With the appearance of Messi, Inter Miami owned the first title in the team’s history.
The 2023 season seems to have ended for Inter Miami. The team still has 2 matches with Charlotte FC ahead, but they are only of procedural significance because they have been eliminated from the race to win tickets to the knockout round of the American Professional League (MLS).
At the beginning of each season, Inter Miami’s top goal is still to win this ticket. Overall, this task is not too difficult because it took 9 out of a total of 14 participating teams. But currently, the team co-owned by David Beckham has failed in this mission.
However, did Inter Miami have a failed season? Not so, on the contrary, Goal uses the word ‘great success’ to describe what Lionel Messi and his teammates have experienced this year.
Before Messi
During two-thirds of the 2023 season, Inter Miami played with a weak face. The team ranked last on the eastern rankings with a series of consecutive losses, without any hope of getting a ticket to the next round.
As a result, coach Phil Neville was fired in the summer. ‘Complete failure’, expert Ryan Tolmich commented on this period of Inter Miami.
Last season, they reached the MLS playoffs thanks to the brilliance of Gonzalo Higuain, but when the former Real star left, the team lost a classy player to lead the attack.
The only bright spot for the whole team is probably reaching the semi-finals of the US Open Cup. However, not many people hope because the team will have to face the top team of MLS – Cincinnati in this round.
All Inter Miami fans are prepared for a blank year in 2023. However, everything has completely changed since the end of July.
Coach Phil Neville was fired in June after Inter Miami’s poor performance
The appearance of superstar Messi
Right at a difficult time, the club, under the relentless efforts of the owners, successfully recruited Messi.
The Argentine superstar came to the club with two former Barca teammates, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. From the team with the ‘worst’ performance, Inter Miami transformed on the field. The team’s competitive performances were also filled with spectators despite ticket prices being pushed to record levels.
Messi immediately shined when Inter Miami participated in the Leagues Cup. From beautiful free kicks, late goals or unbelievable assists, Messi brought the home team past a series of fierce opponents.
In the end, the team won the throne after a breathtaking penalty shootout against Nashville. Messi became the hero who brought Inter Miami the first trophy in history.
A squad for the future
In fact, with the appearance of Messi, Inter Miami once revived the hope of winning tickets to continue in MLS. However, the owner of 7 Golden Balls was injured and had to continuously miss the final rounds. Inter Miami continuously received bad results, officially running out of chances before 2 rounds.
The upcoming 4-month break has become an opportunity for coach Tata Martino to explore the squad. In fact, Inter Miami’s current squad is much better quality than a year ago. They have a trio of stars Messi, Alba and Busquets spread evenly across all three lines. Besides, rising stars such as Facundo Farias, Diego Gomez or Tomas Aviles have also committed their future to the team.
Benjamin Cremaschi and Drake Callender showed great progress this season. When Inter Miami has the strongest squad, no team in MLS wants to face this team. Next season, the club is expected to compete fairly for the leading position.
Have not stopped
When the two confrontations with Charlotte FC end, a new phase of Inter Miami will begin. They don’t want to stop yet. Messi’s charisma has turned the team into a global ‘brand’.
At this time, Inter Miami is said to be in contact with a number of stars such as Luis Suarez, Luca Modric, and Antoine Griezmann. If one of these names appears, the team’s strength will continue to be strengthened.
The plan for Messi also needs to be carefully calculated by the club. The owners and coach Tata Martino need to decide whether to let Messi play on loan during the team’s break or not.
Anyway, one thing is certain: Messi will continue to stick with Inter Miami when next season starts. Inter Miami fans have the right to be optimistic about the club’s future prospects.
With what has happened, they certainly will not think 2023 is a failed season for Inter Miami. Instead, this season is very special for Inter Miami because they have Messi, they possess unprecedented charisma in the team’s history.
