Messi gets further away from the 2025 Club World Cup: How could he play in it?

The fourth and final Concacaf spot is for the future champion of the current Champions League, although there would be another opportunity for Inter Miami.

Inter Miami's 1-2 loss to Rayados de Monterrey at Chase Stadium not only makes the playoffs very difficult for Lionel Messi's team, whose presence at the BBVA stadium in the second leg is also uncertain, but a possible elimination from the Concacaf Champions League would have even greater sporting consequences for the Argentine star.

The cause and effect of Inter Miami 's failure to advance to the semifinals of the current tournament could be that the captain of Argentina's men's national team could miss the first Club World Cup to be played in its new 32-team format in 2025 in the United States.

With the hypothetical elimination of Inter Miami against the team from Monterrey, Messi' s only and last chance to be present at the first multi-continental club competition would be to opt for the only place that has yet to be defined: the one held by the United States, as the host country.

That remaining slot has yet to be defined, since MLS has not determined the criteria it would use to apply that slot to one of its teams in its league.

So far, 21 clubs have already secured their presence in the World Cup and, curiously, the Rayados already have one of the three CONCACAF slots, together with Seattle Sounders and Leon, as champions of the last three Champion Leagues.

The Champions League quarterfinals were dominated by Mexican teams, who won three of the four matches and, in the remaining one, Tigres drew away against Columbus Crew. Of these, Pachuca and America, who could meet in the semifinals, can already count on being in the semifinals thanks to their first-leg defeats.