Messi watch: Miami favored to win Leagues Cup, Messi expected to score against Charlotte in Friday’s quarterfinal

Lionel Messi has wasted no time in dominating matches for Inter Miami. The legendary star has scored in all four games he has played with seven goals and three assists in 294 minutes.

It’s no surprise that Miami has emerged as the favorite in the newly reformatted Leagues Cup. After surviving Messi’s first Miami match on the road, the Herons enter Friday’s quarterfinal against Charlotte well ahead of every other team in the odds to win the tournament.

There’s a decent chance Messi had never heard of this tournament before he agreed to join Miami. Now, there’s a good chance he lifts the trophy.

Leagues Cup odds

Miami is also a huge favorite to advance past Charlotte. The match will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. ET at Miami’s DRV Pink Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. BetMGM has Miami as -350 to advance with Charlotte at +240.

These two teams were scheduled to play Aug. 20 in what would have been Messi’s first match in Major League Soccer, but that was postponed due to both teams getting this far in the Leagues Cup. One of these teams is guaranteed to play on Aug. 19 in either the third-place match or the final.

Of course, it’s all about Messi right now. When Messi is on the field, Miami has scored 12 goals. Messi has contributed in some way to 11 of those. He has scored seven, assisted three (using MLS’ lenient counting of secondary assists) and delivered the free kick that Dallas’ Marco Farfan inexplicably headed into his own net last round.

So, naturally, the odds of Messi scoring against Charlotte are high. Messi to score at any time in this match is a comical -225 (or 4-to-9). Messi scoring twice is currently +230 (23-to-10). He has scored twice in all three matches he started so those odds seem enticing. The odds of Messi’s first hat trick with Miami are at +750 (15-to-2).

With Messi scoring at an absurd rate and Miami coming off a 4-4 match at FC Dallas, the goal total line for this one is also high. The over/under is at 3.5 goals with the over only at +130 (13-to-10). The other quarterfinals all have the default goal total line at 2.5.

Messi dominating the sport is nothing new and Major League Soccer is a big step down from the level Messi has played against in his entire career. However, it’s still staggering to see this level of production right away. Will he deliver again on Friday?

What is the Leagues Cup?

Leagues Cup was designed as a World Cup-style competition between MLS and Liga MX clubs. The current iteration featured all 29 MLS teams and all 18 Liga MX teams divided into 15 regional groups of three. Two teams, LAFC and Pachuca, got byes past the group stage. The top two teams from each group join those two in a 32-team single-elimination knockout stage.

MLS teams host every game. Even matches played between two Liga MX teams are played in the United States.

Playing at home is a big boost to the MLS teams. All four quarterfinals take place on Friday with six MLS teams and two Liga MX teams remaining.

This is the third iteration of the Leagues Cup. It kicked off in 2019 with eight teams, was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and returned with eight teams in 2021. Last year the Leagues Cup brand was used for a series of friendlies.

Felipe Cardenas has more on the brief, bizarre history of the tournament and what Messi’s inclusion has done for it.

(Photo credit: Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images)