Messi gets trophy, then has two goals to lift Inter Miami past Nashville 3-1 in playoff opener

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head.

Messi opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the Major League Soccer playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night.

Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, which now gets two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi's 2 1/2-year tenure with the team. Game 2 is at Nashville on Nov. 1. Game 3, if necessary, would in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8.

Hany Mukhtar got Nashville's goal off a free kick in the 101st minute. It was the final play of the match.

The win capped a big couple of days for Inter Miami, which announced Messi's three-year contract extension on Thursday.

“I don’t think we ever could have imagined that Leo would have been able to deliver for this club, for this city and for this league the way he has," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber, who presented Messi with the Golden Boot — the trophy presented to the league's top goal scorer — in a pregame ceremony.

“You know, he has reset the trajectory for Major League Soccer and we were already doing pretty well,” Garber added. "And I think having three more years is just going to be another gift. Hopefully it’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

Messi ducked behind a line of defenders for the header that opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Allende scored off a header as well in the 62nd minute, with Messi starting that play with a pass to Fray on the right wing. Fray chipped the ball into the middle of the box and Allende made the rest look easy.

The capper came in stoppage time, when the ball deflected to an unmarked Messi in the goal mouth. He tapped it home for a 3-0 lead.

Messi was the league’s MVP last season and is the overwhelming choice to win the award again this year, which would make him only the second two-time winner in league history and the first to win it in back-to-back years. Preki won the MVP award in 1997 and 2003.

Messi scored 29 goals in the regular season, five more than LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Nashville’s Sam Surridge. He also had 19 assists, and his 48 total goal contributions was one shy of matching the MLS record of 49 set by Carlos Vela in 2019.

“You have to lean into this unique and special historic moment that I know I’ll look back on and say, ‘Boy, I can’t believe I was running a league that had the best player in the history of the game playing in it,'" Garber said. “Sometimes I find when things are happening ... you’re just moving on to the next thing. I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer.”

The new contract means Messi could remain with Inter Miami into his early 40s. He is still the biggest name in soccer; ticket revenue for MLS set a record this year, Inter Miami’s value has doubled by some estimates to about $1.2 billion since he arrived and he has led the league in jersey sales annually since his arrival midway through 2023.

“I think he’s the unicorn of unicorns," Garber said. “You know, there’s something about the way he’s wired. He's thinking about the game like nobody else ever has. His intensity and desire to win is what makes him the greatest of all time. There are a lot of really competitive players, but he has this special sauce, this dynamic that has him so focused on doing what he needs to do to win games.”

Garber also lauded Inter Miami for how it made the announcement of Messi's signing. The team revealed it on social media with a video of Messi signing his contract, then the camera pulls out to show that he's actually sitting where the field will be inside the team's new stadium near Miami International Airport. The stadium is scheduled to open next year.

“It just shows how classy and smart they are,” Garber said.

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

Inter Miami midfielder Baltasar Rodríguez (11) and Nashville SC midfielder Andy Najar (31) go after the ball during the first half of match one of an MLS playoff opening round soccer match Friday,, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami midfielder Rodrigo de Paul (7) blocks a pass by Nashville SC midfielder Patrick Yazbek (8) during the first half of match one of an MLS playoff opening round soccer match Friday,, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

InterMiami's Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi arrive at an MLS playoff opening round soccer match against the Nashville SC, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) scores a goal against Nashville SC goalkeeper Joe Willis (1) during the first half of match one of an MLS playoff opening round soccer match Friday,, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

MLS Commissioner Don Garber presents the Golden Boot award to Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi before match one of an MLS playoff opening round soccer match against the Nashville SC, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami midfielder Baltasar Rodríguez (11) and Nashville SC midfielder Andy Najar (31) go after the ball during the first half of match one of their MLS playoff opening round soccer match, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami midfielder Rodrigo de Paul (7) blocks a pass by Nashville SC midfielder Patrick Yazbek (8) during the first half of match one of their MLS playoff opening round soccer match, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

InterMiami's Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi arrive at the MLS playoff opening round soccer match against the Nashville SC Friday October 24, 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) scores a goal against Nashville SC goalkeeper Joe Willis (1) during the first half of match one of their MLS playoff opening round soccer match, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

MLS Commissioner Don Garber presents the Golden Boot award to Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi before match one of their MLS playoff opening round soccer match against the Nashville SC, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter Thursday to the U.S. Postal Service, voicing concern that mail processing changes could affect postmark dates for mail-in ballots during an election year that will determine control of Congress.

Updated agency policy says postmarks might not indicate the first day the Postal Service received the mail but rather the day it was handled in one of its processing centers. Those centers are increasingly likely to be further away from certain communities because of recent USPS consolidations, which could further delay postmarks, the 16 senators wrote.

“Postmark delays are especially problematic in states that vote entirely or largely by mail,” they wrote to Postmaster General David Steiner, noting that many states use postmark dates to determine whether a mail ballot can be counted. “These changes will only increase the likelihood of voter disenfranchisement.”

The consequences could be particularly acute in rural areas where mail has to travel farther to reach regional processing centers, they added.

“In theory, a rural voter could submit their ballot in time according to their state law, but due to the changes you are implementing, their legally-cast ballot would not be counted as it sits in a local post office,” they wrote. “As we enter a year with many local and federal elections, the risk of disrupting this vital democratic process demands your attention and action.”

The Postal Service has received the letter and will respond directly to those who sent it, spokesperson Martha Johnson said.

The agency addresses the issue on its website.

“While we are not changing our postmarking practices, we have made adjustments to our transportation operations that will result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed,” its website says. “This means that the date on the postmarks applied at our processing facilities will not necessarily match the date on which the customer’s mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location.”

Johnson said the language in the final rule “does not change any existing postal operations or postmarking practices.” She added that the agency looked forward to “clarifying the senators' misunderstanding.”

“Our public filing was made to enhance public understanding of exactly what a postmark represents, its relationship to the date of mailing and when a postmark is applied in the process,” she said.

People dropping off mail at a post office can request that a postmark be applied manually, ensuring the postmark date matches the mailing date, the Postal Service's website says. Manual postmarks are free of charge.

The agency said the “lack of alignment” between the mailing date and postmark date will become more common as it implements its initiative to overhaul processing and transportation networks with an emphasis on regional hubs. The aim of the initiative is to cut costs for the agency, which has grappled with losses in the billions of dollars in recent years.

Under the plan, the Postal Service got rid of twice-daily mail dispatches from local post offices to regional processing centers. That means mail received after the only transfer truck leaves sits overnight until the next daily transfer, the senators wrote.

Election officials in states that rely heavily on voting by mail expressed concern with the change.

“Not being able to have faith that the Postal Service will mark ballots on the day they are submitted and mail them in a timely manner undermines vote-by-mail voting, in turn undermining California and other elections,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a statement.

She said her office will “amplify messaging to voters” who use mailed ballots that they must return their ballots early if they plan to use the post office.

Election officials in Washington state, where voting is done almost entirely by mail, are recommending that those who return their ballot within a week of Election Day do so at a drop box or voting center.

“Given the operational and logistical priorities recently set by the USPS, there is no guarantee that ballots returned via mail will be postmarked by the USPS the same day they are mailed,” the secretary of state's office said in a statement.

The senators urged Steiner to restore “timely postmarks” and fully stand up an election mail task force. The lawmakers who signed the letter represented California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland. All are Democrats but one, an independent who typically aligns with the Democratic Party.

FILE - Employees sort vote-by-mail ballots from municipal elections on Election Day at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office, Nov. 4, 2025, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)