FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi was kept off the scoresheet for the second consecutive match, but Inter Miami extended its unbeaten string with a 1-0 win over DC United on Saturday night.
Leo Campana scored four minutes into second half stoppage time as Miami, 6-0-3 since a 4-0 loss at the New York Red Bulls on March 23, avoided a second consecutive scoreless draw. Campana, who entered the match a minute earlier, received a pass from Sergio Busquets on the right wing and converted on a shot that landed inside the left post.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi was kept off the scoresheet for the second consecutive match, but Inter Miami extended its unbeaten string with a 1-0 win over DC United on Saturday night.
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi heads the ball during the second half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, right, kicks the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. At left is D.C. United midfielder Mateusz Klich. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Leonardo Campana reacts after scoring a goal during the second half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi takes a free kick during the first half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Leonardo Campana kicks the ball to score a goal during the second half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) runs with the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami had used its allotted five substitutions but was allowed an additional replacement when United’s Martin Rodriguez left the match because of a concussion. Second half stoppage lasted 10 minutes.
“I know that lately I have not been getting too many minutes but it is my responsibility to be ready,” Campana said in Spanish. “Whether it’s 30, 20, 15 or one minute you have to be ready. Thankfully, we had the time to score the goal.”
For a team known for its high-powered offense that has produced a league-high 36 goals, Miami secured its second straight shutout.
“We were not as fluid offensively and they formed a solid defense,” Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said. “Defensively we worked very well.”
The win improved Eastern Conference-leading Miami to 9-2-4 with 31 points. DC United dropped to 4-5-5 and 17 points.
Messi returned to the lineup after missing Wednesday’s match at Orlando because of knee soreness.
The Argentine star forward had at least one goal and assist in five consecutive matches until a 3-2 win at Montreal on May 11. Messi began Saturday with a league-leading 12 assists.
Tightly marked for most of the match, Messi found a slight opening in the 71st minute, but his shot from 22 yards sailed high above the crossbar.
Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender preserved the shutout when he stopped a shot from United’s Jacob Murrell in the 86th minute and then denied Cristian Dájome’s inside the box four minutes later.
“He is a goalkeeper that saves games like he did tonight,” Martino said.
The start of the match was delayed 25 minutes after thunderstorms hit Chase Stadium before the clubs’ pregame drills. The rain intensified again shortly after kickoff and then subsided in the 30th minute.
Messi had two free kicks blocked by a wall of United defenders in the 21st and 39th minutes.
Both clubs continue their league schedule next Saturday, when Inter Miami visits Vancouver and United hosts Chicago.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, center attempts a shot on the goal past D.C. United midfielder Matti Peltola (4) during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi heads the ball during the second half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, right, kicks the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. At left is D.C. United midfielder Mateusz Klich. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Leonardo Campana reacts after scoring a goal during the second half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi takes a free kick during the first half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Leonardo Campana kicks the ball to score a goal during the second half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) runs with the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match against D.C. United Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza as he neared the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.
At Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists he wanted to see U.S.-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages.
“I hope so,” Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was "certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”
As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet relations soured after Netanyahu became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his 2020 presidential victory, which Trump continues to deny.
The two men now have a strong interest in restoring their relationship, both for the political support their alliance brings and for the luster it gives each with their conservative supporters.
A beaming Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted before journalists. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”
For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.
Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.
On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears on track to becoming the new Democratic presidential nominee after Biden decided to step out of the race. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages held by Hamas.
Trump’s campaign said he pledged in Friday's meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.
Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.
In a speech later Friday before a group of young Christian conservatives, Trump said he also asked Netanyahu during their meeting how “a Jewish person, or a person that loves Israel” can vote for Democrats.
He also laced into Harris for missing Netanyahu's speech and claimed she “doesn’t like Jewish people” and “doesn’t like Israel." Harris has been married to a Jewish man for a decade.
For Trump, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.
Divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.
For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.
One gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president," Miller said, meaning Trump.
Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hoped would be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.
In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty.
He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.
In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday and again Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”
Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem's status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu's praise.
Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.
Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Adriana Gomez Licon in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed. Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Price reported from New York.
Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Believers' Summit, Friday, July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks while meeting with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Sept. 15, 2020, at the White House in Washington. Trump is due to talk face-to-face with Netanyahu for the first time in nearly four years. The meeting Friday, July 26, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago will mend a break that has lasted since 2021. Trump at the time blasted Netanyahu for being one of the first leaders to congratulate President Joe Biden for his election victory. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
