Culture
Inter Miami dumped from Champions Cup: Three takeaways
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami saw its dream of a continental trophy ended Wednesday night in Monterrey, Mexico in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Liga MX power Monterrey overwhelmed Miami, 3-1, leaving no doubt in the two-leg series that ended with a 5-2 aggregate scoreline.
Miami went into the night fighting an uphill battle. They gave up two goals in the late stages at home after falling down a man last week and thus had to overcome a deficit on the road.
A big mistake by goalkeeper Drake Callender trying to play it out of the back gifted Monterrey forward Brandon Vazquez a first-half goal. Monterrey broke the game open in the second half with goals from Germán Berterame in the 58th minute and Jesus Gallardo in the 64th.
GO DEEPER
Patrick Schulte leads Crew to CONCACAF semis
The result means MLS will have just one team in the semifinals of CONCACAF’s marquee tournament: the Columbus Crew, which defeated Tigres in penalties on Tuesday night. The winner of the Champions Cup will earn a berth in next summer’s FIFA Club World Cup.
Miami, despite starting its four star players — Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba — looked overmatched for much of the game by a Monterrey team fielding a lineup that was stronger top to bottom.
“I don’t want to make excuses, I don’t want to come here and say that’s why we’re out, but I think if you look at the two benches it gives you a pretty good idea of what it’s like,” said midfielder Julian Gressel. “I hope that the MLS will take the right steps to potentially in the future, be able to have a deeper roster so that you can compare a little bit more and you can kind of make a push for this competition more.”
The loss continued MLS’s historical struggles in the tournament. Just one MLS team has won the tournament, the Seattle Sounders in 2022, and this year marks the fourth time in the last six years that MLS has had just one semifinalist.
Now, Messi and Inter Miami’s likely only other chance to qualify for the Club World Cup next year is winning the 2024 MLS Cup. MLS will get one final bid as the host nation of the tournament, and while FIFA has not announced how that spot will be decided, winning the league’s championship is the most likely possibility.
Estadio BBVA rocked as Monterrey rolled
Estadio BBVA is one of North American soccer’s crown jewels, tucked into a valley in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. The atmosphere at the place on Wednesday almost certainly contributed to Miami’s undoing, though they didn’t need much help. Monterrey’s fans were fully bought in the entire match and the noise was deafening.
In Mexico, Messi doesn’t enjoy the sort of universal adulation that he does elsewhere in the world; there were very few Messi jerseys in view and he was booed relentlessly throughout the match. Tata Martino, Miami’s head coach, got an even louder jeer when he was announced pre-game — Martino led Mexico to an early crash-out at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
By the final whistle, the crowd had honed in on a pair of chants: “Messi se la come” (Messi can eat it) was the first. The second was a little less creative: they just started chanting Cristiano Ronaldo’s name over and over again. Simple but effective.
“It’s something we were prepared for, to be honest with you,” Miami midfielder Julian Gressel said after the match. “This was a beautiful atmosphere, great stadium, great fans, against a good team, and those are the nights you want to play. It’s an away game, you expect that.”
There’s simply nothing like this type of environment in MLS. This is why playing in Mexico has always been so difficult for MLS sides. The size of the Estadio BBVA is evident. The crowd is loud and the noise is intimidating. One bad touch, and they’re inside your head. Drake Callender found that out the hard way. – Pablo Maurer & Felipe Cardenas
Callender’s first-half error put Miami even further behind (Alfredo Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images)
Callender’s error put Miami on the back foot
Two straight days of MLS teams in Mexico needing a result to advance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, two straight days of goalkeepers making big mistakes trying to play it out of the back that lead to goals and deficits.
On Tuesday night, it was Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte. He redeemed himself with two saves in the penalty shootout to lead the Crew to a win.
On Wednesday night, it was Drake Callender.
¡Brandon Vazquez anota el 1-0 para Rayados! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/uvDgLk8TlN
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) April 11, 2024
The goal may have deflated Inter Miami in the first half, but it didn’t directly end their chances on the night. Trailing 2-1 going into the second leg, Inter Miami was going to need at least two goals if they wanted to win the home-and-home series.
But Callender’s blunder came just six minutes after Inter Miami’s best combination play in and around Monterrey’s box, with Messi sending a shot just over the crossbar. Inter needed some time to recover from the shock of the goal, though they had a couple of good looks at the end of the first half.
The mistake proved fatal, however, when Monterrey found its second goal in the 58th minute. – Paul Tenorio
Berterame’s shot from distance did much to separate the sides (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
Berterame’s rocket put it out of reach
As the olé’s began to ring around the stadium, there was a feeling that Monterrey’s second goal was coming Inter Miami couldn’t keep possession of the ball and they were stretched in search of an equalizer.
All those factors played a part in Berterame’s thunderous strike in the 58th minute, which made the score 2-0 and all but officially put the game out of reach for Miami.
After a giveaway by Miami left back Noah Allen led to right back Chelo Weigandt getting caught upfield, the ball made its way to the burly Argentine center forward in plenty of space at the top of the Inter Miami penalty area. Berterame had struggled for most of the match to get a clean touch on the ball, but he made no mistake this time.
¡GOLAZO de Germán Berterame! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/MYlC0XqO3o
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) April 11, 2024
His goal was a glimpse of why the Portland Timbers pushing to sign him for a reported $15 million in January. Monterrey were the the clear winners of that could’ve-been situation. – Felipe Cardenas
A difference in squad construction
Inter Miami had four legends in its starting lineup, but Monterrey proved over two legs that it’s just a way better team, top-to-bottom. The Liga MX side was sharper and more unified in almost every respect whether playing home or away, easily breaking Miami’s press in the moments it happened and pouncing on chances when the back four opened up.
Inter Miami clearly had adjustments to make, but Martino chose to make zero subs for the duration of the game – which he said after the game was a function of a young bench full of inexperienced players.
“The teams that have advanced (in the Champions Cup) are the teams that have the best squads in Mexican football,” Martino said after the game. “I mentioned recently that until MLS relaxes its many (roster) rules in order to build more robust squads, where player absences, injuries, suspensions aren’t as difficult to overcome, evidently (Liga MX) will have an advantage.”
The Columbus Crew stands as MLS’s last hope of overcoming that advantage. –Alexander Abnos
(Photo: Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)
new video loaded: 250 Years of Jane Austen, in Objects
By Jennifer Harlan, Sadie Stein, Claire Hogan, Laura Salaberry and Edward Vega
December 18, 2025
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
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