TAMPA, Fla. — Geno Auriemma raised his fists in the air, pumping them as the buzzer sounded.

His UConn women’s basketball staff rose to their feet behind him to welcome the five Huskies on the floor back to the bench, and the crowd at Amalie Arena burst into a roar.

It was only the end of the third quarter of the national championship game against South Carolina, but Auriemma knew. Everyone in the arena already knew. UConn was only 10 minutes away from winning its 12th national championship.

The No. 2 seed Huskies carried a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter. That lead grew to 32 at one point before the final buzzer sounded, and UConn beat South Carolina 82-59 Sunday to win their first national championship in nine years.

Buy UConn national championship commemorative poster

Auriemma pondered earlier in the day what he would say if things didn’t go their way, if the national title drought continued. How could he put his emotions into words if things went wrong, especially when so much was riding on this game for so many, including his senior star Paige Bueckers?

‘I just kept thinking something good has to happen, because if we were going to lose it would have been before now,’ Auriemma said. ‘I don’t think the basketball gods would take us all the way to the end – they’ve been really cruel with some of the kids on this team.’

Bueckers is one of those kids along with senior guard Azzi Fudd. Both their careers were hampered by injuries, and both lost full seasons to win a championship together due to injuries.

The stars never aligned for a championship run – until now.

‘They don’t need anymore heartbreak, so they weren’t going to take us here and give us more heartbreak. I kept holding on to that,’ Auriemma said. ‘I’m glad they were rewarded. This is one of the most emotional Final Fours and emotional national championships I’ve been a part of since that very first one.’

UConn (37-3) returned to the mountain top, and it took down two No. 1 seeds in Tampa to do it. The Huskies were dominant in the Final Four, blowing out No. 1 overall seed UCLA 85-51 on Friday before dismantling the No. 1 seed Gamecocks (35-4) Sunday. The first time UConn met South Carolina in the 2022 national championship game, it lost.

Not this time.

Senior guard Azzi Fudd and freshman forward Sarah Strong were magnificent for UConn, both scoring a game-high 24 points. When South Carolina cut the Huskies’ lead to 11 points late in the third quarter, Auriemma called a timeout to refocus his team.

Strong assisted a 3-pointer for Fudd immediately out of the timeout. Then Strong hit a 3-pointer of her own on UConn’s next possession to make the lead 16 points.

UConn got everything it needed from its three stars to put on the kind of performance that was reminiscent of the dominant Huskies teams at the beginning of this storied dynasty. Senior guard Paige Bueckers added 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal.

Auriemma, 71, is now the oldest coach to win a national championship in men’s or women’s basketball. He joked that the other coaches had the good sense not to stick around until his age. They all feel their age at some point, he said, even if they don’t like to admit it because they act younger with the players they’re around on a daily basis.

‘I may be 71 number-wise, but I think otherwise I’m more able to do stuff with those young people because I’m around them every day and they rub off on me,’ Auriemma said. ‘Does that mean I can do this for another X number of years? No, because, you know, wine is good for you, too, and if you’re around it all the time, after a while, you wake up and you go that was really bad, I had too much fun.’

Auriemma doesn’t feel like he’s lost his ability to be a kid yet. But even though his players are fun, he knows there will come a time when the fun doesn’t outweigh how difficult his job is.

He equated it to coaching the Olympic team with the amount of pressure attached to it. It feels like more of an obligation to do what is expected – win championships.

‘Maybe what this one means is that there were a lot of people that didn’t think it would ever happen,’ Auriemma said. ‘There were a lot of people that hoped it would never happen. I’m glad that we were able to get to that spot that Connecticut has occupied.

‘Not that we had to win a championship, but in the last 30 years I don’t know that any program’s meant more to their sport than what UConn has meant to women’s basketball, so I feel good about that.’

Following UConn’s 82-59 win over the Gamecocks in the women’s national championship game – marking one of the largest margins of victory in a title game in NCAA history – Staley matter-of-factly said the Huskies ‘beat our ass.’

‘Our kids gave it all they had,’ Staley said Sunday after the defeat, which marked the program’s first championship loss in four appearances. ‘When you can understand why you lost and when you’ve been on the other side of that three times, you understand it. You can swallow it. We lost to a very, very good basketball team that beat our ass, but they didn’t make us like it. There’s a difference.’

Staley said her team simply ‘didn’t take care of the basketball.’ The Gamecocks had 11 turnovers and shot 34.4% from the field. ‘We took a couple of bad shots. We didn’t make layups, and they make you pay,’ Staley added.

Although the Gamecocks will lose an experienced senior class that helped transform the program into a dynasty, including Bree Hall, Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao, the Gamecocks’ roster also features talented underclassmen that Staley said will benefit from playing in a national championship game, even if they are on the losing side.

‘I hope they’re crying,’ Staley said of her underclassmen, including freshmen Joyce Edwards and sophomore MiLaysia Fulwiley. ‘I hope they’re boo-hooing because from crying they have emotion about losing, makes you work hard in the offseason. Makes you look at it and really analyze what the separation is from their program and our program and how we close the gap with that.’

She added: ‘They’re very talented, and I think they got a great experience of playing at this level that I hope they have a desire to get back here and do all the things it takes to play in the national championship game and to deliver the blows that’s needed to win.’

Staley said she gave her outgoing seniors ‘their last flowers’ in the locker room and told them to ‘hang your head up high.’

‘There’s no other women’s college basketball student-athlete that has experienced what they’ve experienced, won as much as they’ve won — and that’s championships and that’s games,’ Staley said. ‘It was them that built this and it’s them that will go out again as the most winningest class – I’m going to venture to say in the country. So I’m proud of them.’

Staley is already looking ahead to next season. She said she’s ‘excited for what our team will look like next year.’

‘I do think they’ll be talented enough to get here, especially with getting in the transfer portal and getting some experienced pieces that can help with this young group,’ she said. ‘Younger players are just going to have to step up. They’ve got to have a great summer. They’ve got to have a great fall. We always are going to play a competitive schedule. So they’ll have opportunities to grow and play in a competitive schedule.’

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

One thing that’s obvious about Florida and Houston heading into the national championship game: Neither team is going to quit.

Florida was down eight at halftime of the national semifinals against Auburn before flipping momentum with a quick 11-0 run early in the second half. After being battered by the Tigers’ frontcourt, the Gators essentially shut down Auburn senior Johni Broome in the second half, holding the All-America forward to just 3 points on 1 of 4 shooting from the field.

Later on Saturday night, Houston trailed Duke by 14 points with roughly eight minutes remaining in the second half and by nine with 2:15 to play. But a crucial takeaway and clutch shooting from 3-point range helped the Cougars pull off the second-largest second-half comeback in Final Four history and deal the Blue Devils “the most heartbreaking loss,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.

“We just stay together in those moments,” said senior Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr., who scored 34 points in the win. “I can’t speak for Houston’s team, what they got going on in the locker room. They seem like a very together team also. It should be a good 40-minute fight.”

The similarities continue. Both teams are highly effective from 3-point range. Both are excellent at defending the perimeter. Both run guard-oriented offensive schemes but can score in the paint.

Yet the differences between Florida and Houston will be on display from the opening seconds on Monday night.

There is no greater contrast than the tempo and flow the Gators and Cougars will look to establish early in the first half. While several other factors loom large, which team can dictate the pace of play will be the deciding issue in determining the national championship.

Florida will look to race, especially in transition. The Gators rank second nationally and first among Power Five schools in fastbreak points per game. They scored just twice on the break against Auburn, however, potentially giving Houston a blueprint for the championship game.

Houston is comfortable slowing things down to a crawl. The Cougars rank 360th out of 365 Division I teams in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom.com, which measures a team’s possessions per 40 minutes adjusted for opponent. That Houston didn’t deviate from this script and patiently chipped away at the Blue Devils’ lead in the second half speaks to the program’s culture, coach Kelvin Sampson said.

“We’ve kind of done it our way,” said Sampson. “It’s worked out pretty good.”

This battle to set the pace emphasizes the broader push and pull between Florida’s offense and Houston’s defense. The Gators rank third nationally in scoring and have been held under 70 points just once. Florida is averaging 84.4 points per game in tournament play. Houston leads the nation in giving up only 58.5 points per game and was one of only three teams this season to hold Duke under 70 points.

“They’re the best defensive team in America,” Golden said. “They have just a great identity as a program of just being both physically and mentally tough.”

A good comparison for Monday night’s matchup may be how Florida performed in three matchups against SEC rival Tennessee. The Gators averaged 67.7 points per game in taking two of three from the Volunteers, the last in the SEC championship game. But in the one loss, the Volunteers held the Gators to just 44 points on 13 of 53 shooting (24.5%), including 4 of 27 (14.8%) from deep.

While that loss is an outlier, evaluating how Florida matched up with Tennessee and how the Cougars handed the Volunteers a 69-50 victory in the Elite Eight will give his team “a way to attack (Houston) a little bit,” Golden said.

Meanwhile, Houston can tap into that Elite Eight win and a pair of non-conference setbacks against SEC teams that make up half of the Cougars’ defeats on the year. Houston lost 74-69 at home to Auburn on Nov. 9 and then lost 85-80 in overtime to Alabama on Nov. 26 in the opener of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Two factors will help shape the push and pull between Florida’s offense and Houston’s defense. One is turnovers, a common thread linking the Gators’ regular-season losses to Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky. Overall, Florida ranks 118th nationally in averaging 11.1 turnovers per game and 141st in turnover margin.

But few teams are better than Houston at limiting giveaways. The Cougars rank third in the country with nine turnovers per game and 10th in turnover margin. They forced two huge turnovers in final 1:39 against Duke, including one that led to a second-chance dunk to trim the score to 67-66 with 25 seconds to play.

“I feel like when you get offensive rebounds, second-chance points, points off turnovers, I feel like that can get you back in the flow of the game if you’re having a bad shooting night,” said senior Houston forward J’wan Roberts.

The second factor is how each team fares from 3-point range. The Gators are higher-volume shooters: Florida has attempted 20 shots from behind the arc in every game but one, putting up 19 from deep in a win against Connecticut in the second round. Defensively, Florida’s opponents have made 29.5% of attempts from deep, ranking eighth nationally.

The Cougars will pick their spots as part of a more methodical approach. Houston averages 20.6 attempts per game, ranking 265th nationally, but makes them count. The Cougars top Division I in making 39.9% from 3-point range and connected on 10 of 22 attempts against Duke, including 5 of 11 in the second half.

Senior guard L.J. Cryer made three of four attempts from deep in the second half and six of nine overall, part of his team-high 26 points. His play on the perimeter is matched by Clayton, who became the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to score 30 or more points in the Elite Eight and the national semifinals.

Keeping Clayton in check will be one of Houston’s top priorities. More susceptible defensively in the paint, the Cougars have consistently locked down on opposing backcourts. Arizona State senior Alston Mason’s 26 points in an 80-65 loss on Feb. 18 are the most Houston has allowed to a guard this season.

But individual matchups take a back seat to the more general way Florida and Houston will look to attack Monday night. The Gators want to play the game on their terms; so do the Cougars. The winner will be the team that forces the other into an uncomfortably different style.

“I think it’s going to be a contrasting battle that way,” said Golden. “Hopefully we can get the game up and down a little bit. They’re going to impose their will as they’ve done on everybody this year. We’re a pretty tough team also.”

So far, this year’s edition of the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four has not disappointed. You’d undoubtedly disagree if you’re a fan of Auburn or Duke, of course, but from a neutral perspective the high drama and big moments have kept us riveted.

Now all we want is a worthy encore as the last two teams standing from this incredibly accomplished quartet square off Monday night in San Antonio for all the marbles.

Either the Alamodome crowd will get to watch a home-state program that has been knocking on the door for decades claim its first title, or see the flagship school from the Sunshine State hang a third banner.

Let’s get to the game.

No. 1 Florida vs. No. 1 Houston

Time/TV: 8:50 p.m. ET, CBS

It’s a titanic clash between the champions of the Big 12 and SEC. Houston, in addition to seeking its first title, looks to make it three championships in five years for the numerically incorrect Large Dozen. Despite the SEC’s dominance in the polls this season, a title for the Gators would be the league’s first since 2012.

Given what we’ve witnessed throughout this tournament including Saturday’s semifinals, it’s fair to say no lead will be truly safe. Both teams have proven they can execute with the game on the line,, so while we can never count on it we would not be surprised if things weren’t decided until the final shot.

Houston’s identity, of course, is its lock-down defense. The first priority for the Cougars at that end will naturally be Gators standout Walter Clayton Jr. He’ll have help in the backcourt from Isaiah Martin and Will Richard, but Florida will probably need more from Alex Condon, who managed just a single point against Auburn but did make his presence felt on defense.

Yes, Florida can defend a bit as well, and will enjoy a considerable size advantage across the front. But the Cougars guard L.J. Cryer has shown takeover ability himself, and Emanuel Sharp is another major 3-point threat. If J’Wan Roberts and Joseph Tugler can continue to hold their own on the glass, which they frequently do even against taller opponents, the Cougars will be hard to put away, especially if Houston needs a miraculous rally.

It all comes down to this. Two teams. 40 minutes. One walks away with the NCAA men’s tournament national championship.

It’ll be a match of contrasting styles when Florida and Houston clash in San Antonio. The Gators want to play fast and rely on their offense – led by Walter Clayton Jr. – that has scored at least 70 points in all but three games this season. The Cougars want to rely on their defense that ranks No. 1 in the country in points allowed.

Both sides are comfortable playing close games with Florida easing past Auburn late in the first national semifinal and Houston staging an improbable late rally to topple Duke.

So who prevails and cuts down the nets Monday night? Our experts weigh in with their predictions.

No. 1 Florida vs. No. 1 Houston

Jordan Mendoza: After each team pulled off second half comebacks in the Final Four, which one has enough left to win the national title? Houston proved it could slow down a premier offense like Duke, but no one has had an answer for Walter Clayton Jr. this tournament. Given the “never quit” mentality each team possess, expect this one to go down to the final minutes. The Cougars hit their 3-pointers and are able to limit the Florida star, and they fend off a late rally by the Gators to win their first national championship. Houston 72, Florida 69.

Paul Myerberg: Houston carries over the ferocious rally in the final minutes against Duke and slows down Florida’s perimeter shooting to win the first national title in program history. In addition to its No. 1 defense, the Cougars have another edge in the turnover battle. They rank third in Division in turnover margin while Florida ranks 118th. Houston also leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage, potentially negating the Gators’ typical production from deep. Houston 71, Florida 63.

Erick Smith: We use cliches in sports like the irresistible force facing the immovable object way too often. This matchup, however, does present a simple premise: Which team will be able to dictate how the game is played? Florida wants to go fast to take advantage of its open-court game and also diminish the half-court defense of Houston. The Cougars, meanwhile, want to slow the game down and make it a grinder. It’s hard to see either dominating, and that forecasts a close game down the wire. The Gators have the best clutch player on the court in Walter Clayton Jr. And he does it again for the SEC’s first title since 2012. Florida 66, Houston 65.

Eddie Timanus: Picking against Houston at this point seems like a bad idea given the way it has shown the ability to find ways to win in the most difficult of circumstances. Of course the same can be said of the Gators, who have also staged an improbable comeback or two this postseason. So one more time, I’ll stick with my choice from the beginning. Florida 68, Houston 65.

Dan Wolken: Both teams have pulled out improbable victories in the NCAA tournament to get to this point, so both may feel that a championship is their destiny. But the Cougars’ relentlessness and ability to take away what an opponent does best is the intangible that just wears people out. Houston may not have the most talent, but they’ve got plenty to hang in a close game, which is the area where they thrive. Betting against Kelvin Sampson with a 40-hour turnaround seems like a bad idea. Houston 61, Florida 57.

SAN ANTONIO – When Houston basketball brings a recruit to campus, one of his first stops is a wall near the Cougars’ strength training area.

On it, program legend Hakeem Olajuwon’s likeness stretches its arms to full width. This is where Houston measures wingspan.

One of the key talking points surrounding Houston’s run to the national championship game Monday night has been coach Kelvin Sampson’s remarkable roster development. In an era defined by player movement and dollar signs, Sampson has maintained a relatively healthy, stable locker room. Four of his five starters Monday returned from last season, with a combined 13 years of experience at Houston among them.

Because Sampson tends to win through smart scouting and intensive development, there’s a temptation to paint his program as a perpetual underdog. Houston is anything but. The Cougars are the result of decades spent refining the process of building, improving and winning with a basketball team suited ideally to its coach.

Joseph Tugler, the unsung hero of Saturday’s semifinal win against Duke, is its posterchild.

“Around our program, if I say, ‘That’s JoJo being JoJo,’” Sampson said, “everybody would understand.”

Houston’s Joseph Tugler is blend of smarts and toughness

The day Tugler first visited the Olajuwon wall, he measured 7-6 ½.

Asked Sunday, a Houston basketball staffer wasn’t sure exactly how far The Dream stretches in full. A cursory Google search suggests Olajuwon’s wingspan topped out at 7-6. Tugler insists his isn’t quite that wide.

But that day, Tugler — affectionately known as JoJo — reached so far the Houston staff asked to measure his mother’s reach too. She stretched to 6-7.

These are the traits Sampson knows he needs. There’s a reason why, when Tugler signed, Sampson went out of his way to say Houston pushed for his commitment before the summer grassroots circuit, knowing he’d blow up.

Wingspan is crucial to Sampson’s preference for blitzing ball screens. Tugler’s footwork moves his 6-8, 230-pound body like a guard would. And he can jump a second time for the rebounds opponents are still trying to secure on their first.

“When I watched JoJo play before we recruited him,” Sampson said, “his second jump is the best, and this includes the NBA. I’ve never had a kid second jump like him. His third jump is as good as most people’s first.”

Tugler is like Houston — all toughness and tools and togetherness and brains. One of his sisters has a Ph. D. Tugler found his in basketball, skipping with friends between the four rec centers within reach of his neighborhood growing up. If one was closed, Tugler just kept moving until he found an open court.

The result: a remarkably smart basketball player, and a tough one too.

After Tugler made the game-winning pass to point guard Milos Uzan in the Sweet 16 win over Purdue, Sampson described his sophomore forward as “instinctively instinctive.”  Uzan called Tugler “a dog, on and off the floor.” When Sampson lines his team up for the famous loose-ball drill he runs a few times a year, Sampson sometimes tells Tugler to sit out because, as Tugler put it, Sampson “knows what he’s gonna get from me.”

To a man, teammates talk about Tugler like a winner, which is convenient because that’s what he’s become.

“Some of the stuff he does, you just can’t teach. He has natural instincts. He always does extra,” L.J. Cryer, Houston’s leading scorer, said. “He doesn’t care about his stats or anything like that. He just cares about winning.”

Joseph Tugler at best in biggest moments

This shouldn’t be surprising.

Tugler was a four-star, top-70 prospect in his class per the 247Sports Composite. When he committed to Houston he did so over interest from Texas, TCU, SMU, Kansas State and Tulsa.

Yet the idea of a coach being able to differentiate between stars and skills has somehow become foreign in the fast-moving world of college basketball roster management. Sampson’s process being old school doesn’t make it underdog.

College basketball still took notice this season.

Tugler won Big 12 defensive player of the year, as well as the Lefty Driesell Award, given annually to the best defensive player in Division I. Sampson broke one of the cardinal rules of grammar for him Sunday, calling Tugler “a unique, unique player.”

That’s not the only rule Tugler’s convinced Sampson to break this weekend.

Normally, when one of his players receives a technical foul, Sampson benches him out of principle. But when Tugler drew a one-shot tech late Saturday against Duke, for touching the ball while it was still in the inbounder’s hands, Sampson changed course.

“He was so apologetic, almost in tears. I couldn’t even get on him,” Sampson said. “That was born out of effort and wanting to do the right thing.”

The right thing came soon after, when Tugler — repaying his coach’s faith — blocked Kon Knueppel’s layup to prompt the possession that cut the lead to three, then flushed home Mylik Wilson’s missed 3-point shot to trim it to one. Houston would score the next four points and win the game.

“I love coach not giving up on me, because I know I’m not going to give up on the team,” Tugler said. “When it comes down to it, JoJo, it’s a dumb foul. Just got to make up for it for sure.”

Here’s the last thing Sampson knows when he sees, what you can’t measure with a bench press or on a wall. His players don’t shrink from big moments.

Tugler reset himself so quickly after the tech. Emanuel Sharp’s 3-pointer. J’Wan Roberts’ free throws. The comeback against Purdue. At Kansas. Against Duke.

Throughout this tournament run, Sampson has framed himself as the folksy elder statesman, spinning yarns about Jud Heathcote as easily as he talks about recruiting McDonald’s All Americans.

It masks a coach operating at the top of his game, even if he’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning.

And it’s from players like JoJo Tugler that excellence reflects. Players like JoJo Tugler who might just be poised to deliver America’s most underappreciated college basketball program its long-awaited first national title.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on X: @ZachOsterman.

The Connecticut Huskies did it again!

In a matchup for the ages Sunday, Connecticut routed South Carolina to capture the NCAA women’s basketball championship for a record 12th time.

You can celebrate UConn’s historic and dramatic 82-59 victory over the Gamecocks with a commemorative page print from USA TODAY. You can show off your UConn pride for as little as $15.25, plus shipping and handling.

Buy UConn commemorative page print

The full-page print, produced on high-quality, acid-free art paper, features stunning photography and a memorable headline commemorating the Huskies’ latest championship and first since a four-year run from 2013 to 2016.

Plenty of buzz surrounded South Carolina as it went for back-to-back championships and its third title in four seasons. The Gamecocks even beat the Huskies in the 2022 championship game. But UConn underscored that when hoops fans talk about women’s basketball dynasties, the talk begins and ends with the Huskies.

Since the NCAA added a women’s Final Four in 1982, only UConn (12) and Tennessee (eight) have won more than four titles. Geno Auriemma has coached all 12 UConn champions (1995, 2000, 2002-04, 2009-10, 2013-16 and 2025).

Upgrade options for the UConn page print include framed copies and background choices of canvas, acrylic, metal or wood. The page print is available through the USA TODAY Store.

Own a piece of UConn hoops history today!

Buy UConn commemorative page print

Get UConn championship gear

Looking for UConn national championship hats, T-shirts and more?

Contact Gene Myers at gmyers@gannett.com. Follow him on X @GeneMyers. After nearly a quarter-century as sports editor at the Detroit Free Press, Myers unretired to coordinate book and poster projects across the USA TODAY Network. His reading recommendation for this month: “Flying High,” a hardcover book on the Eagles’ Super Bowl championship from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com. Check out more books and page prints from the USA TODAY Network.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Don’t tell Lionel Messi this was a meaningless game for Inter Miami, especially after how he celebrated his goal just before halftime.

Messi squared up in the center of the penalty area, swung his legendary left leg, and found the bottom right corner of the net. He was pumped to say the least – clenching his fists, punching his right arm forward after punching in his goal. He hugged his teammates and pointed his fingers to the sky.

Messi’s celebration was cathartic, and his goal (45’+4’) proved to be the difference in helping Inter Miami secure a 1-1 draw against Toronto FC at Chase Stadium on “Sunday Night Soccer.”

It might have been an MLS regular-season match against a team ranked 14th among 15 clubs in the Eastern Conference. But after Inter Miami lost its first game of the season last Wednesday in Los Angeles, the best player in the world had a little more juice.

Consider it a ramp-up to Wednesday night: Inter Miami will host LAFC in the second leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal matchup. The tournament is one of five trophies Inter Miami will compete for this year, and Inter Miami trails 1-0 on aggregate score.

Messi didn’t score in that game. He scored once before his goal in this game, but it was one of two Inter Miami goals taken off the board after being reviewed by referees. Luis Suarez was found offsides, then Messi tripped an opposing defender before he found the back of the net in the 39th minute.

Shortly after, Toronto’s Federico Bernardeschi put a series of crafty moves between three defenders and scored past Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender – making his first start of the season – before the first half ended (45’+2’).

Two minutes later – still in the first half – Messi delivered.

Messi scored his sixth goal of the year, and his 40th in a Inter Miami jersey.

Messi nearly delivered a game-winning assist in the final minute of the match, but Fafa Picault was unable to convert on a short-hopped pass that fell between him and in front of the net.

He played the entirety of the match – after playing the distance against LAFC, and he’ll be expected to again this Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted, which was to win and be in the best shape possible for Wednesday,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said after the Toronto game. 

Messi, Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets — the former FC Barcelona stars being coached by their former teammate in Mascherano — all started and played significant minutes against Toronto despite the upcoming LAFC match. 

Messi (37), Alba (36) and Busquets (36) played the distance, but Busquets he won’t play against LAFC after accumulating too many yellow cards during the Champions Cup. Suarez (38) left the match in the 69th minute as a substitute. 

“You’re probably asking not only because of the hierarchy, but also because of their age. But these are players who have been playing every three days all their lives. They’re fine. They’re used to it,” Mascherano said of his aging stars. 

However, Mascherano was slightly bothered Inter Miami will have one fewer day to prepare for LAFC — who played Saturday night in a 1-0 loss at Houston. 

“We are both doing the same competition — I find it strange because they have 24 hours more rest than us,” Mascherano pointed out. 

Inter Miami vs. Toronto FC highlights

Lionel Messi goal: Inter Miami 1, Toronto 1

Halftime deficit? More like tied game all over again thanks to Lionel Messi.

Messi squared up a swinging left boot in the 50th minute — two minutes after Toronto scored — to tie this match at 1 apiece just before halftime.

It’s Messi’s sixth goal this season for Inter Miami, and the 40th in his career with the MLS club.

Federico Bernardeschi goal: Toronto FC 1, Inter Miami 0

Just before halftime, Toronto’s Federico Bernardeschi has found the back of the net after a crafty series of moves between three defenders and in front of Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender. The score comes during extra time in the first half (45’+2’), resulting in a halftime deficit for Messi and Inter Miami.

Messi’s goal taken off after his foul: Inter Miami 0, Toronto 0

Lionel Messi squared up and fired a goal into the back of the net in the 37th minute, but VAR of the sequence showed Messi committing a foul by tripping a Toronto defender in the box before the score. So, we’re still tied here between Inter Miami and Toronto.

Inter Miami goal disallowed after offside: Inter Miami 0, Toronto 0

Luis Suarez was called offsides after being over the line during a scoring opportunity for Inter Miami. Telasco Segovia found the back of the net after an assist from Suarez, but the goal won’t stand in the 29th minute.

Messi misses shot, Toronto hits post twice: Inter Miami 0, Toronto 0

Lionel Messi missed his first shot of the night in the 20th minute, his left boot flying over the net. Inter Miami should consider itself lucky this is still a tied matchup: Toronto’s Theo Corbeanu hit the post in the 17th and 19th minutes.

How to watch Inter Miami vs. Toronto live stream? 

The match is available on MLS Season Pass and Apple TV+.

Is Messi playing tonight? 

Messi was announced as a starter in Inter Miami’s lineup for the Toronto match.

What time does Inter Miami vs. Toronto match begin? 

The match starts at 7 p.m. ET (8 p.m. in Argentina).

Messi shares MLS Season Pass free trial 

Before the Toronto match, Messi shared a one month free trial to MLS Season Pass via his Instagram account. Use Messi’s personal link to redeem the one-month offer: apple.co/MessiGift. 

Inter Miami vs. Toronto preview

Inter Miami enters the match after its first loss and its first 10 games of the year across all competitions, following the 1-0 defeat at LAFC last Wednesday. Inter Miami is unbeaten in MLS play and in second place (13 points) in the Eastern Conference after Columbus Crew (15 points) leapfrogged them in the standings following a 2-1 win against Montreal on Saturday. Toronto is 14th among 15 teams in the standings with just two points from two draws and four losses to start the season. 

How are Inter Miami, MLS teams doing in Champions Cup?

Major League Soccer has four teams remaining in the Champions Cup: Inter Miami, Los Angeles FC, reigning MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy and the Vancouver Whitecaps. 

The Galaxy will visit Tigres on Tuesday in Monterrey (9 p.m. ET on FS1), after a scoreless draw at home in the first leg. Vancouver will visit Pumas on Wednesday in Mexico City (10:30 p.m. ET on FS1), after a 1-1 draw in the first leg last week.

Liga MX’s Club America and Cruz Azul will settle their scoreless quarterfinal in Leg 2 on Tuesday (11:30 p.m. ET on FS1).

Inter Miami/LAFC would meet the Vancouver/Pumas winner in the semifinal, while Galaxy/Tigres will see America/Cruz Azul. 

Messi, Inter Miami upcoming schedule

Wednesday: Inter Miami vs. LAFC, 8 p.m. ET (Concacaf Champions Cup)
April 13: Chicago vs. Inter Miami, 4:30 p.m. ET (MLS)
April 19: Columbus vs. Inter Miami, 4:30 p.m. ET (MLS)
April 26: Inter Miami vs. FC Dallas, 7:30 p.m. ET

Denny Hamlin doubled up his 2025 victory total Sunday, but the 44-year-old Virginia native had to win a race off pit road and a two-lap shootout to do it.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver came off pit road first, roared off on a two-lap overtime shootout and found the checkers for the second straight race, claiming the NASCAR Cup Series’ Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.

Following pit service after Kyle Larson wrecked with four laps to go, Hamlin’s crew turned in a 9.4-second pit stop on his red Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Throwback Weekend to lock in the top spot in the green-white-checker run.

The No. 11 Toyota quickly moved away and saw the lead grow as William Byron, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick ran three-wide in Turn 4 for second while Hamlin came to the white flag.

Posting his fifth win at Darlington, Hamlin beat Byron by 0.597 seconds while leading just 10 laps.

‘There’s two people I really love right now … my pit crew and Kyle Larson,’ joked Hamlin, whose 56th career win broke a tie with Rusty Wallace for 11th in all-time wins. ‘I had a little assist there, but thank you. But, man, the pit crew did an amazing job. They won it last week and they won it this week. It’s all about them.’

Byron dominated by pacing the first 243 laps but was shuffled back to third with 50 to go after pitting four laps later than Bell and Reddick, who ended up third and fourth respectively.

‘It was looking like it was going to be a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap,’ said Byron, who posted a career-high with his 243 led laps. ‘We just lost control (of the lead) there, and once we lost control, it was too late in the going to get back up there. I’m sure it’ll sting tonight.’

Ford driver Ryan Blaney had his first-ever top-five finish at Darlington but appeared headed to victory in the final laps until Larson’s crash with four to go.

To start the race, Larson lost control of his No. 5 Chevrolet off Turn 2 all by himself on Lap 4 and smacked the inside wall, getting significant damage on the first caution.

Byron’s Chevrolet set a hot pace as the field behind him fought the difficult track. With eight laps to go in the segment while Byron was lapping Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet, Riley Herbst’s No. 35 Toyota turned Hocevar, who had brought out the second caution on Lap 24, to force the third yellow session.

In a two-lap sprint to finish Stage 1, Byron held off Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece to snare the maximum bonus points, becoming the first driver since stage-racing’s inception to lead every lap in a segment at Darlington.

Byron continued his dominance and was again the best car in Stage 2, as he beat Joey Logano and Hamlin in the 100-circuit segment.

Reddick pitted four laps ahead of Byron with 50 to go to swipe the lead from him on fresher tires, but Blaney erased Reddick’s six-second lead with four laps to go before Larson’s second crash.