Live updates on the MLS games between Crew and Inter Miami

Two of MLS' top teams, The Crew and Inter Miami, will face off in their third meeting of the season on Wednesday at Lower.com Field.

If league leaders Miami defeat the Crew, the club will win its first Supporters' Shield, awarded to the MLS team with the best regular season record. The crew enters the game in third place. A win or a draw can keep the Crew and second-place Los Angeles Galaxy in contention.

Columbus and Miami split two games this year. Miami beat Miami 2-1 at home in a regular season game on June 19th. In August, Miami traveled to Columbus for a Leagues Cup round of 16 game. Although Miami was ahead with 25 minutes left, the Crew staged a comeback to fuel Diego Rossi's two goals that gave Columbus a 3-2 win.

“It was a good football game, both teams played well,” said Rossi. “I think the most important thing we had in that game was that we were down, losing the game, and we still had our ideas and tried to play our football. I think that's why we finally won the game and I think that was the best part.

The biggest difference tonight will be that Miami will have star striker Lionel Messi playing. This will be the first time Columbus will face him since he joined the league in July 2023. Messi missed the Crew's first two games due to either international training or a right ankle injury.

More: Columbus Crew prepared to face Inter Miami's Lionel Messi

In his first game at Lower.com Field, striker Lionel Messi scored the first goal, giving Inter Miami a 1-0 win over the Crew.

From outside the Inter Miami penalty area, Crew striker Diego Rossi attempted a shot that goalkeeper Drake Callender had to make a save to keep out.

It was the first yellow card of the game as Inter Miami midfielder Federico Redondo received a yellow card for a foul on Crew midfielder Darlington Nagbe in midfield.

From the top left of Inter Miami's penalty area, Crew striker Christian Ramirez fired a shot that went wide left of the goal and out of bounds.

Inter Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets was called for a foul on the Miami side of the pitch, which resulted in Busquets colliding in the air with Crew midfielder Mo Farsi. Shortly after the foul, fans at Lower.com Field expressed disappointment that there was no red card in the game, especially after a replay was shown.

Farsi required medical attention after the hit, but was able to stay in the game.

For the second time in the game, it looked like a player had scored, only to have the goal canceled out due to an offside call. This time it was a Miami goal from defender Marcelo Weigandt that was overruled after he was offside in the Columbus penalty area.

Crew defender Rudy Camacho was able to throw the ball out of bounds on Inter Miami's first attempt at scoring.

It seemed like striker Cucho Hernandez had given the team an early 1-0 lead against Inter Miami, and he even started celebrating the goal before the referees determined Hernandez was offside and overruled the goal.

The Crew was awarded the first corner kick of the game after Miami kicked the ball over the goal line. When Diego Rossi took the free kick, the Crew were unable to capitalize on the opportunity as Miami quickly cleared the ball with a header from inside the box.

Both the Crew and Miami have several players unavailable tonight.

Not available for Columbus:

Evan Bush (arm)
Sean Zawadzki (upper body)

Not available for Miami:

Leo Afonso (groin)
CJ dos Santos (hand)
Facundo Farias (knee)
Nicholas Freire (knee)
David Martinez (groin)

Here are the officials for tonight's Crew vs. Miami game:

Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referee 1: Kathryn Nesbitt
Assistant Referee 2: Brooke Mayo
Fourth official: Sergii Demianchuk
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
Assistant VAR: Joshua Patlak

Here is the starting XI for Inter Miami against Columbus:

GK: Drake Callender
DF: Jordi Alba
DF: Noah Allen
DF: Ian Fray
DF: Marcelo Weigandt
MF: Yannick Bright
MF: Sergio Busquets
MF: Federico Redondo
FW: Diego Gomez
FW: Lionel Messi
FW: Luis Suarez

Here is the starting XI for Columbus against Inter Miami:

Goalkeeper: Patrick Schulte
DF: Malte Amundsen
DF: Rudy Camacho
DF: Steven Moreira
MF: Max Arfsten
MF: Mo Farsi
MF: Alex Matan
MF: Darlington Nagbe
FW: Cucho Hernandez
FW: Christian Ramirez
FW: Diego Rossi

These are the top five teams in the MLS Supporters' Shield race. The trophy goes to the team with the best placing at the end of the regular season.

Inter Miami: 19-4-8 (65 points)
Los Angeles Galaxy: 17-7-7 (58 points)
Columbus Crew: 16-5-9 (57 points)
FC Cincinnati: 17-9-5 (56 points)
Los Angeles FC: 15-8-7 (52 points)

The Crew is 3-4-1 against Inter Miami.

The English-language radio show “Crew vs. Inter Miami” airs on Alt 105.7 FM and is available on the iHeartRadio app. Regular Columbus radio host Chris Doran will join the conversation.

The Spanish radio show can be found on La Grande 102.5 FM and the La Grande Radio app, with Juan Valladares doing play-by-play.

The Crew-Miami game will be televised on Fox Sports 1 and streamed on Apple TV with an MLS Season Pass subscription required. Here are the broadcast teams for tonight:

English broadcast: Jake Zivin (play-by-play), Taylor Twellman (analyst)
Spanish broadcast: Sammy Sadovnik (play-by-play), Diego Valeri (analyst)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 2, at Lower.com Field.

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