The Leagues Cup round of 16 is kicking off and Inter Miami are still rolling with Lionel Messi taking the league by storm. With another two goals to his name against Orlando City SC, Messi has now scored five goals in three appearances for the Herons, and Nico Estevez will be the latest to try to answer the question of how a team can contain Messi. No one has been able to do that yet but Maarten Paes has been strong in net and Dallas' attack can score on Miami.
Jordi Alba could start the match after making his debut in Miami's win over Orlando, while Facundo Farias and Tomas Aviles may not have paperwork completed yet to make their debuts but as Miami's depth grows, they'll have plenty of firepower to compete in the match.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
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How to watch and odds
- Date: Sunday, August 6 | Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Toyota Stadium -- Frisco, Texas
- TV and live stream: MLS Season Pass
Storylines
FC Dallas: While the focus has been on Messi's first away trip, for Dallas they'd like to focus on the game without Messi-mania taking over. Speaking to the media, defender Nkosi Tafariwith addressed some of this saying, "I'm really only being interviewed for the aspect of who Messi is. I'm not being interviewed because you actually care who I am, and that's fair."
While players understand that most people want their perspective on facing Messi, there's still a game of soccer that needs to be played and Dallas would like nothing more than to book a trip to the final eight of the tournament by being the first team to topple Messi. If they can do that, it'll be easy to refocus back on the matches at hand instead of the spectacle.
Inter Miami: While teams need to stop Messi, they also should be worrying about Robert Taylor who has three goals and two assists since Messi's debut. With the game taking place later at night to avoid the heat, Dallas has likely lost their biggest advantage in the weather but if Miami can continue to rotate players well, this will be a hard squad to stop.
Prediction
Yet again, Miami won't break a sweat as they continue to march through Leagues Cup as Messi nets a goal and a brace of assists to keep the team ticking over. Pick: Dallas 1, Miami 3