Inter Miami and San Jose Earthquakes play out an exciting six-goal draw at a sold-out PayPal Park after Messi mania hits Bay Area. Tadeo Allende scored twice and Inter Miami tied the San Jose Earthquakes 3-3 in Lionel Messi’s first game in the Bay Area since joining MLS.
Allende scored once during the first half and subsequently levelled the match in the 52nd minute on Wednesday night after tapping a Baltasar Rodríguez pass home on a play set up by Messi. Maximiliano Falcon scored for Miami as well, who have given up three goals or more in three of their past four matches.
Cristian Arango, Beau Leroux and Ian Harkes were on target for the Earthquakes, who have three games without defeat. Messi had a late opportunity for the winner but was thwarted from close range in second-half stoppage time by Daniel De Sousa Britto.
Messi’s debut here was played in front of a sellout crowd of 18,000 with fans lined up hours before the game for the opportunity to see the Miami star in person. His entire Bay Area stay was turned into a multiday event with a block party held on Tuesday night, and fans gathered outside of Miami’s team hotel, excited just to get a wave from the balcony from Messi.
Messi also had some good chances in the first half, just missing wide left after being thrown a pass in the box in transition and then missing wide again on a free kick from the outside of the box in the final seconds of the first half. The match began thrillingly with Miami taking approximately 35 seconds into the game to score, courtesy of a corner kick when Falcon headed in a cross from Jordi Alba.
The Earthquakes answered right back in the third minute with Arango scoring on a feed from Cristian Espinoza around 2:05 into the match, the fifth time in MLS history that each team has scored within the first three minutes of a game, the Elias Sports Bureau reported.
The teams exchanged goals later in the half with Leroux putting San Jose ahead in the 37th minute and Allende responding approximately seven minutes later. The Earthquakes took a 3-2 advantage at the half when Harkes scored on a left-footed blast from outside the box off a pass from Leroux in injury time.
