Inter Miami held by New England, remain winless at new home

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami remain winless at their new home after a 1-1 draw with Eastern Conference rivals the New England Revolution on Saturday.

The home side went behind in the 56th minute with a clever close-range finish from former MLS MVP Carles Gil.

Miami pulled level 20 minutes later when Mexico striker Germán Berterame continued his recent upturn in form by snapping up a rebound after Luis Suárez had a shot saved by New England goalkeeper Matt Turner.

But Miami couldn’t find another goal in the final minutes and is now winless in three games at Nu Stadium, following 2-2 draws with Austin FC and the New York Red Bulls.

In that time, Miami has won its two road games — at Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake — both of which came under interim coach Guillermo Hoyos, who replaced Javier Mascherano on April 14.

Miami (5-1-4) is second in the Eastern Conference, with 19 points, three points ahead of New England (5-3-1).

Messi, playing his third game in a week, failed to register a goal or an assist in a second straight game. The 38-year-old was twice denied by Turner with shots from the edge of the penalty box in the first half.

The U.S. national team keeper made nine saves in total to keep Miami from the win.

He wasn’t required to make a stop on Messi’s best chance of the game, however. The Argentina forward ran down a ball that had been flicked into the box in the 38th minute but seemed to stumble the tiniest bit while pushing the ball to his left foot. He sent a weak shot wide, looking skyward and smiling in disbelief after the play.

Gil’s goal started when Will Sands’ long throw-in into the box was settled by Dor Turgeman — who easily outmuscled Miami defender Maxi Falcón. Gil chipped the ball past Inter Miami keeper Dayne St. Clair, opening the scoring.

That goal came just a couple minutes after Inter Miami thought it had struck first, but Tadeo Allende‘s right-footed strike was waved off by an offside call.

Inter Miami tied the match in the 76th minute. Suárez spun a defender and tried a shot from near the goal mouth that was saved by Turner and went right to Berterame, who scored with ease to make it 1-1.

Until then, it looked like the Revolution would get their first win in the series since June 10, 2023 — a couple days after Messi stunned many in the soccer world by saying he was coming to MLS and joining Inter Miami. Messi didn’t begin actual play for Inter Miami for several more weeks.

Inter Miami had outscored New England 16-5 in the four matches since that 2023 contest, winning all four handily.

Inter Miami has five matches left before MLS’ seven-week stoppage for the FIFA World Cup begins. None of those five looming opponents — Orlando, Toronto, Cincinnati, Portland and Philadelphia — have a winning record at this point.

Toronto (3-3-4) is at .500 while none of the other four clubs opened play Saturday better than 12th in their conference standings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.