Lionel Mess joining Inter Miami last summer and now beginning his first Major League Soccer playoff run with the team -- the feeling that generates is one sports in South Florida has known only once before.
That was when LeBron James joined the Miami Heat in July of 2010. At that moment an NBA championship became not merely the hope but the expectation, with nothing less even considered. Fueled by James’ own memorable promise of “not one, not two, not three...” titles, a dynasty became the assumption.
James would lead the Heat to four consecutive NBA Finals and two championships before leaving, to this day only two championships to those who expected more.
This is the burden on Messi now:
Best, or bust.
Make champions of Miami soccer fans, or you have failed.
Is that fair? Likely not. But it is the expectation when you live in a place somewhere beyond mere superstardom. When you are greater, through the lens of all-time, than just about anybody else who has ever been called a G.O.A.T.
James embraces that to this day, still going, starting a new NBA season in Los Angels at age 39, soon 40.
And so does Messi at 37.
“This is vital for the club’s growth,” said Messi before Friday’s match, of winning the MLS Cup. “We all knew that.”
They are one step closer.
Miam ibeat Atlanta United 2-1 Friday night, with Jordi Alba’s goal in the 61st minute the winner, the sequence ignited by a Messi corner kick.
The Herons enjoyed a dream start in their historic first-ever home playoff game, scoring 93 seconds into the match on Luis Suarez’s right-foot shot to cash a play that also began with a Messi pass.
The hosts were dominating the first half , in possession and chances ... until it was 1-1 on Saba Lobjanidze’s equalizer for Atlanta.
The visitors had two wins and a tie in the past three matches against Miami, but Atlanta was playing its third game in six days. Only heroic play by Atlanta’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Brad Guzan kept it close. Messi was denied on at least a handful of big chances.
Miami coach Tata Martino is on board that the MLS Cup trophy is -- and should be -- seen as the grand prize of what Messi was brought here to accomplish on the pitch.
Miami won the Supporters’ Shield trophy for best regular season record -- best in league history,m in fact -- but Martinez said that “doesn’t make us lose sight that the most important thing starts now.”
Confidence is as high as it ought to be.
“We’re in a good place, we’re doing things well,” Alba had said on Thursday. “We have the advantage of playing the first game here at home in front of our people, and hopefully, we can sentence [clinch] the series their stadium.”
Game 2 of the first round best-of-three series is next Saturday Nov. 2 in Atlanta. A third game, if needed, would be back in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 9. The winner of this series would advance in the playoffs to face the Orlando vs. Charlotte survivor.
“Starting the playoffs at home is huge for us,” said goalkeeper Drake Callender. “Having a very important first game, that kind of sets the tone. There’s still an opportunity to lift another trophy, so it’s great for the club. We’re on a forward trajectory and viewing these playoffs as a chance to get another trophy and prove why we got the Supporters’ Shield.”
[Impress your friends with some trivia: This was not the first Miami MLS team to win the Supporters’ Shield. The short-lived Miami Fusion, coached by Ray Hudson, won it in 2001 but lost in the playoffs’ semifinals.]
Inter Miami, pre-Messi, had played only two prior playoff games in its short history and lost both without scoring a goal.
The Leagues Cup trophy won last summer was nice. The resulting invitation to next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup and now the invite to compete in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup -- all nice. The Supporters Shield and the all-time MLS season points record -- nice as well.
But the MLS Cup, your own league’s championship, is paramount.
Winning it or failing to do so in a very real way will define Messi’s time in Miami, In MLS.
He arrived too late last season to make it happen. He’ll be back for what likely will be final season next year, but no guarantee Miami will be this good again.
Now is the time.
Messi scored six goals and had four assists last week in Miami’s regular season-ending victory over New England -- he scored three goals off the bench in 11 minutes -- and then in Argentina’s World Cup qualifier vs. Bolivia.
“With the same natural way in which he’s capable of scoring six goals in five days, that natural way s also how he lives,:” said Martino. “If I ask you, what player gets the ball 25 meters away from goal with seven opposing players in front of him, and there’s a feeling there’ll be a goal? There is nobody else.”
Now Messi must lead Miami to the MLS Cup championship, the same imperative now that it was for LeBron with the Heat a decade earlier.
He is one step closer.
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