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Snow way: Champions Cup postpones match between Messi-led Miami, Sporting Kansas City
The CONCACAF Champions Cup — the most prestigious soccer tournament in North and Central America — is known for its extreme conditions. The long-running competition has held games from the rainforests of Nicaragua to the 8,000-foot city of Pachuca, Mexico.
This year, however, the CONCACAF Champions Cup found its limit: extreme cold.
On Tuesday in a Cup match, tournament favorite Inter Miami was scheduled to play against MLS rival Sporting Kansas City at Children's Mercy Park. But the match was postponed after forecasts of six to seven inches of snow and wind chill as low as -18 degrees. Instead, the game will be played Wednesday — a day with lower expected snowfall but forecasts for equally frigid temperatures.
Postponements are rare for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, but these conditions were bad enough to deter even the game's most experienced players. Miami reporter Franco Panizo shared that Lionel Messi was considering skipping the game (h/t: Goal.com) for health and safety reasons. However, Miami coach Javier Mascherano later told journalists that Messi was "100% available." But it was likely Messi's resistance forced CONCACAF's hand and convinced it to move the match.
Extreme cold is a recurring theme in American soccer. Many nations cancel games threatened by snow, but in the U. S., the MLS and other leagues tend to let games be played in such weather. The MLS swaps in an orange soccer ball for visibility reasons and lets teams get on with it.
But six to seven inches of snow are too much to handle, and sub-freezing weather is dangerous for fans and players alike. If indeed he balked at playing Tuesday's match, Messi wasn't wrong.
The situation throws light on another scheduling issue in Major League Soccer: the league's ongoing push to switch from its current schedule (March through December) to a European one (August through May). League officials argue the move will align MLS with its European counterparts and elevate its global standing, but fans and players worry that more cold-weather games will be problematic. It's already a struggle to host a game in Kansas City in February — how does MLS expect to host games in Salt Lake City, Vancouver, Toronto, Boston and Denver clear through the winter season?
For now, the league's focus will be on supporting Miami and Kansas City in this early round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Both teams hope to make deep runs in the tournament, something MLS franchises have long struggled to do. Just three American teams have managed to win the Cup since its debut in 1962: D. C. United in 1998, L. A. Galaxy in 2000 and Seattle Sounders in 2022.
More must-reads:
- What challenger to MLS could mean for soccer in U.S.
- How Lucho Acosta's stunning addition to FC Dallas affects three MLS teams
- The '2023 NFL AP second-team All-Pro' quiz
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