Messi's Late Winner in New England Booked a Champions Cup Spot — Now Charlotte on Decision Day Decides the No. 2 Seed
Inter Miami's 2-1 comeback at New England on Sunday — an assist and a late goal from Lionel Messi, his 26th of the season — clinched a 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup place and lifted the Herons to 59 points and second in the East, with Saturday's home finale against Charlotte holding the seed.
Sunday night at Gillette Stadium, Inter Miami's season narrowed to one man doing two things late. Trailing on the road in a game that carried the Eastern Conference's second seed with it, the Herons rallied to beat the New England Revolution 2-1 behind Lionel Messi — a stunning assist and a highlight-reel late goal, as the league's own account put it — in front of 54,112 people. The winner was Messi's 26th goal of the regular season, extending his lead in the Golden Boot race, and Telasco Segovia's assist on the night took him to 12 for the season, per the club's official recap.
The result does three pieces of business at once. It clinches Inter Miami's place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. It lifts the club to 59 points on a 16-6-11 record, above New England and into second place in the Eastern Conference. And it puts the East's No. 2 seed — and the home-field advantage that travels with it through the conference playoffs — entirely in Miami's hands heading into the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs, with the league noting the Herons' remaining ambition beyond the seed: becoming the first repeat MLS Cup champions since the 2011-12 LA Galaxy.
Which makes Saturday a final in everything but name. Inter Miami closes the regular season at home — Nu Stadium, Saturday, November 7 at 4 p.m. ET on Apple TV — against Charlotte FC on Decision Day, with the No. 2 seed theirs to keep or hand back. A team that spent Sunday night celebrating a trophy-race goal in Massachusetts now has six days to protect what it won there. The building, this time, will be theirs.
