Messi scores, but Inter Miami only gets 2-2 tie with Austin FC in opener of new stadium

MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi scored on the long-awaited opening nightin his new home stadium.And Luis Suarez found a way to tie things up late in the second half.

MLS Austin Inter Miami Soccer

It was good enough to salvage a point for Inter Miami.

Messi scored on a headerin the 10th minute, Suarez hammered home a volley in the 82nd minute and Inter Miami escaped with a 2-2 tie against Austin FC in the defending MLS champions' first match at their still-under-construction stadium near Miami International Airport on Saturday night.

Inter Miami (3-1-2) is now unbeaten in its last five MLS matches, and Austin (1-2-3) is now winless in its last four contests.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber was at the match, lauding the work that David Beckham — who picked Miami 13 years ago — did to get to this day. Inter Miami is in its seventh MLS season, its third with Messi, but has played home matches in Fort Lauderdale until now.

Garber touted the stadium opening as the latest sign of growth for MLS.

“I think our best days are still ahead," Garber said. "David shined a light on our league, and Leo’s taking that torch, and he’s showing it around. And we’re getting calls from players around the world.”

The Herons never led; Austin took a 1-0 lead on Guilherme Biro's goal — the first ever at Nu Stadium — in the sixth minute, and the visitors went up 2-1 when speedy reserve Jayden Nelson scored in the 53rd minute.

Messi and Suarez both got tying goals, and Inter Miami missed some chances for a potential winner in the final minutes. Maybe the best of the lot: Mateo Silvetti's chance in the 87th minute, when he accepted a cross from the right wing and tried to one-time the ball but sent it sailing high.

“We already know what Leo is capable of and the trouble he causes for the opposition, and even without the ball as well,” Inter Miami defender Maxi Falcon told Apple TV after the match. “And Luis, too — whenever he’s inside the box, he’s lethal, and he proved that once again.”

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Suarez thought he scored in the 90th minute after a free kick from Messi, but the play was called offside. And Messi had a chance about three minutes later from inside the box, but Brad Stuver got low for a save diving to his left to keep the game knotted at 2-2.

Stuver said it was a great result, especially given the circumstances — against the MLS champs, who were opening their new stadium.

“We got to be the villains,” Stuver said.

Austin led much of the second half, after Nelson came on at intermission and gave his club a spark.

Nelson — who played for Vancouver against Inter Miami in last season's MLS Cup final — got behind the defense, avoided going offside and took a pass from Myrto Uzuni in the middle of the field about 30 yards from the goal.

He sent a low shot that got past charging Inter Miami goalie Dayne St. Clair and kissed off the inside of the left goalpost before settling into the net.

Up next

Austin: Host LA Galaxy on April 11.

Inter Miami: Host New York Red Bulls on April 11.

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

byLiam Oneel

in

April 04, 2026

Messi scores, but Inter Miami only gets 2-2 tie with Austin FC in opener of new stadium

MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi scored on the long-awaited opening nightin his new home stadium.And Luis Suarez found a way to tie things up ...

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Dan Hurley family tree: Explaining UConn coach's family basketball ties

Dan Hurleyfinds himself in an all too familiar situation on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis whenConnecticut men's basketballtakes on Illinoisin the Final Four.

It is the third Final Four in the last four seasons that the 53-year-old coach has led the Huskies to during their six-year rise back to being one of thetop college basketball programsin the country.

He holds a 17-3 record in March Madnesswith the Huskies,and is looking to become the seventh Division I men's basketball coach to win at least three national championship titles. Remove the first two seasons that Hurley led the Huskies tothe NCAA Tournament,both of which were first-round exits, UConn is 17-1 in its last 18 March Madness games.

MORE:Dan Hurley clears air on interaction with ref in UConn's win vs Duke

The Huskies' success under Hurley has not only established him asone of the top coaches in the countryand garnered interest from the NBA (hello,Los Angeles Lakers), but it has also bumped their resume upon the blue blood rankings list,which can see them move past Duke with their seventh title in program history.

But Hurley's success and rise in his profession also put a spotlight on his roots and how he got started in coaching, which, if you know anything about the Hurley family, all started in a gymnasium in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Here's what to know about Hurley's family tree:

Dan Hurley family tree

Who is Dan Hurley's dad?

Dan Hurley is the son of legendary New Jersey high school basketball coach Bobby Hurley Sr., who is alsoenshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Bobby Hurley Sr. spent nearly four decades as a high school basketball coach at St. Anthony's in Jersey City.In his 39 seasons at St. Anthony's,Bobby Hurley Sr. won over 1,000 games and 28 state championships while turning the program into a national powerhouse. He also led St. Anthony's to 18 undefeated seasons.

FINAL FOUR TICKETS:Where to buy tickets, prices for March Madness semifinals

As noted by CT Insider, Dan Hurley went head-to-head against his dad for nine seasons from 2001 to 2010 at the high school circuit, as the UConn head coach started his career at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark. Bobby Hurley Sr. retired from coaching after the 2016-17 basketball season, when St. Anthony was forced to shut down due to declining enrollment and finances.

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The two-time NCAA national championship coach fielded multiple questions about being a byproduct of a high school basketball coach, and whether his intensity on the sidelines comes from that, ahead of UConn's second-round game vs. UCLA, whereDan Hurley went up against Mick Cronin,whose dad was also a high school coach.

"If you don't like me, you'd hate my dad. I bet Mick would say the same thing. We're coach's kids. For me, growing up in Jersey, North Jersey, Jersey City, I coach the way my dad would be coaching this college. Whether you would like that or not," Dan Hurley said. "You just have a special relationship to your team, to your players, to the outcome, to the lifestyle of being a coach when you're a coach's kid.

"It's so personal for coaches like me and Mick, which is where you see, at times, emotional reactions to things that happen on the court because it truly feels like, personally, it's your world, your team. The outcome of the game, it manifests itself sometimes in how we behave."

KING OF THE BLUE BLOODS?How UConn can pass Duke this weekend

Following UConn's win over Duke in the Elite Eight, Bobby Hurley Sr. told college basketball reporter Adam Zagoria that the Huskies' come-from-behindwin against the Blue Devils, which featureda buzzer-beaterfromBraylon Mullins, "the singularly most incredible moment" he's seen in person following a college basketball game.

"In the times I’ve been around it, this is the singularly most incredible moment (I've seen) following college basketball. I don’t think I’ve ever been around the game where we were on the right end of a last-second shot," Hurley told Zagoria.

Who is Dan Hurley's brother?

Dan Hurley's brother is Bobby Hurley Jr., the former Duke All-American guard under Mike Krzyzewski and recently fired Arizona State basketball head coach.

Bobby Hurley Jr. helped guide the Blue Devils to a pair of national championship titles in 1991 and 1992, while recording career totals of 1,731 points, 1,076 assists, 306 rebounds, and 202 steals in 140 career games. His 1,076 career assists used to be the NCAA all-time career record, but he was recentlysurpassed by Purdue guard Braden Smith.

Who are Dan Hurley's sons?

Dan Hurley has two sons, Danny and Andrew, with his wife, Andrea.

His son Danny attended Seton Hall University, his father's alma mater, while Andrew was a walk-on for his dad at UConn and a member of the Huskies' back-to-back national championship teams in 2023 and 2024. Andrew Hurley iscurrently a graduate assistant on UConn's coaching staffand will earn his MBA this spring.

Dan Hurley: College basketball's most animated head coach

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Dan Hurley family tree: UConn coach son of legendary HS basketball coach

byLiam Oneel

in

April 04, 2026

Dan Hurley family tree: Explaining UConn coach's family basketball ties

Dan Hurleyfinds himself in an all too familiar situation on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis whenConnecticut men...

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LeBron James disparages Memphis, says he 'would've pulled an Eli Manning' if Grizzlies had drafted him

When the 2025-26 NBA season ends for the Los Angeles Lakers, two questions will follow LeBron James into the offseason.

First,will he decide to play a 24th season or retire? Second, if he does play, will that be with the Lakers or another team? Could he return for a third turn with the Cleveland Cavaliers? Might he finally go to the New York Knicks?

Another question that probably wouldn’t have been asked but can now be safely answered: If he does play, James will not suit up for the Memphis Grizzlies next season.

Appearing on the “Bob Does Sports” YouTube show, James said he “might have pulled an Eli Manning” if the Grizzlies had won the2003 NBA Draftlottery. (The Memphis remarks begin atthe 10:55 mark.)

The conversation about Memphis began when James was asked if the travel during an NBA season got to him. After disparaging staying at a Hyatt in Milwaukee at 41 years old, he followed up by saying, “You think I want to do that, being in Memphis on a random-ass Thursday?”

James then revealed that his feelings about the city are shared by several NBA players.

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“We all like, ‘You guys have to move,’” he continued. “Let’s go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there. You got the f****ing NASCAR. You got a stadium. Don’t they got a hockey team too?”

Host Robby Berger then said to the camera, “Doesn’t look like LeBron’s going to be on the Grizzlies any time soon.”

James responded, “Yeah, they know. Their only chance was in 2003 if they would’ve won the lottery. And I might have pulled an Eli Manning and not shown up.”

The Manning remark is a reference to the 2004 NFL Draft when the quarterback and his agent reportedly told the San Diego Chargers that he wouldn’t play for them even if he was drafted No. 1 overall. The Chargers did select him, buttraded him to the New York Giantsfor Philip Rivers.

Serendipitously, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the No. 1 overall pick and the Akron, Ohio, native went to his home area team.

Memphis ended up with the No. 13 selection and drafted Marcus Banks out of UNLV, then traded him to the Boston Celtics. (The Grizzlies actually won the No. 2 pick, but had to trade it to the Detroit Pistons as a condition ofa 1997 tradethat sent Otis Thorpe to Memphis. The Pistons selected Darko Milicic.)

If James and his fellow NBA players get their wish for the Grizzlies to relocate to Nashville, it likely wouldn’t happenuntil 2029when the team’s lease with FedEx Forum expires. James will almost certainly be retired by then. And maybe the Grizzlies will be competitive after a rebuild started bytrading Desmond BaneandJaren Jackson Jr., with Ja Morantexpected to be next.

byLiam Oneel

in

April 04, 2026

LeBron James disparages Memphis, says he 'would've pulled an Eli Manning' if Grizzlies had drafted him

When the 2025-26 NBA season ends for the Los Angeles Lakers, two questions will follow LeBron James into the offseason. First,wil...

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