Messi Eyes First MLS Crown As Miami Face Mueller-Led Vancouver
Miami: Lionel Messi will aim to crown his MLS revolution by leading Inter Miami to their first domestic title in Saturday’s blockbuster season finale against the surging Vancouver Whitecaps.
Two years after reshaping the landscape of Major League Soccer upon his arrival in Florida, Messi is on the verge of capturing the title Miami has coveted since the club joined MLS as an expansion team in 2020.
After a difficult start to the season, the 38-year-old Argentine superstar put together a dazzling play-off run in Miami as the club scored 17 goals in five matches.
But standing in the way of Messi and Miami is a lively Vancouver side, bolstered by German great Thomas Mueller, who has added extra impetus to an already dangerous Whitecaps attack since joining the club in August.
Mueller and Messi are two of four World Cup winners, along with Inter’s Sergio Busquets and Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul, who will take to the field at Fort Lauderdale’s Chase Stadium in a marketer’s dream MLS Cup final.
However, Mueller tried to play down claims that Saturday’s match would be a duel between him and Messi.
“It’s not about Messi versus Thomas Mueller,” he said after Vancouver’s 3-1 win over San Diego in Saturday’s Western Conference final. “Against the Miami Whitecaps.”
Miami’s appearance in the final was unthinkable in April, when Javier Mascherano’s aging team had just two wins in eight games and looked utterly lacking in energy.
This string of results included a 5-1 aggregate defeat of Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
‘I can’t run, I can’t defend’
“They can’t run, they can’t defend, and there’s no balance on the team,” was one broadcast analyst’s opinion, and few disagreed.
Fast forward eight months though and Miami are a reborn side.
The acquisition of Argentine midfielder De Paul gives Miami additional steel and dynamism, while Mascherano’s decision to bench 38-year-old Luis Suarez in favor of 19-year-old Mateo Silvetti provides much-needed tempo in attack.
Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen said he’s not putting too much emphasis on his team’s back-to-back wins over Miami in April.
“It almost seems like it was last season, right?” Sorensen said Thursday. “It’s a new game. There are two teams approaching the game in their own way and we’ll see who comes out on top on Saturday.”
Messi, who has rarely spoken publicly during his two years in Florida, told ESPN Argentina in an interview published Thursday that he believes playing at home on Saturday could tip the final in Miami’s favor.
“We are in a very good moment, the team is solid and excited,” he said.
“Playing at home is a plus. Even though we went through a period where we were inconsistent and struggled to win back-to-back games, we have always remained strong at home.”
However, his arch-enemy, Mueller, is waiting in ambush for Messi. The 36-year-old Bavarian is one of the few players in world football to have a winning record against Messi, winning seven of the 10 matches the two men have faced each other.
Those wins include the 2014 World Cup final, where Germany handed Argentina a crushing 1-0 defeat in Rio de Janeiro, and the 2020 Champions League quarter-final, when Bayern Munich defeated Barcelona 8-2.
Mueller said of previous match meetings with Messi: “I look back and I feel very comfortable about it, because it’s already in the books and I’ve had a lot of great experiences in those matches with my teams, so it’s been fun.”
“But that doesn’t really matter for Saturday, it’s a new game.”
