Whitecaps beat Inter Miami 3-1 to eliminate Lionel Messi's squad from Champions Cup

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Brian White and Pedro Vite scored two minutes apart and the Vancouver Whitecaps stunned Inter Miami 3-1 in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal on Wednesday night, spoiling Lionel Messi's squad's hopes of making the tournament's final.

Sebastian Berhalter also scored for Vancouver, which advanced with a 5-1 aggregate to face either Cruz Azul or Tigres UNAL in the Champions Cup final on June 1.

Miami entered Wednesday's match trailing 0-2 in aggregate after being shut out in the first leg last Thursday. That meant they needed to win by at least three goals in regulation on Wednesday to advance.

Messi helped set up Jordi Alba's goal nine minutes into the game, but the reigning MLS MVP was held without a goal for the fourth straight match.

“They have a great team," Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen said of Inter Miami, “and it's not always easy for them because they have these players who come in with all the pressure on them.”

In the tournament’s history, four MLS clubs, including Inter Miami last week, have lost the first leg of a semifinal by a 2-0 on the road. No team has come back to advance to the final.

Miami's hopes were dashed quickly in the second half Wednesday, when Vancouver — which leads MLS with 23 points — erased a one-goal deficit minutes into the frame.

Berhalter found White for the equalizer in the 51st minute and Vite sent a deflection past Oscar Ustari in the 53rd. Berhalter, who had an assist on the first two goals, put the game away with a shot from the center of the box into the bottom left corner in the 71st.

“We did ourselves a very good favor last week,” Sorensen said, “because we didn’t need to rush things (tonight), and we didn't need to go panicking because we were up 2-0 (in aggregate).”

Berhalter has accounted for all five of the Whitecaps' goals in the semis after scoring one in the opener, but he will miss the championship because of yellow card accumulation. He was shown one in the first half after a foul on Miami's Tadeo Allende.

Alba got Miami on the board with his first goal of the season on a feed from Luis Suarez, who received a pass from Messi. Suarez had a number of chances, but misfired on them all. The 38-year-old hasn't scored in his last 10 matches.

Miami also dropped its third straight match, its longest losing streak since Messi joined the club in July 2023.

“We need to improve," Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. "Going forward, we need to learn from the last week because obviously the feeling is really, really bad. They were much better than us. If we want to compete, we need to improve and we need to learn from this situation. ... I think this team can do much better.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) walks on the field during the second half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite, second from left, celebrates after scoring a goal during the second half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against Inter Miami, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami defender Jordi Alba, right, celebrates with forward Luis Suárez (9) after scoring a goal during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Vancouver Whitecaps fans cheer after a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match between Inter Miami and the Vancouver Whitecaps, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (16) celebrates after scoring a goal during the second half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against Inter Miami, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, left, runs for the ball against Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Andrés Cubas, right, during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami defender Jordi Alba, right, celebrates with forward Luis Suárez (9) after scoring a goal during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, left, runs with the ball against Vancouver Whitecaps forward Ali Ahmed, right, during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) reacts after missing shot on the goal during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)