Cote: Inter Miami falls to PSG but won big to reach Club World Cup final 16 | Opinion
The scoreboard says rout. It says the loser was not just beaten, but closer to embarrassed. But more needs be said of how the FIFA Club World Cup ended for Inter Miami on Sunday in Atlanta.
Sometimes in sports -- not often -- a team gets to leave a game feeling almost as if it has won no matter the scoreboard’s clear dissent. Athletes and coaches are loath to admit even a shred of positive in any defeat, let alone in the immediate aftermath, but if ever the moral victory existed, can’t Inter Miami claim some of that even after a 4-0 defeat?
There is zero room for shame or even for undo regret in Lionel Messi lifting Miami -- and by extension Major League Soccer -- to the round of 16 before finally yielding, and unequivocally, to only the best soccer club on the planet in Paris Saint-Germain.
“We knew today was going to be very, very difficult,” said Miami coach Javier Mascherano afterward. “[The Club World Cup] was a very great experience for us. We achieved our goal. I’m proud of the players for the tournament they had. I think we lived up to expectations.”
PSG has been the premier futbol team on Earth this calendar year and just won the European championship. Its knack for ball possession is unmatched in the world and was again Sunday with more than 70 percent ownership in the first half, when the damage was done.. Miami struggled early to move the ball at all into the Paris half.
Not even Messi could will Miami onto the unmistakably elite level of the Paris side, for whom he had played in 2021-23 after leaving Barcelona and before venturing to Miami.
Still, Miami was the last survivor of three MLS qualifiers in the 32-team tournament and ought be proud of that. Team Messi had advanced unbeaten (with two draws) from a four-team group in which all the experts rated Miami fourth best.
“Our goal is to lift trophies,” Inter Miami principle owner Jorge Mas had said before this game.
Fair enough. And no trophy is awarded for reaching the round of 16.
But this stands as the biggest accomplishment thus far of the three-year Messi era, which hopefully will see a fourth season next year as the team transitions to its new stadium in Miami.
Messi has led to two lifted trophies thus far:
The 2023 Leagues Cup crown, and the 2024 MLS Supports’ Shield.
But the Leagues Cup is a new-ish and fairly minor event featuring only clubs from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. The Supporters’ Shield is given for the best regular-season record -- but that distinction turned bittersweet fast when Miami then stunningly lost to Atlanta in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
Getting to the Club World Cup knockout phase, the sweet 16, is the greatest accomplishment on the biggest stage in INter Miami’s brief history, the lack of a trophy be damned.
Having said that, PSG’s dominance was evident quickly, as you knew it might be.
It was 1-0 six minutes in when Joao Nevis’ diving header found Miami defender Maximiliano Falcon asleep on the job.
And 2-nil i the 39th, Nevis again, after Sergio Busquets was pick-pocketed in his own end.
PSG scored twice more very late in the half, in the 44th minute, on an own-goal off the arm of Miami’s 21-year-old Tomas Aviles, and in added time on a shot by Achra Hakimi.
Paris’ top star, Ousmane Dembele, a Ballon d’Or candidate, had missed the CWC thus far with a hamstring issue, was on the edge of readiness Sunday, and began the game on the bench as an available substitute, entering i the second half.
“I can tell you he’s ready, but as you know I don’t like to take any risks with my players,” said Paris coach Luis Enrique.
Clearly, not starting Dembele seemed a signal Enrique believed his side was that much better than Miami to save the star for the quarterfinals and beyond.
Miami played much better in a scoreless second half, coming closest to busting the shutout on a Messi header that took a diving save to repel. The second half showed the Inter Miami its fans hoped to see earlier.
Paris now advances to quarterfinals round vs. the winner of Sunday’s later match between Flamengo and Bayern Munich.
Miami returns to MLS league play, but should do so proud of its CWC run, and only emboldened to believe itself a contender for the league championship, the trophy, that it missed last year.
This story was originally published June 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM.
