Lionel Messi. Quite simply.
All right. Since his arrival in MLS, the Argentinian has been the one on whom all eyes have been riveted, and with good reason. He scored in all of his matches on the North American continent.
Saturday night in the League Cup final against Nashville SC, he did it again. This time, thanks to a curling strike from outside the box past four defenders. The leather then went to join the upper part. Another stroke of genius.
However, the hero of the match for Inter Miami was goalkeeper Drake Callender. In addition to his multiple parries throughout the 90 minutes to force a penalty shootout, he was the real messiah of this final. His moment of glory came in the 11th round of the penalty shootout.
After all the players had shot, the gatekeepers faced off. The Inter Miami goalkeeper sent his powerful shot into the top of the net then stopped his counterpart’s, signaling the end of the game. Verdict: a 1-1 victory (10-9 on pens) for Miami and the first trophy in its history.
When Lionel Messi decided to sign with Inter Miami, the club was bottom of the league. It’s been the same thing ever since. The reason is simple, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner only participated in this League Cup, a summer tournament organized by MLS and the Mexican championship to boost the season.
Except that if we rely on the performance of this tournament, Inter Miami seems invincible. And even if there are only a dozen games left in front of the club and the road to the playoffs is only a few miracle-based percentages, this scenario is awfully realistic.
Inter Miami scored landslide victories, where David Beckham’s club scored a minimum of three goals against all of their MLS rivals – besides this final. This is a bit of what marked the course of Inter Miami during this tournament.
In fact, in seven League Cup games, Miami has scored as many goals as in its 22 season games (22). Lionel Messi, his FC Barcelona buddies who joined him, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, as well as former people like Robert Taylor have launched Miami to near unattainable status.
Except for this final.
After humiliating one of MLS powerhouses, the Philadelphia Union, in their own home, one wondered if Inter Miami could ever be defeated.
Without having triumphed, Nashville proved to be more than a worthy adversary. In fact, the home players had the upper hand over the visitors for a good part of the game. They shrugged off that superhuman goal from Messi and then dictated the pace of the clash by neutralizing the Florida side’s attack.
In fact, Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar each had golden chances to give Nashville the lead, but both ran into an in-form Callender.
At the end of this tournament, punctuated by the highlight of Messi’s ten goals, we will remember that yes, at times, the defenses of MLS can be scuttled in a spectacular way. However, what strikes the mind is that only eight months after being voted the best player of the World Cup, Lionel Messi is still able to perform magic on a soccer field like almost no one before him.
Whether here or elsewhere, he is a champion.
