[Official] Son Heung-min and Messi are likely to face off in the final just before the World Cup... North Korea-China Champions Cup Round of 16 match confirmed

*This content was translated by AI.

The round of 16 matches of the 2026 North-China Caribbean Football Federation (CONCACAF) Champions Cup, which will determine the best club team in North and Central America, have been confirmed. Los Angeles FC, where Son Heung-min belongs, will face the Costa Rican team, which may face Inter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, in the final on the table of matches.

The tournament, a club competition hosted by the North-China American Football Federation like the UEFA and Asian Football Federation Champions League, was confirmed on the 27th (Korea time) as Philadelphia Union (USA) took the last leg of the round of 16.

LAFC, which defeated Real Spain (Honduras) in the first round and reached the round of 16, will compete with Costa Rica's Alahuelense, who was seeded according to the CONCACAF club ranking and went straight to the round of 16, for the quarterfinals.

LAFC won 1-0 at home in the second round after winning 6-1 on the road in the first round of the first round against Real Spain. In particular, in the first game, Son Heung-min played a leading role in the team's victory with one goal and three assists in the first half alone.

Alahuelense, the last-16 opponent, is a team that participated in the tournament as the 2025 Central American Cup champion. LAFC will play the first leg of the round of 16 at BMO Stadium in LA on March 10 and then go on the road to Costa Rica on the 17th for the second leg.

Inter Miami, seeded including LAFC's showdown with Alahuelense, will face Nashville SC, the same U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) team. Among the teams that advanced to the round of 16, including San Diego FC with Toluca (Mexico) and LA Galaxy with Mount Pleasant (Jamaica), MLS teams had as many as eight.

Attention is drawn to LAFC and Inter Miami, which are located opposite each other on the round of 16. The confrontation between the two teams, which is also considered a strong candidate for the championship, can only be achieved if both teams reach the final. In some cases, Son Heung-min and Messi may face off for the "winning title."

Son Heung-min and Messi faced off through the 2026 MLS opener on the 22nd. It was the first face-off since Son Heung-min moved to LAFC. With more than 70,000 spectators gathered, Son Heung-min led his team to a 3-0 complete victory through the winning goal assist at the time and won the "decision victory."

The two teams have different conferences belonging to MLS, so Son Heung-min and Messi will face off in this season's MLS regular league only at the MLS Cup, the playoff. Instead, if both LAFC and Inter Miami reach the Champions Cup final, a fateful final face-off may take place at the end of May, just before the World Cup.

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*This content was translated by AI.