Copa America quarterfinals will have plenty of intrigue, even if Lionel Messi can’t participate

WASHINGTON: Inter Miami failed to score for the first time this season in Major League Soccer as they were held to a goalless draw by the Chicago Fire on Sunday.

A club-record crowd of 62,358 packed into Soldier Field for the visit of Lionel Messi and his Inter team to witness a gutsy display from the home side.

Chicago, coached by former USA boss Gregg Berhalter, limited Messi and his former Barcelona strike partner Luis Suarez to just a handful of opportunities.

The best effort from Messi, who played the full game, came in the third minute when he unleashed a snap shot from outside the box which was denied by a fine, diving save from Fire keeper Chris Brady.

There was no sense of Chicago being overawed by the big crowd at the stadium they share with the NFL’s Bears and they went close twice in the opening half with Mauricio Pineda forcing Oscar Ustari into a full stretch save and then Philip Zinckernagel striking the outside of the post from a narrow angle.

Suarez had a great chance to put Miami ahead just before the break when Noah Allen floated a ball in but the Uruguayan puts his shot over the bar.

After the break, Chicago enjoyed plenty of pressure with much of the creativity coming from former Lille winger Jonathan Bamba.

The Fire should have grabbed all three points in the 88th minute when Bamba’s shot was parried out by Ustari but Maren Haile-Selassie put the follow-up shot wide.

Bamba was denied again by Ustari moments later but in a frantic finale, Miami also could have stolen a win but, from a promising position, Tadeo Allende dragged his shot wide.

Miami had looked tired after their midweek exertions in their CONCACAF Champions Cup win over Los Angeles FC on Wednesday and coach Javier Mascherano appeared relieved they had picked up a point.

“We came with a very, very big load not only physically, but also mentally. So not losing is always important, too,” he said.

“I’ll take the positives, which is that we didn’t concede a goal. We’d been conceding goals for three games, and today we kept a clean sheet. ... Now, luckily, we have a long week of work, which is a bit of a break for us, after the start of the season we’ve had,” he said.

Former Miami coach Phil Neville saw his improving Portland Timbers team enjoy a 4-2 win at Sporting Kansas City with Venezuelan forward Kevin Kelsy scoring twice.

Portland are unbeaten in five games and move up to fourth in the Western Conference.

The Columbus Crew fought back from a goal down to enjoy a 2-1 win at St. Louis City.

Brazilian Joao Klauss opened the scoring for the home side before Crew defender Steven Moreira levelled with a side-footed volley.

Uruguayan Diego Rossi secured the win with a low drive from outside the box in the 55th minute.

LEVERKUSEN, Germany: Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 home draw with Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, failing to take advantage of Bayer Leverkusen’s slip-up earlier in the day.
After defending champions Leverkusen were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Union Berlin, Bayern knew a win would have moved them eight points clear with five games to play.
Dortmund took the lead through Maximilian Beier in the 48th minute but Bayern hit back with two goals in four minutes, before Waldemar Anton equalized for the visitors with 15 minutes remaining.
“We’ve moved a step closer to the championship and we’ve shown we can create plenty of opportunities,” said Bayern veteran Thomas Mueller, who will leave the club after 25 years at the end of the season.
“That should help us in the Champions League on Wednesday,” Mueller added of next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg at Inter Milan, with Bayern facing a 2-1 first-leg deficit,
“(We need) to be more clinical,” said Harry Kane. “We’ll have opportunities, it’s about taking them in the right moments.”
Usually the standout fixture on the German football calendar, the buzz around the match was comparatively muted.
The visitors, who trail Barcelona 4-0 in their Champions League quarter-final, arrived in Munich sitting nine spots and 27 points behind in the table.
Bayern, enduring an injury crisis, were camped out near Dortmund’s box for almost the entire first half.
Visiting goalkeeper Gregor Kobel needed to snuff out big chances for Kane and Michael Olize.
Seemingly on the ropes at half-time, Dortmund opened the scoring three minutes into the second period, Beier heading between Bayern goalkeeper Jonas Urbig’s legs to finish off a counter-attack.
With Dortmund in the ascendancy and probing for a second, Kompany brought on Serge Gnabry and the move worked a treat.
The former Arsenal winger created the equalizer for former Dortmund midfielder Raphael Guerreiro on 65 minutes and then scored a goal of his own four minutes later, slaloming through the visiting defense before hammering home.
Dortmund hit back to level again when Anton knocked in a rebound from a Serhou Guirassy shot.
Bayern remain six points ahead of Leverkusen and closing in on regaining the title.
Nursing an ongoing Achilles injury, Bayern center-back Kim Min-jae was substituted in the second half, leaving the Bavarians with just one fit central defender.
Despite welcoming back star midfielder Florian Wirtz from a foot injury, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen lacked fluency in attack, carving out few clear-cut opportunities against Union Berlin.
Wirtz came on after 57 minutes and despite giving his side an initial boost, was unable to break down Union’s defense.
Granit Xhaka had a free-kick from the edge of the box in stoppage time but blasted his shot well over the bar.
“We’re dropping too many points at home,” Leverkusen captain Hradecky said.
“Mathematically there’s a small chance (of defending the title), but the probability has decreased.”
The draw continues a poor April for last season’s unbeaten domestic double winners, who were eliminated from the German Cup semifinals by third-division Arminia Bielefeld.
The draw lifted Union to 34 points, 12 clear of the relegation play-off spot.
The Berliners have taken 11 points from an unbeaten five-game run against Leverkusen, Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt, Freiburg and Wolfsburg.
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s hopes of returning to the Champions League took a hit with a 2-1 home loss to Freiburg.
Freiburg snatched all three points when Johan Manzambi scored a 90th-minute header, allowing the visitors to leapfrog their opponents into sixth.
Augsburg continued their strong 2025 with a 2-1 win at lowly Bochum, climbing past Dortmund into eighth. Augsburg have only lost one of their past 13 games.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim took a step toward beating the drop with a 2-0 home win over Champions League hopefuls Mainz, with Andrej Kramaric scoring a brace.
St. Pauli also boosted their hopes of top-division football next season with a 2-1 win over fellow promoted side Holstein Kiel.