Can Lionel Messi do it on a humid day in Florida?

Lionel Messi added the MLS Cup to his extremely overcrowded trophy cabinet this weekend by leading Inter Miami to a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Argentine legend smashed the record for most goal involvements in a Major League Soccer campaign with a mind-boggling return of 35 goals and 23 assists in 34 appearances across the regular season and playoffs. So, he played a direct hand in over half of his side goals as Inter Miami became the first club to score over 100 goals in a single season.

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Hayden and I also discussed how Lionel Messi is extremely good at football, among other things, in yesterday’s podcast episode.

But what of the team around Messi? Inter Miami were one of the most entertaining sides to watch in MLS this year because they created quite a lot…

… but also gave up a lot at the other end.

They were the top scorers in the competition by a massive margin of over 25 goals, but were also in the bottom half for goals conceded. Looking at their squad, it becomes pretty easy to understand why; this is exactly what you’d expect from a team of Messi, some of his friends and a good bunch of kids.

It was not just on the pitch where Messi had his mates. This was also Javier Mascherano’s first season in charge of a senior side. His previous coaching roles saw him manage a couple of Argentina’s youth-category national teams. Most notably, his side failed to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Under-20 World Cup before ultimately participating anyway when the tournament was relocated to Argentina. So, his appointment was met with a fair bit of scepticism.

Although it was not always all smooth sailing, Mascherano surely ends the year with an improved reputation both as a coach and tactician.

Inter Miami got off to a decent start, but their issues out of possession soon flared up. A front two of Messi and a one-and-a-half legged Luis Suárez were asked to press a little bit at times, but they proved to be little more than passengers for the most part. As a result, the team had a pretty chaotic spell in the middle of the season including a run of 14 goals conceded in 4 games, but a deeper block and a couple of personnel changes at the back gradually helped quieten things. Of course, their individual quality up front helped still got them over the line in some of the more open games.

Still, for the majority of the season, the consensus on Inter Miami was that they were a top-class MLS team largely thanks to their star players. Besides Messi, they had one of the league’s best midfielders in Sergio Busquets…

… and a dangerous creator on the left flank in Jordi Alba.

Despite his pretty severe physical limitations, Suárez also was a menace to opposition defences whenever he was on the pitch.

But if there was one thing Inter Miami should have learned from the 2024 season, it was that star quality alone would not be enough to win the top honour. Gerardo Martino’s side set an MLS record of 74 points in the regular season en route to clinching the Supporters’ Shield, but their openness proved costly in the very first round of the playoffs as Atlanta United sent them packing with 2-1 and 3-2 wins in the best-of-three series.

Something of a repeat looked to be on the cards this term as Nashville SC emerged victorious in a very open second match of the first playoff round to set up a winner-takes-all game three.

Worse yet, Suárez was suspended for the decider as the MLS Disciplinary Committee sanctioned him for an off-ball incident in game two that went unpenalised on the day. However, this proved to be a blessing in disguise for Inter Miami, as it prompted Mascherano to make the most important tactical tweak of the season.

Inter Miami lined up in something of a 4-3-3, but crucially with Messi as a false nine and two willing runners in Celta Vigo loanee Tadeo Allende and young Mateo Silvetti on either side of him. Both of them got an assist each for Messi’s first-half brace, while the Argentine genius grew his creative impact in the second half and slipped a few lovely through balls in transition. Allende bagged a brace himself, contributing to a statement win for Miami.

It would not be fair to say that the hosts were in complete control throughout as Nashville grew some threat after the half-time break, but they were largely solid enough defensively and had the off-ball threat up front to kill the game off when it opened up more. So, the big question going into the next game was whether Suárez would be brought back into the side after such an improved performance.

The answer was no, and we can now say that most definitely was the correct call even with the benefit of hindsight. Inter Miami ultimately sliced through FC Cincinnati in a similar fashion to win by four goals once again, with all eight goal involvements coming from the front three.

Naturally, there was no change to the side for the conference final against New York City FC, and it yielded another similarly clinical showing. The visitors did get a goal from a set-piece and could’ve had an equaliser, but Messi & Co. proved unstoppable later on.

The star of the show was Allende, who both started and concluded the scoring as he netted a hat-trick, en route to an MLS record of 9 goals in the playoffs. His well-timed runs in behind made him a great partner for Messi on the right, but most importantly, he turned into a clinical finisher just when he was needed most.

So, Inter Miami went into the MLS Cup decider in very high spirits, but they also knew that the Vancouver Whitecaps would be tougher opposition. Jesper Sørensen’s side were the ones who eliminated them from the CONCACAF Champions Cup earlier in the year, and had remained quite a well-rounded and cohesive unit. In many ways, it was a clash of styles between the two first-time finalists.

It took just eight minutes for the first goal to go in. Messi was involved as he pulled out to the right flank, zigzagged past a couple of defenders and helped send Allende in behind on the right. He looked to square it to Silvetti, but a deflection from a backtracking defender wrongfooted the keeper and went in anyway.

From there, though, Miami backed off and allowed their opponents to take charge of the game. They at least got numbers back, but had no outlet in the second half especially and found themselves pinned in. The equaliser certainly was coming, and the Whitecaps could well have taken the lead on another day.

Messi stepped up in a somewhat unexpected fashion at this critical juncture, capitalising on a mistake to generate a high turnover before playing a trademark through ball. Rodrigo De Paul was the man who made the run, and he scored to restore Miami’s advantage. They kept things tight enough at the back thereafter, ultimately sealing it in stoppage time thanks to another Messi assist for Allende.

That was that for Busquets and Alba’s illustrious careers while questions also linger over Suárez's future, but thankfully, the Messi show will go on for at least another season. The supporting cast might change, but the main man remains as magical as ever.

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