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| 사진=LA FC 공식 SNS 캡처 |
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| 사진=Getty Images via AFP-GETTY IMAGE Yonhap News |
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'The match of the century' has been made. Son Heung-min (LAFC) and Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) will clash.
Major League Soccer (MLS) announced its MLS schedule for 2026 on the 21st (Korea time). Son Heung-min's team LA FC will play the league opener against Inter Miami at 11:30 a.m. on February 22 next year at the LA Memorial Coliseum. This resulted in a match between Son Heung-min and Messi. Son Heung-min and Messi will face off for the first time since meeting in the group league of the European Champions League (UCL) in the 2018-2019 season, when they played for Tottenham (England) and FC Barcelona (Spain), respectively.
In August this year, Son Heung-min left Tottenham, where he played for 10 years, and moved to the United States. Messi has been on the MLS stage since 2023 wearing an Inter Miami uniform. In the meantime, attention has been paid to when Son Heung-min and Messi will face off. This is because LA FC belongs to the Western Conference and Inter Miami belongs to the Eastern Conference, making it difficult for the two teams to face off. However, MLS deployed a showdown of 'Superstar' from the opening day next year.
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| 사진=AP-FR171427 AP Yonhap News |
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| 사진=EPA Yonhap News |
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Of course, the possibility of a match between Son Heung-min and Messi within this year is also open. In the ongoing 2025 MLS Playoff (PO), LA FC has advanced to the Western and Inter Miami have advanced to the Eastern semifinals. If both teams break through the conference finals and advance to the championship game, there is a possibility that Son Heung-min and Messi will clash on the ground within this year.
LA FC will host the first game of next season, where the league's top stars will face off, at the LA Memorial Coliseum, not at BMO Stadium, the existing home stadium. The Coliseum, where the opening ceremony of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be held, will have 77,000 seats. It is much larger than BMO Stadium, which seats about 22,000. The LA FC match will be held at the Coliseum for the first time next year's opening game.
When next year's schedule was announced, LA FC emphasized the symbolism by placing Son Heung-min and Messi in the front of the Coliseum by posting a promotional image of the first game on social media (social network service). MLS also listed this game as its first hand among the `10 must-see games in 2026' on the league's website. "The Coliseum, which has held the most memorable cultural and sporting event of the last century, will be the best place for the expected showdown between Messi, Son Heung-min, the best star in MLS."
Meanwhile, next year's MLS will end in February, followed by a regular league in which each team will play 34 games until early November. From the end of May to July 17, it will be on a break for the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup for about seven weeks. Next year's North American World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Next year's MLS All-Star Game will be held on July 30 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
