Messi sets up two as Inter Miami blow 3-0 lead but seal second in MLS

Lionel Messi set up two first-half goals with corners as Inter Miami stumbled to a 3-3 draw with Charlotte on the final day of the MLS regular season, but the single point was still enough to clinch second place in the Eastern Conference.

Ian Fray, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul piled up three goals before the break at Nu Stadium, and the hosts looked home and dry. Then Charlotte came roaring back, with Liel Abada scoring twice after halftime before Rodolfo Aloko leveled in the 90th minute.

Messi did not get on the scoresheet himself, but his delivery created the damage. In the 14th minute his corner dropped to Charlotte's Luca de la Torre, who spooned it up for Fray to open the scoring. A second Messi corner in the 33rd minute found Suarez wide open at the near post for a glanced header and a 2-0 lead, with the Argentine earning the assist.

De Paul made it three before the break, but the defending was ragged at both ends all night. Abada pulled one back early in the second half, then grabbed a second in the 55th minute to stun a crowd that had been in party mood moments earlier. Messi steered a simple header wide from six yards in between, then hit the post in stoppage time.

Why second place still mattered

The draw left Miami on 60 points, two clear of the New England Revolution, who could not capitalize after a surprise 1-0 loss at Orlando. That finish locks in home-field advantage for Miami's opening playoff rounds, starting with a series against the Columbus Crew.

Messi's 26 regular-season goals are all but certain to seal a second straight Golden Boot. Only FC Dallas forward Petar Musa could catch him, needing five goals to deny Messi the first back-to-back MLS scoring title.

Elsewhere on Decision Day, Western Conference champion Vancouver Whitecaps beat Canadian rivals Montreal 2-0 to grab the second overall seed, and Nashville set a new MLS points record with 77 after beating Cincinnati 2-0.