “I knew I would be able to redeem myself at any moment and I am very happy. I had tough times early, but now things are coming together at the best time. More important is that the team is winning.”
Justin Haak got New York City back into the game in the 37th minute with a header from the center of the box after a cross from Moralez following a free kick. The score remained 2-1 at halftime.
Everything changed in the second half. Miami scored three goals in transition as New York City unraveled.
“Our team was very naive in the second half,” said NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen. “I said to my guys after the game that I didn’t recognize them in those moments because normally we’re very solid defensively and these transitions we just handed over and that’s based on being very naive...We got hammered with five goals, and the way we conceded them is not something I had seen from our team.”
The rest of the Inter Miami starters on a windy Saturday night were Rocco Rios Novo at goalkeeper; Weigandt, Falcon, Noah Allen and Alba in defense; Busquets, De Paul, Baltasar Rodriguez, in midfield; and Messi and Allende as strikers.
New York’s Starting XI included: Matt Freese, Thiago Martins, Kevin O’Toole, Trayvon Gray, Gustavo, Haak, Moralez, Aiden O’Neill, Jonathan Shore, Nico Fernandez and Agustin Ojeda. Their coach, Pascal Jansen, assured in the leadup to the game that their team would not just rely on its strong defense against Miami, but had the offensive tools to be a threat.
There was a palpable playoff energy in the building as pink fireworks filled the air at the opening whistle. The crowd included the majority of the U.S. Women’s National Team, which is playing a friendly against Italy at Chase Stadium on Monday night.
“I feel like it’s so clear just seeing the draw that he, alone, gets in whatever market he goes to, everyone wants to see him,” U.S. midfielder Sam Coffey said of Messi’s influence on soccer in America.
“Just having that excitement, especially going into the men’s World Cup next year, and then ours, building that passion for the game in the U.S. is so key and he’s obviously a fundamental part of that. So, we’re really excited to watch him play.”
Messi was on fire heading into the game with six goals and six assists through four playoff matches. Miami has reached peak form the past two weeks, knocking off dangerous Nashville SC and FC Cincinnati by identical 4-0 scorelines.
Messi and his teammates scored a league-high 81 goals during the regular season and finally, the defense, which had been vulnerable in transition, tightened up to match the team’s potent attack.
New York, meanwhile, was the only team that had won three playoff games on the road.
NYCFC knocked Charlotte off on the road in two of three first-round games and edged Supporters Shield winner Philadelphia Union 1-0 on the road in the Eastern Conference Semifinal last weekend despite injuries to top scorer Alonso Martínez, who injured his knee while with the Costa Rican national team earlier this month, and midfielder Andrés Perea.
NYCFC had lost just one of its previous nine road games dating to July.
Mascherano said Saturday’s victory was particularly special for him because his wife and three children flew in from Argentina and were in the stadium for the big night.
“Sadly, I have not been able to share many good moments with my family this season, so it feels great that tonight I was able to do that and I will go home and have company and share this with my family,” he said. “The truth is, moments like this are not as meaningful if you don’t have anyone to share them with, and now I do.”
Saturday’s MLS Cup Final is a rematch of the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal, which Vancouver won 5-1 on aggregate across two games in April. The Whitecaps won 2-0 at home and 3-1 in Fort Lauderdale. The game features Messi against German star Thomas Muller, who joined the Whitecaps over the summer.
It will be the 11th time Messi and Muller meet on a soccer field, as they faced each other in Argentina-Germany matches as well as UEFA Champions League matches between FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Muller’s team has won seven of the 10 times they played.
The game will be broadcast on Apple TV, FOX, FOX Deportes, and TSN. Tickets go on sale Monday for season ticket holders and Tuesday for the general public at intermiamicf.com/tickets
This story was originally published November 29, 2025 at 7:02 PM.