Messi’s brilliance in U.S is unsurprising and amazing all at once
Minnesota United manager Adrian Heath, himself an impressive goal scorer during his playing prime with Everton in the 1980s, was asked recently by a friend whether he was surprised that Lionel Messi was having so much success upon joining Major League Soccer's Inter Miami.
Heath chuckled, noting that Messi — one of the greatest players in the history of the sport — had already tallied more than 800 goals in his career counting professional and national team efforts.
The upshot: Nothing Messi does, even at age 36, should surprise us — even if, in somewhat of a contradiction, it continues to amaze us.
Messi has yet to play a league match for Inter Miami, but his dazzling displays in helping the club win the inaugural Leagues Cup and advance to the U.S. Open Cup final have brought an undeniable level of attention to MLS, as Heath talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast.
"I think it's been great," Heath said of Messi's impact. "The eyes of the world have been upon the league."
Messi, for his part, seems to be playing with joy. He's been celebrated almost everywhere he's played (except, of course, Philadelphia) and is clearly taking in the MLS journey for all it is worth.
"I think the great thing is you can tell that Messi is enjoying being here," Heath said. "When I saw his reaction when the young (teammate) scored the winning penalty against Dallas (in the Leagues Cup round of 16), I'm thinking this is a guy who's won every personal and collective accolade you could win."
Heath said he thinks the "bright light" shining on MLS will make it easier for other top-level players to make a similar transition.
As for the Leagues Cup, Heath said he was impressed by the level of competition in the first-ever tournament featuring clubs from MLS and Liga MX.
The Loons made a run to the quarterfinals — on a collision course for a while with Messi's Inter Miami squad — before ultimately falling. But being in the final eight of a 47-team tournament gave United confidence, which it carried over to a 2-0 win over New York City in its first league match after the cup.
With the MLS season entering its critical final stage and the Loons on the fringes of the playoff race, Heath knows the time for their best soccer is now. Seven of their final 11 matches are at home, starting Sunday against Seattle.
It would be "an incredibly huge disappointment and a failure if we don't make the playoffs with this group," Heath said.
Here are four more things to know today:
*TCO Stadium in Eagan is hosting championship weekend for the American Ultimate Disc League on Friday (semifinals) and Saturday (finals).
The Minnesota Wind Chill is through to the final four for the first time and will face Salt Lake City in the second semifinal Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Head coach Ben Feldman joined me on Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast, in case you missed it, to talk about the Wind Chill and also the thriving local ultimate disc scene.
"There's 100 high school teams competing in Minnesota. The state tournament is massive," he said. "You've got middle school leagues that are prominent now in Minnesota. So we have one of the biggest youth ultimate scenes in the country."
*This Nikola Pekovic sighting gives me joy.
*Thursday was a very good win and a very good day for the Twins. A comeback win fueled by homers and stellar relief pitching helped the Twins restore a six-game lead over Cleveland with just 34 games to play.
*Here's a longer read on Trey Lance, which reaches a similar conclusion to the one I reached: There are good reasons for the Vikings to pursue a trade.
