Cote: U.S.-Messi World Cup final? LeBron-Heat? Dolphins good? Dream big | Opinion
It’s a perfect time to dare to dream a little bit in Greater Miami and South Florida sports. Being surrounded by the men’s FIFA World Cup makes it easier — but it’s more than that.
The Miami Heat has a true superstar centerpiece again in Giannis Antetokounmpo, delivered in trade to lift a stagnant franchise back to championship contention. Now comes the speculation about a reunion with LeBron James, too, and why not? We’re dreaming here, remember.
The two-time Stanley Cup champ Florida Panthers, after a year out of the playoffs, pulled off a major deal to unite Brady Tkachuk with his brother Matthew. Those two plus Brad Marchand assure that the Cats will be the most wonderfully annoying team to play in the NHL. Ain’t it grand?
The budget-ball Marlins are good. Wait, what? No, seriously. The Fish are 19-6 in June, best in the bigs. They’re fun to watch and a legit wild-card playoff contender.
Inter Miami is the reigning MLS champion and the Miami Hurricanes, coming off a College Football Playoff runner-up finish, are the closest they’ve been in a quarter century to that elusive sixth national title.
Let’s see. Who are we forgetting here? Oh, yeah. The Dolphins, this market’s oldest major team, but a flagship listing and bailing water for decades. Now, as training camp nears with a ground-up rebuild underway, there is cause to hope that the Fins finally got it right with new coach Jeff Hafley and GM Jon-Eric Sullivan. (Maybe?)
Amid all the cause for collective optimism, the heart of the quadrennial World Cup, the globe’s biggest sports event, reminds us anything is possible.
We are 76 matches in, the 48-nation group stage whittled to the knockout round of 32 — already now down to 28 surviving teams entering Tuesday’s play. And of those first 76 games, 30 of them (almost 40%) have been upsets (20 draws and 10 wins) based on the FIFA World Ranking.
Twenty-five matches have been decided by a goal beyond 90 minutes. Goal-scoring is up in this massive event being hosted across the United States (mostly), Canada and Mexico. But I’m hoping even soccer haters and agnostics are discovering and appreciating that even a 0-0 draw can be exciting when the stakes are this grand, as balls carom off crossbars and posts and goalkeepers shine.
Monday alone, Paraguay eliminated four-time champion Germany, Morocco eliminated the Netherlands and five-time winner Brazil needed a comeback and a last-minute goal to survive Japan.
You want a definition of anything-is-possible?
Mighty Germany is out ... but Cape Verde isn’t.
The tiny nation consisting of 10 little islands off the coast of West Africa is the smallest country ever to reach the knockout stage of a World Cup. Ranked No. 64 in the World, Cape Verde earned a stunning tie with mighty Spain and also a draw with top-20 club Uruguay in group play.
I have meandered to my ultimate World Cup dream:
A U.S. vs. Argentina championship match. That’s right: the Americans, seeking a first ever World Cup crown on home turf ... vs. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and La Albiceleste of reigning-champion Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19.
It literally could happen, as the two squads are on opposite sides of the tournament bracket.
Half of our dream championship game makes sense. Argentina has impressed more than any team thus far expect France, which I would pick to win it all led by the sublime Kylian Mbappe, futbol’s G.O.A.T.-in-waiting after Messi. Argentina’s Round-of-32 match is Friday evening at “Miami Stadium,” FIFA’s homogenized name for Hard Rock Stadium. The opponent? Cape Verde, this World Cup’s Cinderella in cleats. Team Messi should have no problem winning with some comfort ... except miracles happen? But then England and Brazil also await on Argentina’s side of the bracket.
The other half of the equation — the U.S. reaching the final — is obviously dicier. As dreams go, this would be like the one where you wake up after having climbed to the top of the Grand Teton Mountain on the back of a galloping 2,600-pound bison. (And for some reason you were dressed like Abraham Lincoln. And how did that stovepipe hat stay on your head during the jouncing steep incline?)
The U.S. impressed greatly in the group stage. I have never seen our national team look so good — especially in the midfield or on the attack — and so capable of playing with giants. Heck, the Americans dominated in a 4-1 rout of Paraguay, the team that just eliminated Germany. And Wednesday’s Round-of-32 match vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina in San Francisco should be winnable. B&H is No. 61 in the FIFA World Ranking to 15th for the U.S.
Bosnia should not beat Christian Pulisic and the Americans; only overconfidence might. With a win, America’s Round-of-16 opponent — Belgium or Senegal — also might be a realistic/plausible win. That would mean the quarterfinals — and that would mean an unequivocally successful World Cup for the Stars & Stripes.
But then the Americans’ path to the championship would get treacherous and realistically near impossible. Spain or Portugal would stand in the way. And then, almost certainly ... Mbappe and France.
I’m getting carried away, admittedly. I mean to. Only the World Cup brings out the fan in me in this way.
When I’m covering one of Miami’s teams I’m doing so as a journalist. But my home team is the U.S. I’m unabashed in saying I cheer for the Americans, whether in a World Cup or Olympic hockey.
So I’m imaging and savoring what a run to the world soccer championship might feel like even as I know the U.S. team had better consider its hands full with Bosnia & Herzegovina on Wednesday night.
But this to me is the beauty of sports. Imagination and hope make a potent cocktail.
Might the U.S. make a deep and exhilarating World Cup run? Might the Dolphins actually be really good again anytime soon? It could happen.
All we can do is dream, and keep looking for reasons to believe.
This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 12:27 PM.
