Casemiro salvages 1-1 tie for Inter Miami vs. Chicago in front of record crowd

Inter Miami admin September 10, 2026 0 Comments

Casemiro salvages 1-1 tie for Inter Miami vs. Chicago in front of record crowd

A record sellout crowd of 63,094 packed Soldier Field on Wednesday night for a highly anticipated Eastern Conference clash between Inter Miami and the Chicago Fire that ended in an unsatisfying 1-1 deadlock for Lionel Messi and his teammates.

Despite the most expensive roster in MLS history, Miami has won just one of its past eight games and squandered a chance to gain significant ground on Eastern Conference leader Nashville with back-to-back ties over the past four days. Nashville lost to Toronto on Wednesday, opening the door for Miami to get within seven points with a win over Chicago.

Instead, Inter Miami remains nine points behind Nashville as the two teams prepare to face each other at Nu Stadium in Miami on Saturday night.

“It hurts because last game we dropped two points, this game we dropped another two points, could have been so much closer, the overall feeling is that it’s a loss, but it’s football,” said midfielder Yannick Bright.

“It was an away game with a tough opponent, and we know we could have done better. We should be locked in from the first minute, and not start playing after we concede. It’s a common theme for the whole season. We tried our best. We left everything on the field, seeing every single one of us coming back in the locker room gassed.”

The game on Wednesday featured the first MLS matchup between 39-year-old Argentine legend Messi and Polish national team captain Robert Lewandowski, the 38-year-old former Barcelona player who joined the Fire this summer.

Between them, the two stars have scored nearly 1,700 goals for club and country and Messi’s teammate, Luis Suarez, has scored 612. Messi, Lewandowski and Suarez are three of the top four active goalscorers in the world, and they were all on the field Wednesday night. The trio shared hugs in the tunnel before the game.

Lewandowski struck first, giving Chicago a 1-0 lead in the 10^th minute with a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the top left corner. Andrew Gutman delivered the assist with a perfect cross and Lewandowski pounced.

Inter Miami dominated possession 62 percent to 38 percent in the first half and outshot the Fire 9-3, including five shots by Messi (two on frame), but Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady, a member of the U.S. World Cup team, made three big saves to preserve the lead for the home team, including a diving save on a German Berterame shot early in the game.

Three minutes into the second half, Casemiro evened the score for Inter Miami with his third header in the past three games, all off Messi corner kicks. Casemiro, the Brazilian who joined Miami from Manchester United after the World Cup, led the English Premier League with eight headed goals last season. He has quickly become a much-needed aerial threat for Miami.

Messi was held scoreless for the second game in a row after scoring four goals in the 7-1 win over Montreal a few weeks ago.

Inter Miami interim coach Guillermo Hoyos, in charge until new coach Kily Gonzalez gets his work visa, shrugged off the lack of wins in recent weeks, instead congratulating his players for their effort.

“The team showed up very well, competed well enough to win the game,” Hoyos said. “After the game, their coach [Gregg Berhalter] congratulated me for our team’s efforts…It’s a competition. We have won many games. This time we deserved the win, but could not get it.”

Hoyos was asked, specifically, what is lacking in the attack, which other than the rout of Montreal has scored 10 goals over seven matches.

“Nothing went wrong; the standout player of the match was the [Chicago] goalkeeper,” Hoyos said. “Scoring chances were created in different places and the goalkeeper also plays. I think our players were excellent, and we didn’t get the result we deserved.”

Brady ended the night with six saves for Chicago.

Bright went down with an apparent foot injury in the 60th minute, but returned to the game. He said mistakes early in the game proved costly.

“I think we played a good game,” Bright said. “In the first few minutes we should have been more locked in and come out a little more focused. But aside from those first four minutes, I thought we played a good game against a really good opponent. We need to be more locked in next time.”

Hoyos went with the same lineup he used in the 2-2 tie against Atlanta United last weekend.

Fricio Caicedo, the 18-year-old Ecuadorean, started at left back for the second game in a row, replacing Sergio Reguilon, who was out with a hamstring injury.

Noah Allen, a Pembroke Pines native who was a regular starter at left back for the past few seasons and Inter Miami’s all-time appearance leader, left the club last week on loan to the Fire with a permanent $3 million move to come in January 2027. Allen was in Chicago’s starting lineup at center back on Wednesday night and made things difficult for his former teammates with a few key plays that thwarted Miami scoring chances.

The rest of Miami’s starters were goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, right back Ian Fray, Casemiro at center back, Maxi Falcon at center back, midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, midfielder Yannick Bright, midfielder Telasco Segovia, left wing Luis Suarez, right wing Messi and center forward German Berterame.

The Fire is on a seven-game unbeaten run in league play.

The last time the two teams faced each other, at Nu Stadium on July 22, Suarez scored a brace and Preston Plambeck scored to lead Miami to a 3-2 win over the Fire in Lewandowski’s MLS debut. Inter Miami played without Messi and Rodrigo de Paul, who were on a post-World Cup break.

This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 9:20 PM.