Sawt Falasteen - Messi, Miami frustrated in Toronto stalemate

Argentina superstar Messi had gone into Saturday's game in Toronto in blistering form, bagging five goals in his previous three appearances for Miami.

But though the 38-year-old carved out a string of promising openings, a superb performance from Toronto goalkeeper Sean Johnson prevented him from extending his recent goal spree.

Miami, who have already booked their postseason berth, appeared on course for all three points at BMO Field after Tadeo Allende headed home a Jordi Alba cross in first-half stoppage time to put Inter 1-0 up.

But Miami's suspect defence was once again exposed in the second half, with a string of blunders gifting Djordje Mihailovic a close-range equaliser that made it 1-1 in the 60th minute.

Miami pressed relentlessly for a winner, but Johnson produced two fine saves to deny shots from Messi.

Messi continues to lead the MLS scoring charts with 24 goals in 23 matches.

Inter coach Javier Mascherano said Toronto goalkeeper Johnson had been the difference between the two teams.

"I think we deserved to win, we had the most real chances during the game, maybe we had 10-15 minutes in the second half that we were in a bit of confusion, but at the end we had the game under control," Mascherano said. "I think their goalkeeper was the man of the match.

"It's hard because we came here to win. We wanted to go up in the standings but we have to move forward. We have more four games, so we will try to win all the games and try to finish as high as possible."

The draw leaves Miami in third place in the Eastern Conference with 56 points -- four points behind leaders Philadelphia -- but with a game in hand.

D.Khalil--SF-PST