Nobody is infallible, not even the divine Lionel Messi.
Many culés residing in the United States had the dream of seeing in December a final duel of the MLS, the European-style soccer league, with a course set by La Masia, “the academy” as the media in this country calls it.
On one side Messi and the messianic Busquets, Alba and Suárez at the helm of Inter Miami. In the other, Los Angeles Galaxy under the leadership of Riqui Puig, the mega star project that came out through the back door of the Camp Nou after sharing a locker room with the four musketeers of the Florida squad.
Well, it’s going to be no and not precisely because of the apparent weaker strength as seen this season.
The MLS suffered a bombardment to its waterline with the unexpected elimination of Miami on Saturday night. They fell to Atlanta United, the worst team that qualified for the playoff phase. He only got it in the play-offs. Those from Georgia are a joke when compared to that team that Tata Martino, now coach of Miami, led to win the US championship in 2018.
This last regular league they were 34 points behind Inter, which with 74 broke the league record. The difference in quality was eliminated and one might say that it was a hiccup. With the tie tied at one, the decisive match was played in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) and the Argentine star’s pink team advanced on the scoreboard. But United turned it around in two minutes. Already in the second half, Messi equalized with a header. It seemed that the scare was neutralized, but the visitors went ahead again and Guzan, their goalkeeper and the last of the Mohicans, became a wall.
“I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned,” said Richard Feynman, a physicist who formulated the theory of quantum electrodynamics. And so it has happened with the Inter Miami experiment. Messi arrived last season when Miami’s team was doing so poorly that it was impossible to qualify for the final stretch of the championship. But its impact was decisive in the popularization of soccer. This season, the answer was unquestionable. Those from Miami had everything to win the league. It was a walk of glory.
In this other hangover, Messi put on a human face to the frustration of MLS television, which was sold to Apple, and the aberration of FIFA, which invited those from Miami to the club World Cup without winning anything. Flick’s Barça, the most innovative team, is out.
#Messi #infallible #Francesc #Peirón
