Forty-eight hours earlier, six players on the Snapdragon Stadium field for San Diego FC\u2019s 1-0 win against Nashville SC were 1,164 miles and two time zones away in Austin, Texas, running around on a humid night in Major League Soccer\u2019s All-Star Game.<\/p>\n
Lionel Messi feels their pain. Or, more accurately, does not.<\/p>\n
The Argentine legend and Inter Miami teammate Jordi Alba both skipped Wednesday\u2019s All-Star festivities despite a league rule requiring participation if healthy. The \u201cor else\u201d was levied by the league office Friday morning: One-game suspensions for both for Saturday\u2019s home showdown against first-place FC Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t well received, as you might imagine, in South Florida.<\/p>\n
Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas called the punishment \u201cfrankly draconian,\u201d adding: \u201cMessi is very upset, extremely upset today, as expected. I\u2019m hopeful it doesn\u2019t have an impact long-term. Will it have an impact initially in the player\u2019s perception of how the league rules work, etc.? Absolutely, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timing is not ideal. Messi\u2019s MLS contract expires at the end of this season, and there has been speculation that the Argentine federation might be pressuring him, if he indeed wants to help La Albiceleste defend its World Cup title next summer, to prepare in a more competitive league.<\/p>\n
MLS commissioner Don Garber told The Athletic \u201cit was a very, very difficult decision but one I hope both (Messi) and everyone else can understand and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano took issue with the timing of the All-Star Game, wedged in a busy corridor of summer fixtures. Eight teams played Friday night, including SDFC and Nashville SC. Next week comes Leagues Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop for the weekend, the All-Star Game is played on the weekend,\u201d Mascherano suggested. \u201cForty-eight hours after having played, there are teams that are going to play (Friday), and it\u2019s not enough rest for the players either. So, the first thing we have to think about is that football belongs to the players. And if football belongs to the players, without players, it doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fixture congestion didn\u2019t seem to bother San Diego FC\u2019s three representatives in Austin, all of whom combined for the game\u2019s first goal in the 53rd minute. Captain Jeppe Tverskov collected a Nashville giveaway at midfield and fed a long pass down the right side to Anders Dreyer, who crossed to Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano for a powerful shot into the upper corner.<\/p>\n
SDFC (14-7-4) had a chance to go up 2-0 in the 83rd minute, after midfielder Onni Valakari was taken down in the box. Dreyer\u2019s PK to the lower right corner was saved by Joe Willis, and Nashville stayed alive.<\/p>\n
But Sam Surridge, tied with Messi for the league lead at 18 goals, couldn\u2019t find the back of the net, nor could anyone else from the Eastern Conference\u2019s second-place team against SDFC\u2019s patchwork back line.<\/p>\n
With regulars Chris McVey and Paddy McNair both dinged up, coach Mikey Varas again went with a rookie center back duo of Ian Pilcher and Manu Duah for all but the final few minutes, when McNair, who returned to practice Wednesday, subbed in.<\/p>\n
SDFC nearly got a second goal in the final seconds. Willis came forward for a free kick deep into second-half stoppage time and the ball was cleared to Dreyer racing toward the empty net at the opposite end. But referee Drew Fischer blew the final whistle just before Dreyer slotted home the ball. No goal.<\/p>\n
SDFC grew its lead atop the Western Conference to four points, although second-place Vancouver has played two fewer games. Next up are three Leagues Cup games at Snapdragon Stadium against teams from Mexico\u2019s Liga MX, starting with Pachuca on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. SDFC\u2019s next MLS game is set for Aug. 9 at Sporting KC.<\/p>\n
Nashville fell to 14-6-5.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 25, 2025 at 9:55 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forty-eight hours earlier, six players on the Snapdragon Stadium field for San Diego FC\u2019s 1-0 win against Nashville…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,3549,15520,7264,221,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-93262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-fc","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114917837437539546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}