The Argentine, who joined Inter Miami in 2023, has completely changed how the wider world of football sees MLS.
Eduardo Burgos Rodríguezedu17burgosJoe Brennanj4brennanUpdate: Dec 31st, 2023 07:55 EST
CHANDAN KHANNAAFP
The United States will close out 2023 as one of its most important years in sports history. The country started the countdown to become the focal point of international soccer for the next five years, being given the Copa America next summer, the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympic Games in 2028.
However, long before all that, 2023 will be remembered as the year of Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The Argentine arrived in the United States with a mission to revolutionise soccer in a way never seen before; MLS used the momentum to catapult itself forward, becoming one of the most important leagues on the continent.
pic.twitter.com/2Rsfb7QgJI
— Jorge Mas (@Jorge__Mas) June 7, 2023
The World Cup winner arrives in MLS
The argument as to whether Messi is considered to football what the Pope is to the Christian religion is beyond doubt – he is the leading p of the most followed sport in the world. The day of July 15, 2023 will go down in history as ‘Messi Day’ in North America, as it was when Inter Miami officially announced the worst kept secret causing the 8-time Ballon d’Or winner to instantly become the league’s biggest star.
With the World Cup under his arm, the ‘10′ landed in Florida at a stadium that was filled to the rafters. Messi arrived to turn the worst-performing squad in the league into the team to beat, or at least that was the Dream Team idea of David Beckham and the Mas brothers, but sometimes the beautiful game just doesn’t work out the way you want it to.
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Messi was presented to thousands of fans at DRV PNK Stadium.CHANDAN KHANNAAFP
Messi gives Miami Leagues Cup
The first challenge in the road for ‘Tata’ Martino’s new team was a resounding success, crossing the Leagues Cup title off the list and opening the trophy cabinet at the DRV PNK Stadium for the first time.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly; getting past everyone in their way, the team hung up ‘sold out’ signs in every stadium they passed through and became a sensation in the purest Harlem Globetrotters sense of the phrase. For a short while, Messimania was the undisputed buzzword in the United States… until everything went wrong.
🏆 @InterMiamiCF are your #LeaguesCup2023 champions! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/jptXqLAJpv
— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 20, 2023
Inter Miami did no achieve the playoffs
The other history-altering p born on December 25, Isaac Newton, remains correct: everything that goes up inevitably comes back down, as happened with the bubble in which Inter Miami were living in the first half of Messimania. The dream of success ended up crashing to Earth in a fateful month of September, when The Herons suffered for the first time what Europeans call the dreaded FIFA Virus.
In a few simple games for Argentina in the South American Qualifiers, Messi broke down, effectively waving goodbye to the regular season. What once sounded like a orchestra whirring to victory turned into a the band playing on as Titanic sunk; the ‘sold out’ signs that were once hung up morphed into official statements apologising for the situation and refunds were given out to those who had paid to see the Argentine glide on the green.
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Lionel Messi could only watch on as Houston Dynamo walked away with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICHEFE
