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Back in July, under the lights and the rain of Fort Lauderdale, Jorge Mas turned the page to a ‘new chapter’.
‘This is our moment! Our moment to change the football landscape in this country,’ the Inter Miami co-owner shouted. He spoke about promises fulfilled, about a city ‘built on dreams’ and then he introduced the team’s newest recruit: ‘Your No 10, Inter Miami’s No 10, America’s number 10, the best No 10 in the world.’
Three months later, Lionel Messi will watch from the sofa as the cream of US soccer re-take center stage. So will Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and the rest of Tata Martino’s squad.
Last week’s defeat by Cincinnati ended the team’s faint hopes of reaching the playoffs. It’s not how the most seismic campaign in recent MLS history was supposed to end. And so it is tempting to wonder whether – after all of the headlines and all of the big-money moves – Inter Miami’s season has ended in failure. Particularly given the team and the league pulled so many levers to bring Messi to the United States: the $50-60million a year contract, the bolt-on deals with Apple and Adidas, the ‘enhanced’ TV coverage for Inter Miami games.
Lionel Messi was unveiled as an Inter Miami player during a ceremony back on July 16
Three months later, the World Cup winner will watch the MLS playoffs unfold from afar
But to analyze how far Messi and his new team have come, and how much further they might have gone, it is perhaps worth remembering how low they had sunk.
Just hours before Messi’s unveiling, on July 16, Inter Miami travelled to Missouri, where they were beaten 3-0 by St Louis City. It was the team’s first match under Martino; it ensured Miami had gone 11 matches and two months without an MLS victory. Inter was officially the worst team in America.
One glance at the conference standings suggests not much has changed. Only Toronto and Colorado have fewer than Miami’s 33 points. But the table belies the team’s upward trajectory.
Before Messi’s arrival, Miami had won just nine of 26 matches (35 per cent). Since his debut, the club has played 17 matches, winning 12 and just losing four. Three of those came when Messi was missing; Martino’s side won seven on the spin to triumph in Leagues Cup – the team’s first ever trophy.
Messi produced miracle after miracle on that run, and yet it is off the pitch where transformation has really taken hold. Miami became the fifth most-followed sports team in the US before Messi even took to the field. Within 24 hours of his move being made official, the club’s Instagram follower count rose from 900,000 to 4.5million. It has now reached a staggering 15.3m.
Inter Miami jerseys carrying Messi’s name and number have become
Tata Martino was appointed Inter Miami head coach shortly before Messi’s arrival to MLS
Inter Miami matches have become a honeytrap for celebrities and opposition supporters: LeBron James, Serena Williams, Prince Harry, Leonardo Di Caprio have all turned up for a slice of the action. Inter Miami jerseys, meanwhile, have become such hot property that the club began re-selling old shirts – fit with ‘Messi 10’ on the back – just to meet spiralling demand.
Sure, none of this is much help to Martino on gameday. But for football clubs, progress can never measured in points alone. And even Miami’s harshest critics would struggle to dispute that this season has laid the foundations for a bright future. Chief among them? Messi’s pulling power. His arrival prompted Busquets and Alba to land in South Florida and other superstars – such as Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann – have been linked with possible moves.
It was no coincidence, either, that Martino – who had coached Messi with Barcelona and the Argentina national team – was hired to replace Phil Neville. He has overseen an upturn in results and Miami will only benefit from a full offseason with such an experienced coach. Other, unlikely heroes have already emerged, too.
Benjamin Cremaschi has enjoyed a breakthrough season and is now part of the USMNT setup
Robert Taylor has been reborn in recent months. Drake Callender and Kamal Miller have become the bedrock of Miami’s backline, with Miller recently committing his future to the club. Further forward, Benjamin Cremaschi has risen to become part of the USMNT setup, while there is early evidence that Miami’s three Under-22 signings – Diego Gomez, Facundo Farías and Tomas Aviles – could prove shrewd additions.
Challenges remain, however. Martino must learn to manage Messi’s ageing body – which failed him in recent weeks – and Miami must learn to manage without their new talisman.
‘The season, really, I thought it was going to be completely different,’ Martino has admitted. ‘My expectations were to create the group, train them in our style of soccer, don’t go too deep in Leagues Cup, and compete very well – because we only had two games in the cup – and to be classified (for the playoffs).’
In the end, Miami succeeded where Martino planned for them to fail, and failed where he hoped they would succeed. Quite how costly those extra matches and those extra miles on the clock proved in this playoff pursuit, who knows? All that is clear: no team will head into the 2024 season with more support and higher expectations than Inter Miami. And that is proof of progress.
