As Inter Miami's tenuous postseason aspirations were dashed by a scoreless draw against Nashville on Wednesday, FC Cincinnati took the lead into the Major League Soccer playoffs.
Cincinnati defeated Atlanta 2-1 with to goals from Luciano Acosta and Brandon Vazquez in the second half. Atlanta had taken the lead in the 10th minute thanks to Colombian Edwin Mosquera's first MLS goal for the visitors.
The victory was Cincinnati’s first at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and took the Eastern Conference leaders to 57 points and the first berth in the MLS Cup playoffs with eight matches remaining in the regular season.
Miami, meanwhile, made little headway in their unlikely bid to make the playoffs as they were held scoreless for the first time in the 10 games of the Messi era.
The Argentine star had scored 11 goals in nine appearances since joining Inter Miami – including their run to the Leagues Cup crown, in a US Open Cup semifinal and in his regular-season debut off the bench in New York on Saturday.
The workload may have finally caught up with him on Wednesday as he was unable to work the magic again in front of another star-studded crowd at a blustery DRV PNK Stadium, where boxing great Floyd Mayweather and Fifa chief Gianni Infantino were among the spectators.
With 10 games left, the draw put Miami 10 points outside of the last playoff berth.
On Sunday, they make a cross-country trip to face MLS Cup champions Los Angeles FC.
After coming off the bench in the 60th minute of the previous game in New York, Messi and former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets both started this one.
