After a slow start, Inter Miami CF has silenced the critics and put together one of the best all-time MLS seasons. Lionel Messi’s first full year in the league could produce history, as Miami is one win away from becoming the all-time points earner in a regular MLS season. Standing in their way? The New England Revolution, who are the current holders of that record.
MLS Decision Day 2024 doesn’t have that much on its plate, with the Western Conference all but wrapped up and the East having the lower seeds duking it out for the final two playoff positions.
All eyes will instead be on Miami, as Tata Martino’s side enters its home match against the New England Revolution dead set on claiming a new title: the all-time points leader in a regular season. The record is currently held, ironically, by the Revs, who achieved 73 points under the guidance of Bruce Arena in 2021.
Currently on a 21-4-8 season, Inter Miami has weathered huge storms, first and foremost the absence of Lionel Messi for almost 60% of the regular season, whether due to injuries or national team duties.
Unlike last season, the team has been able to hold firm without its leader, even playing its best soccer as a unit when the Argentine and a few other big names were on Copa America duty.
Miami has been unbeaten in its last 10 MLS matches, with its last regular season loss coming in July, and the club has matched CF Montréal’s record for the most road victories (11) in a single season in the post-shootout era. Regardless of if it beats New England in its final match of the year, Miami’s 70 point total puts it in an exclusive group with just three other teams to have done so — the Revs in 2021, LAFC in 2019, and New York Red Bulls in 2018.
To say Inter Miami has lived up to its billing is an understatement. While at times prone to major defensive blunders, Martino has gotten a lot from players like Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, and secondary options like Diego Gómez, Julian Gressel, Leonardo Campana, and Matías Rojas.
Weathering an Early Storm
After a poor preseason that saw Messi and company travel around the world to play in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and Japan, Inter Miami had little success in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, suffering a brutal 5-2 aggregate defeat to Monterrey in the quarterfinals. This poor preseason and CCC pounding led many fans to question the structure of the roster, and whether Martino was the right person to coach the team.
Then it all picked up in MLS play with emphatic wins over New England (4-1), New York Red Bulls (6-2), and Columbus Crew (2-1). Even with Messi out, Miami had a lot going on in the attacking third, and it is how the team survived many games this season.
Eventually, Miami put it all together to cement itself as one of the best-assembled teams in league history.
And Now, the Playoffs
The Supporters’ Shield is nice, and most points by a team in a single season would be gravy, but the prize is the MLS Cup. The stars over the kits in MLS mean MLS Cup titles — no debate. It’s why Messi is here; it’s what the league and sponsors are banking on.
This year’s MLS Cup Playoffs will be Messi’s first, and will kick things off in a unique and at times incoherent best-of-three series against the worst-seeded team in the East, or the winner of the Wild Card series.
Much debate has gone into the format of the MLS playoffs, but it automatically gives fans three postseason games featuring Lionel Messi. For Inter Miami to make it to the MLS Cup, Messi would have to play at least four playoff games on his road to the final.
In tournament settings this year, Miami hasn’t been as dominant as it has in the regular season. There was the aforementioned drubbing in the Champions Cup, and in the Leagues Cup, it lost to Columbus in the round of 16. However, the team has found its groove and barring a Decision Day disaster should have a healthy Messi.
“There was a lot of talk of us going into the year as one of the deepest teams to have ever set foot in MLS, and that shows that we all contributed,” Julian Gressel told the MLS website. “Even through Copa América, through injuries, we prevailed, and the record would be a huge accomplishment for the club and all of us players.
“We haven’t had much continuity in the lineup. It’s just a tremendous amount of credit to the front office for putting this roster together the way they did and to the players for understanding that and just stepping in and not missing a beat.”
Post-MLS 2024
In 2025, whether Inter Miami becomes MLS champions or not, Messi will be in his contract year, and the club will be set to open its new soccer-specific stadium in 2026 on the eve of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Given his popularity is at an all-time high, it’s doubtful Messi will leave MLS.
Still, a few of his closest teammates might. Alba is the biggest name whose contract is up at the end of 2024. Suarez is also up for renewal, and whether the club keeps him or not remains to be seen. It will all come down to how the 37-year-old striker is feeling.
Matías Rojas, Noah Allen, and Sergiy Kryvtsov are also up for renewal following this season, while Messi, Sergio Busquets, Drake Callender, and David Ruiz’s contracts expire at the end of 2025.
It has been a long and at times painful road for what was once the last-place Inter Miami team. Today, without question, it is one of the most talked-about soccer teams in the world.
2024 might have been the club’s official coming-out party as a solid winning team, all thanks to a little guy from Rosario, Argentina, and his magnetic pull.
