Messi is running MLS, but he’s still human after all as Inter Miami settles for 0-0 draw | Opinion
It is Messi’s world. Think of Miami as renting space in its orbit for a couple of more years. The rent is exorbitant. It feels like a bargain. Because, well ... he’s Messi!
Two months in we still are adjusting to this sudden and surreal association, trying to make logical sense of a fantasy.
Messi on the pitch is what’s easy to grasp. We all knew he was great, but palpably he’s levels above that in Major League Soccer -- so much so that Wednesday night proved a rare glimpse of mortality from the man.
Inter Miami was 9-0 with Messi , fueled by his 11 goals, before Wednesday night’s 0-0 home draw with Nashville. That had included an 8-0 mark vs. MLS clubs.
Messii inherited a last-place team but a win and draw in two league matches have given Inter Miami a fighting chance to claw back up to playoff contention with 10 season matches remaining.
This was Messi’s home debut in an MLS regular-season match, though Miami had beaten Nashville, there, 10-9 on penalty kicks August 19 to win the Leagues Cup title. They celebrated that three-year-old tournament’s trophy with fans before Wednesday’s game as one imagined Messi — World Cup champion and seven-time Ballon d’Or winner — wondering what was this strange, minor hardware he was holding.
Nashville had every incentive to win the rematch.
So does every opponent that steps on a field with Messi, amped to beat the G.O.A.T. but likely admiring him just a bit too much to fully concentrate on the task.
The greatness from Messi we expected, even at age 36.
It’s the other stuff that reminds us the man is in charge on more than just the field.
He runs Inter Miami, runs MLS.
He does not deign to avail himself for postgame media interviews as MLS rules state? Well,it’s Messi. He does not bend for rules; rules bend to him, like supplicants kneeling before a king.
You say Messi will miss at least a few important league games down the stretch because Argentina has called him for very early World Cup qualifying matches? Even thought Messi has said he will not play in the 2026 World Cup? No problem, big guy. “La Abiceleste” had you before Miami did.
[Quick aside to Lionel (may I called you Leo?): You’re a multitasker. Ever consider dual citizenship? You may be done World Cupping for the motherland , but I know a certain United States national team that cold use you at any age. Just a thought...]
[Still between you and I, Leo: Heard you dined Sunday night at Miami’s Micheline star-swanky Cote Korean Steakhouse. You get those bottles of Dom Perignon Plentitude we had sent over?]
Messi could tell Inter Miami he would like to play in neon orange uniforms with a paisley pattern and they would be in the merch store the day after tomorrow.
“It’s something we have to get accustomed to. He’s going to miss at least three games — he’s going to get called up by his national team,” said Miami coach Tata Martino. “And we need to keep winning.”
Miami entered the night 11 standings points off playoff pace with 10 games to go, and gained only one point Wednesday. The team likely will need to win seven of its last 10 matchups to qualify for the postseason, and even that might not be enough.
Wednesday’s draw, though, could well have been a first loss for Messi in the Miami era.
In the 90th minute in the last gasps of the game Miami defender DeAndre Yedlin committed what appeared to be a handball in the box, but upon review no penalty kick was called, a big break for Miami.
It surely fueled some who suggest Messi also controls the referees because it is in MLS’ best interest that Messi succeed and Miami make the playoffs, for example.
Let the conspiracy theorists have their day over the draw.
Messi is human, that’s all — itself a small revelation.
This story was originally published August 30, 2023 at 10:11 PM.
