Lionel Messi had a goal and assisted on another as Inter Miami won its first game at Nu Stadium, 2-0 over the Portland Timbers on Sunday.

German Berterame also scored for Inter Miami, which had three draws and a loss at its new 26,000-seat stadium before Sunday’s victory.

Messi opened the scoring with his 13th goal of the season in the 31st minute. Luis Suárez sent a pass inside to Telasco Segovia, who flicked a pass on to Messi, who beat Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis from 12 yards.

Inter Miami padded the lead on Berterame’s goal in the 42nd minute. Messi dribbled past two defenders and centered to Berterame, who converted inside the left post.

The Timbers had the first scoring threat when Inter Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair deflected Cole Bassett’s shot from the edge of the large area in the 11th minute.

The familiar singing, cheering, flag waving and drum beating from Inter Miami’s organized supporters’ groups “La Familia” were absent until late in the match. The groups reportedly are upset that the players have not acknowledged their presence in the new stadium and remained silent as a form of protest before they began singing in the 85th minute.

The match was the first between the teams since Portland coach Phil Neville was fired as Inter Miami’s coach in 2023, shortly before Messi started playing for the Herons.

Neville is close friends with Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham and told reporters after the Timbers got to South Florida late last week that he was aware Messi choosing Miami would likely mean a coaching change. The club has had four coaches since, including two interim bosses, all of them from Messi’s native Argentina.

“At the start of the (2023) season, I was under no illusions that probably when/if he came in that I wouldn’t be here, and that’s totally fine,” Neville said, referring to Messi. “I understood football.”

Sunday was also the first Inter Miami match since the team revealed that forward Tadeo Allende had what was described as successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee “to address the discomfort he had been experiencing in recent weeks.” There’s no timetable for his return.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer

Miami residents are suing President Donald Trump, Miami Dade College and Florida officials, claiming a plan to donate prime downtown land for Trump’s future presidential library violates the Constitution by financially benefiting a sitting president.

Web Editor : Jessica Patrick

Posted 2026-05-17T08:17:58-0400 – Updated 2026-05-17T08:19:04-0400

I have discussed this topic in the past, but it’s one of those things that never seems to fade in the minds of Miami Dolphins fans as a whole. As long as websites have been available on the internet, where people have been free to share any opinion they wish for the whole world to see, there has been a long-running complaint from many in our fan base that the media just flat-out disrespects or hates our Dolphins.

Many theories about why this happens center on the fact that most of the national media is based in the northeastern US. Many of the talking heads in this industry also come from places like New York, where, if they grew up as fans of one of the local teams, they probably grew up to hate the Dolphins, especially if they grew up in the 70’s or 80’s when the team was somewhere between great and at least good nearly every single season.

I, for one, have never really cared. First off, like many of you, I also grew up a diehard fan of the Miami Hurricanes football program. As such, I long ago learned to embrace the hate as I suspect it will always be there, even if most of their “reasoning” about the team being this way or another behavior-wise is tied to teams that are 30-40 years in the past. Ironically, many of those same players who were labeled as bad guys, thugs, etc., were then cheered and loved by the very same people once they joined their favorite NFL team. Funny how that works…

I can also remember a time, mostly because I am old, when this team was always good and, most years at least, a threat to get to the playoffs and do damage. In those days, and mind you, the media landscape was much different without the internet; the media was not so negative towards the team. In fact, I still have several old magazines, like Sports Illustrated, that had the Dolphins or Dan Marino on the front cover or in a positive featured story. Mind you, this was all during a time when the team was somewhat feared by other teams, not just the poster child for ineptitude.

So with that in mind, this evening’s Phinsider Question Of The Day is:

If you ever did in the first place, do you believe that the national media still shows utter disrespect for the Miami Dolphins, and if so, do you believe that this is deserved, earned, or just regional bias against a team that resides in a place that most of them wish they could actually live?

Please share your thoughts and answers in the comments section below-