It’s easy to get caught up in the nuts and bolts of Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami. In the amount of money involved, or the potential effect his presence might have on the profile of Major League Soccer, a league still fighting for relevance in the United States. It’s easy to talk about sponsorship money, or clicks, or page views.
On Friday night, though, in the moments leading up to Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup quarterfinal match against Charlotte FC, there was a moment that felt a bit more pure than all of that. Amidst a sea of shirtless, overgrown children banging drums and drinking beer stood an actual kid, maybe eight years old. He held a pink piece of posterboard aloft bearing a simple message, scribbled in black marker: “Messi, quiero darte un abrazo.” The kid wanted to give Messi a hug.
Messi, of course, was adored before he even arrived in Miami. Aside from a sizable crop of Cristiano Ronaldo loyalists, adulation for Messi has long been almost universal. What he did on Friday — put in another brilliant shift during Miami’s resounding 4-0 victory over Charlotte — only deepened Miami’s growing infatuation with their No. 10.
In that regard, Friday could represent the first time Inter Miami experienced what the everyday, “normal” Messi experience might look like – no instantly-iconic free kick, no willing the team to a two-goal comeback, and no getting angry. Just solid, dependable play, an important win, and sure, why not, a goal to go with it.
Miami, which currently sits at the bottom of the MLS regular season table, has not lost in any of the five Leagues Cup matches Messi has featured in, scoring 17 goals in that span with Messi scoring eight of those. The win moves Miami one step closer to its first-ever championship, major or otherwise, since it started play in 2020. They’ll face the Philadelphia Union in the semifinals on Tuesday.
The atmosphere on Friday felt a bit calmer than it has in Messi’s other home matches; the club didn’t have long to sell tickets for a game that wasn’t even on its schedule several days ago. There were no throngs of singing supporters in the parking lot and fans arrived late, slowly filling the stadium to near its capacity on a balmy summer evening.
Messi added yet another goal in Inter Miami’s win (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Messi himself seemed calmer as well. He was the last to emerge from Miami’s bus and he came out alone, shying a bit from the throng of photographers who awaited him. On the field, he did not impose his will quite as deliberately as he’s done in other matches. His lone goal came long after the match was settled, a tap-in from inside the six-yard box in the game’s dying moments. There were fewer flashbulbs, and there certainly wasn’t any singular moment of hysteria like the ones he produced with a pair of inch-perfect free kicks against Cruz Azul and FC Dallas.
Still, he was arguably Miami’s best player and certainly its most important, involved in the buildup to the team’s second goal and the madness that led to the opener, earned at the penalty spot. His mere presence, as always, drew defenders and opened up space for teammates.
Charlotte, as Orlando City did two games ago, did not shy away from Messi and showed him very little reverence. The pressure seemed to affect the Argentine minimally; when 37-year-old Charlotte defender Harrisson Afful hacked at Messi early on in the match, the crowd jeered as the Argentine tumbled to the ground. As Afful helped Messi to his feet, the foul seemed less like an attempt at sending a message and more like a desperate swipe at a legend.
Messi was unbothered, eventually trading shirts with Afful after the match.
Among all of this are a host of other continually good performances out of Miami players since Messi’s arrival. Finnish midfielder Robert Taylor, a relative unknown who all of a sudden has become Messi’s chosen partner in attack, scored another goal. Former Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets was also involved, as was Deandre Yedlin, who put in an excellent shift. Even Drake Callender, Miami’s sometimes erratic goalkeeper, was steady on Friday.
“It’s wonderful to be able to be on a new team, in a new city with (Messi),” Busquets told the media after the match. “I still see him as having a lot of desire to win, to train hard. He shows it every day on the field, we’re all enjoying it and as a team, we’re enjoying each other.”
Charlotte, which has the worst defense in MLS, did what it has done all year: bleed goals. The game had long been over by the time that Miami got its third, which came courtesy of Charlotte defender Adilson Malanda in the 78th minute. Messi’s goal was just more dirt on the grave. Miami’s supporters, who were loud all game, stuck around after the whistle to watch something a bit more competitive: an impromptu game between Messi’s children and a few other youngsters. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition.
It feels presumptive to assume that Miami will go on the road to Philadelphia and walk all over the Union, one of the league’s best sides in recent years, particularly at home where they’ve played every single one of their Leagues Cup matches. Miami were at times atrocious on the road against Dallas, and Philly are among MLS’ most disciplined teams, MLS Cup runners up in 2022 and Supporters’ Shield champions in 2020. The match against Miami will be among the biggest in the club’s 13-year history, and they will come prepared.
Dangling in front of both teams, though, is an actual, tangible prize: a berth in the CONCACAF Cup, the club championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The top three finishers in Leagues Cup – the two finalists and the winners of its third-place game — move on to that competition. In other words, qualification is just a win away.
Messi has already made Leagues Cup, a nascent competition manufactured out of thin air by Major League Soccer and Mexico’s LigaMX, a digestible product. His presence in CONCACAF’s championship, which has long struggled to connect with even diehard MLS fans, could potentially be a boon for soccer in the entire region.
What’s more, if Miami and Co. were to capture that regional title, they’d become just the second team in the modern history of the competition to earn a berth in the Club World Cup, which will be played in the United States in 2025. The fan fiction almost writes itself: Messi and his old friends welcome Barcelona to Miami for the title game. His first love against his last.
Of course, figures like Messi have a way of making your imagination run a little wild. Gary Etherington, a young American who in the 1970s played alongside another Ft. Lauderdale legend, former Manchester United great George Best, once said that Best’s trademark move — just a simple feint and cutback — was so effective and entertaining that watching him do that it was like “watching a comedian tell the same joke over and over again, and laughing every f——g time.”
The city’s infatuation with Lionel Messi feels much the same. Every touch is greeted with a roar, every deft movement draws fans closer to the edge of their seat, or off it completely. By the time Messi releases the ball — whether it’s played to a teammate or driven into the back of the net — all anyone can really do is laugh. It never gets old.
(Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
