Lionel Messi and Inter Miami FC teammate Rodrigo De Paul will not play in the MLS club’s next two games, ESPN reported on Monday.

Both Messi and De Paul played in all eight matches for Argentina in the World Cup. Messi started all eight contests and played all 120 minutes in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Spain in the final.

Also according to the report, both players, who were selected to the MLS All-Star Game on July 29, will not compete in the contest against the Liga MX All-Stars.

Messi skipped the 2025 MLS All-Star Game without league approval and was suspended for Inter Miami’s next regular-season match. Miami has informed the league that Messi will miss this year’s game, per ESPN.

FIFPRO, the global representative organization for pro soccer players, has recommended a 21-day rest period at the end of each season for health reasons.

In 2025, FIFA and FIFPRO agreed to a 72-hour rest period between matches for the World Cup.

Messi and De Paul will not play against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday and CF Montreal on Saturday.

Miami plays at home against Columbus on Aug. 1, then competes in the Leagues Cup from Aug. 5-12 before returning to MLS action on Aug. 15. Barring injury, the two players would miss three MLS games that fall within the 21-day window.

Messi scored eight goals and added four assists in the World Cup, finishing second to France’s Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race.

Inter Miami sit in second place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings with a 9-2-4 record, five points behind first-place Nashville SC.

–Field Level Media

In the first of another round of layoffs at ESPN, the network parted ways with NFL analyst and former NFL standout Ryan Clark on Monday.

The move occurred as Clark, who has been with ESPN for 11 years, was on the air during “NFL Live.” Sources told The Athletic that Clark was told of the decision during the broadcast and the outspoken 13-year former NFL safety did not finish the program.

Clark’s departure had been rumored since February and those rumors ramped up last week, according to The Athletic.

The Emmy-Award winning Clark was earning about $2 million per year.

ESPN sources told Sports Business Journal the move was planned for Tuesday, but the network was receiving media inquiries and feared the news would leak out before they could inform Clark.

Disney, the parent company of ESPN and the NFL Network, is expected to cut ties with additional on-air ESPN personnel, and a larger number of NFL Network employees, as soon as Tuesday.

ESPN acquired NFL Network in February, giving the NFL a 10% stake in ESPN. The deal was valued at approximately $3 billion.

–Field Level Media

Connor Bedard doesn’t know exactly what he’ll be able to do physically when the Chicago Blackhawks open training camp in the fall.

The young star forward is sure of one thing, though. Chicago is interested in nothing other than getting back to the playoffs for the first time since the turn of the decade.

“We want to take a big step this year. We want to be a playoff team and that’s our only goal,” Bedard said Monday in his first meeting with reporters since signing a five-year, $75 million contract extension Saturday.

Bedard, who turned just 21 on Friday, was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023 and the Calder Memorial Trophy winner the ensuing season as the NHL’s rookie of the year.

Hailed as the top prospect to enter the league since Connor McDavid, Bedard has played three solid seasons for the Blackhawks, collecting career highs in goals (30), assists (45) and points (75) in just 69 games in 2025-26.

One thing the Blackhawks have yet to produce in the Bedard era is a winning season. But they have climbed from 52 points in Bedard’s rookie season to 61 in 2024-25 to 72 last year.

The playoff drought reached six years, dating back to the end of Patrick Kane’s tenure in town. Bedard, though, likes what his franchise did to improve this offseason, starting with the acquisition of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram.

“We’ve had a great, great summer,” Bedard said. “Obviously getting Bo, he’s someone who’s going to be one of the best D-men in the league. He’s always shown that, but when you play behind Cale (Makar) and (Rasmus) Dahlin (with the Sabres), it’s not easy to take their spots, so just for him to have that opportunity to be that one and prove himself in that way and he’s going to do it. He’s one of the most skilled players in the league.”

He also pointed to the additions of veteran forward Jordan Greenway and defenseman Ian Cole, among others.

But one more potential signing would be the biggest splash of all in Chicago: a reunion with Kane.

After the Blackhawks traded Kane to the New York Rangers late in the 2022-23 campaign, the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history went on to play three seasons with the rival Detroit Red Wings. Kane, still producing goals at 37, is one of the top free agents still available.

“I don’t know what I can say to persuade his decision, but we’d all be so excited to have a player like that but also a guy like that.

“I can’t imagine his first game back at (Chicago), just the reaction he’d get and how much juice that would bring not only to our team but our fans as well. That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him.”

Kane underwent surgery for a left shoulder injury on July 8 and was given a four-month timetable for his return. That would place him back on the ice in early November; the regular season begins in late September rather than the usual October start due to the expansion to an 84-game schedule.

Kane didn’t rule out beating the four-month timeline.

“We’ll see,” he said. “… I’m just going to do everything I can day-to-day to try to get back as quick as possible.”

–Field Level Media