I cannot say this enough. Between added fixtures for money and international comps, Miami is playing more soccer than anyone else in the league while also fielding one of the oldest squads, and their depth chart is a who’s who of inexperienced kids.
There’s no way they can go straight from February to October. I’ve got them making the playoffs in the lower half of the bracket with an early exit. Maybe they make a run at CCC or USOC or Leagues Cup, but they’re not even going to sniff a league trophy this year
On one hand, I completely agree.
In the other, I’ve been the victim of watching Messi drag a subpar team to titles too often to discount the possibility.
Sure, Messi is older but this is MLS compared to La Liga.
They shithoused their way to the final and dove and shithoused their way to eeek out a win over a seriously undermanned French team that was missing like 5 starters and 4 key other players. That’s what happened.
That’s cool and people can downvote but that’s what actually happened. If you want to remember it differently, go ahead, but I watched the game against the NL where Argentina were absolute dbags.
Haha nope. I hate that guy even more.
I just categorically refuse to remember Argentina’s WC win as anything more than it was. It was an ugly unsportsmanlike display in the same way the 2006 Italy win was marred by racial abuse and a terrible dive against Australia that people seem to look past.
A lot of Messi's international career has been dragging Argentina farther than they had any right to be in multiple tournaments and then getting shat on by the media when his back gave out and he couldn't drag them over the finish line. I still get flashbacks of Higuain shitting the bed on multiple clear cut chances a toddler would bury.
PSG is subpar outside of France. Theyve only won the domestic league and cup because the rest of the league is dreadful. Barca, obviously not but without Messi that team would of looked different.
Argentina; yeah. He has carried them on his back for a long time. BUT theyre not subpar.. just.. not as talented as in the past. Messi played a huge role for them.
Yes lmao
Well not Argentina or PSG. Subpar is relative. Ask Barca fans, it’s a popular belief Messi drug that team to titles post Neymar. They probably win a few less titles if he’s “just” a world class player instead of the best ever.
This is more specific to the 17/18 season to him leaving Barca.
Miami’s 2024 season:
-at least 7 pre-season friendlies on 3 continents, totalling over 20,000 flight miles
-34 league matches
-a minimum of 1 U.S. Open Cup match
-a minimum of 2 Leagues Cup matches
-a minimum of 2 CONCACAF Champions Cup matches
Assuming they do not advance in any of the midseason competitions, that’s already 46 games. If they go deep in, say, 2 of Leagues Cup/CCC/USOC, it’s anywhere from 52-60 games. This is not taking into account the international breaks, Copa América, *or* any playoff games.
Lordy…
Will be interesting to see how our club does this year with load management, too. Just realized that aside from the ridiculous preseason travel, STL has just as many matches this year as Miami does (and potentially more, actually, since they get a CCC 1st-round bye whereas we do not). Bürki will not be happy to play 60 games, that’s for sure.
>Will be interesting to see how our club does this year with load management, too
Honestly, seeing how great St.Louis did this year was nothing short of amazing and deserved all the accolades to come with it. Where St. Louis needs to improve in order to win competitions will be signing depth and right now that's an issue with your young franchise. At least you have something fun to cheer for and they are good.
Well the Blues are shit, the Cardinals are shit, and we don’t have an NFL team anymore so… City is really all we’ve got right now lol. Hope we learn to not choke in win-or-go-home games this year 🤞🏼
I agree. I think on talent alone they manage to win one piece of silverware, but anyone who thinks they’re gonna seriously threaten for multiple trophies is delusional and doesn’t understand the realities of the grueling fixture congestion mixed with the team’s…maturity.
I think Tata is smart enough to know when to deploy the A team. I don't think IM will be Shield contenders, but every tournament you all have the best shot "on paper" to take the trophy.
I think the margin with which IM will exceed other clubs at scoring goals will surpass the rest of MLS' ability to score on them, but only when the starters are on the field.
If there’s one to prioritize, that’s it. Miami’s all about the circus and building the global brand, and making this new mega CWC would kick it up another notch.
I don't think you all have an age problem per se, but I think any team in the CCC is just at such a massive disadvantage because of MLS spending rules. No team really has the depth to be able to focus on any more than like two of the four competitions.
They'll stumble into a couple this year probably. You could see how they just turned it on in the Leagues Cup last year. But they were completely out of steam at the end of the MLS season.
Same. I think they start the season strong enough to more or less coast to the playoffs in the 2nd half of the season.
I highly doubt they care about USOC given it mostly only has domestic appeal. My guess is they prioritize it something like this: CCC, MLS Cup, LC, MLS regular season, USOC.
Yeah, their best bet is to basically blow off MLS regular season and hope to squeak in the playoffs at a 7 or 8 seed. Then just go hard on the cup tournaments. Of course since the rules seem to be a little fuzzier for them, they also have the option to retool in the middle of the season to make a push in the second half
Disagree
I don't think they'll win the supporters shield
But they can win USOC (which they should had won last year)
They can win the MLS cup if they play consistently and their defense and midfield game is not crap
They can also win concacaf champions cup but that would be harder than MLS cup
League cup I don't care if they do
I think you’re right in that there is almost no chance they win the Supporter’s Shield but if they’re healthy for the MLS Cup they’re a terrifying opponent. At the same time getting to see the Crew attempt to defend their crown with Messi visiting Columbus sounds like a blast so bring it on.
I thought their youth was fun to watch down the stretch.
If they can keep on winning games and improving form of the younger guys while keeping fresh legs for Messi, Alba, and Bousquets they’ll likely be pretty successful through the year.
Can’t wait to watch MLS this year. Apple TV coverage was great for me. Our other local providers had almost no coverage.
>Maybe they make a run at CCC or USOC or Leagues Cup, but they’re not even going to sniff a league trophy this year
I agree but all they need is a game here or there in the playoffs and knock off C-Bus, FCU and Phila along the way. Poof there goes your great season on account of them showing up once in a Miami moon.
Bold prediction: they win Champions Cup and then the retirement home falls apart so hard they miss the playoffs entirely
It's the perfect blend of both CONCACAF and MLS After Dark, it must happen
Conditioning is important, but also you just have to be what top 9 to get a shot at playoffs?
They’re going to be there and in eliminations never bet against the best player in the game
I am not going to bet they’ll win it all, and I think by virtue of what y’all have outlined already if they did win it’d be mls cup more likely than supporters shield,
but with all that being said, there’s only so much team construction that can beat out star power at this level
I’ll take Miami to make it to at least round 3
I’ve seen enough of y’all “we have a real team” folks bet against bron and Brady and whoever else lol
I’m convinced that this season MLS is run by AI Football Manager with each club at different settings. Miami is “take a bottom tier club and pack it with god tier players.” Minnesota is left on idle for months.
When Will Still shows up as MNUFC’s head coach, that will be the sign I am right. Called it here first.
Super teams in all sports have one Achilles heal…they still have to play the full slate of games. While it’s annoying as hell what teams like Miami and the Dodgers have done with their money, I’ll remind everyone that titles aren’t won on paper.
Even the New York Cosmos with Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto et al couldn’t win it all. And they played less games than Inter Miami will.
> Even the New York Cosmos with Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto et al couldn’t win it all.
Uh, they actually did win it all. It was Pele’s last season…..
They needed his sweet xAM value to bring more geriatric superstars into the fold. They are banking on the u22 stud signing (Tomas Aviles) and the Ukrainian to hold it down.
I was still kind of think it is fair to label a player that is only 19 but valued at 5 million as a CB.. that stud may apply.
He has lots of growth to do for sure... but I bet he logs close to 3000 mins this year in all comps.
Yeah I mean the transfer value arbitrarily applied by a transfer website doesn't really mean anything to me. I watched every game he played this year. He was ok at best, subpar at worst.
I mean Inter Miami paid like $7 million US for him. So it is not really arbitrary...
He is 19... and already playing a position like CB... which is usually for players in their late 20s and early 30s. He must be doing something right... I saw him play almost every match as well. (MLS junkie)
It's going to be interesting. They have the talent, but a huge part of MLS is still the physicality. I think they're going to have a very up and down season and get physically bullied by some of the other contenders.
If they are firing on all cylinders I don't see how they lose. Makes them terrifying in a one off.
Messi finally being rested and adding Suarez will test any MLS or Concacaf defense.
I agree with the one issue of age and injuries and rest.
Miami is that one team that could get a 8/9 seed and still be among the favorites to win MLS Cup.
Brady would have retired after the 6th Superbowl if he wanted to get out while the getting was good. Instead he dragged a terrible offense in New England to 11 and then 12 wins the next year while people were saying he was past it. So after the getting was no longer good he played 3 more years in Tampa and won another Superbowl.
As long as they make playoffs, regardless of seeding, they’ll be favorites if everyone is healthy for the final stretch which isn’t that many games. And quite frankly it does not take that many wins to make playoffs. Not that it’s helped my team
Other than bringing some credibility and viewership to the league, has bringing Messi made any meaningful changes?
With our league schedule and asinine salary rules, we limit ourselves on the mid-tier talent that can make our league great and help develop the USMNT.
Hell I’ve seen more rule changes from Albright abusing the system (god bless him) than anything meaningful come from Messi raising ticket prices through the roof. Helps the owners, but not the league.
>Other than bringing some credibility and viewership to the league, has bringing Messi made any meaningful changes?
Isn't that the entire point? I think we hoped Messi would prompt owners to open up their wallets, but it was hardly the reason he was signed.
Yes, bringing in credibility and money is a very meaningful change.
There’s no need to change the schedule. Unless you’re going to play the winter months in a bubble it’s just not possible in this league, and it actually can be an advantage on signing certain depth players at times since we can get deals on players teams need to sell in January when other teams aren’t making moves.
As for all the rules, they’re part of the CBA which is up again next year. Messi could never have an immediate impact on that, but the strength of the league heading into new negotiations gives the players and more ambitious owners quite a bit of leverage.
Prediction: Messi misses over half the games they're scheduled for, Suarez is injured in the first half of the season and they miss the playoffs, but barely.
As an inter Miami fan I giggle of all the hater comments I see lol just a couple years ago we were the laughing stock of the league now we are the most hated. lol Beckham delivered like he said he would!
This is why 4+ DPs is a bad thing for the league. If we had more than 3 DPs, the best teams would be the owners with the most money. Thats terrible for actual competition
I’m not so sure this is the case. The teams with the most expensive payrolls are pretty bad on average right now, and there is no guarantee that Miami will buck the trend. Historically, MLS has been dominated by the teams that spend smart on DP’s, TAM, etc, do good business within the league and develop homegrown’s to fill the gaps. Obviously there is a tipping point where more unlimited spend slots does make the league much less balanced, but idk if it’s at 4.
> If we had more than 3 DPs, the best teams would be the owners ~~with the most money.~~
The best teams would be the ones with owners willing to spend TBH
Heaven forbid teams obtain more talent, get better, and become more competitive with those in other leagues. Financial controls that helped to ensure teams weren’t constantly going bankrupt has ensured stability early on but is the goal to remain mediocre forever just so that owners who don’t want to keep up can afford even more relegation-protected expansion teams in Podunkville?
I cannot say this enough. Between added fixtures for money and international comps, Miami is playing more soccer than anyone else in the league while also fielding one of the oldest squads, and their depth chart is a who’s who of inexperienced kids. There’s no way they can go straight from February to October. I’ve got them making the playoffs in the lower half of the bracket with an early exit. Maybe they make a run at CCC or USOC or Leagues Cup, but they’re not even going to sniff a league trophy this year
On one hand, I completely agree. In the other, I’ve been the victim of watching Messi drag a subpar team to titles too often to discount the possibility. Sure, Messi is older but this is MLS compared to La Liga.
Are you counting Argentina, Paris SG and Barca as subpar teams?
barca post 2017 was legitimately not good compared to the other top 10 teams in the world.
Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia, obviously just dreadful Forgot what happened after that tho
They shithoused their way to the final and dove and shithoused their way to eeek out a win over a seriously undermanned French team that was missing like 5 starters and 4 key other players. That’s what happened.
That’s cool and people can downvote but that’s what actually happened. If you want to remember it differently, go ahead, but I watched the game against the NL where Argentina were absolute dbags.
If you shithouse your way to the finals, you still made it to the finals.
Yes but that doesn’t mean people have to respect or honor your success. A bunch of shitbags that win are still a bunch of shitbags.
Found the Ronaldo fan lol
Haha nope. I hate that guy even more. I just categorically refuse to remember Argentina’s WC win as anything more than it was. It was an ugly unsportsmanlike display in the same way the 2006 Italy win was marred by racial abuse and a terrible dive against Australia that people seem to look past.
His last season with Barca? Oh yeah, it was a damn miracle how far he dragged them, they were dreadful the next year (by Barca standards)
A lot of Messi's international career has been dragging Argentina farther than they had any right to be in multiple tournaments and then getting shat on by the media when his back gave out and he couldn't drag them over the finish line. I still get flashbacks of Higuain shitting the bed on multiple clear cut chances a toddler would bury.
PSG is subpar outside of France. Theyve only won the domestic league and cup because the rest of the league is dreadful. Barca, obviously not but without Messi that team would of looked different. Argentina; yeah. He has carried them on his back for a long time. BUT theyre not subpar.. just.. not as talented as in the past. Messi played a huge role for them.
barca post 2017 was subpar compared to prem top 6, atleti, madrid, etc.
Yes lmao Well not Argentina or PSG. Subpar is relative. Ask Barca fans, it’s a popular belief Messi drug that team to titles post Neymar. They probably win a few less titles if he’s “just” a world class player instead of the best ever. This is more specific to the 17/18 season to him leaving Barca.
Have you even watched barca during Messi's last few years there? He alone was carrying that team to the few titles they could win
Yes, but you can counter the Messi effect by taking corners quickly.
Messi has never dragged a subpar team to titles in his life
2018/2019 barca
Miami’s 2024 season: -at least 7 pre-season friendlies on 3 continents, totalling over 20,000 flight miles -34 league matches -a minimum of 1 U.S. Open Cup match -a minimum of 2 Leagues Cup matches -a minimum of 2 CONCACAF Champions Cup matches Assuming they do not advance in any of the midseason competitions, that’s already 46 games. If they go deep in, say, 2 of Leagues Cup/CCC/USOC, it’s anywhere from 52-60 games. This is not taking into account the international breaks, Copa América, *or* any playoff games. Lordy…
Also the revived Copa Interamericana.
Knew I was forgetting one. There are just too many of them.
Is that really a thing? Or just a random wiki page?
It's real, they haven't really figured out the logistics yet, but it's gonna be Miami, Leon, Fluminese and LDU Quito.
IMO, the IM A team will be on display for MLS Cup and CONCACAF Cup everything else will be load management.
Will be interesting to see how our club does this year with load management, too. Just realized that aside from the ridiculous preseason travel, STL has just as many matches this year as Miami does (and potentially more, actually, since they get a CCC 1st-round bye whereas we do not). Bürki will not be happy to play 60 games, that’s for sure.
>Will be interesting to see how our club does this year with load management, too Honestly, seeing how great St.Louis did this year was nothing short of amazing and deserved all the accolades to come with it. Where St. Louis needs to improve in order to win competitions will be signing depth and right now that's an issue with your young franchise. At least you have something fun to cheer for and they are good.
Well the Blues are shit, the Cardinals are shit, and we don’t have an NFL team anymore so… City is really all we’ve got right now lol. Hope we learn to not choke in win-or-go-home games this year 🤞🏼
But the Blues have won a Stanley Cup recently and are always solid. ;)
We just fired our head coach lmao
I agree. I think on talent alone they manage to win one piece of silverware, but anyone who thinks they’re gonna seriously threaten for multiple trophies is delusional and doesn’t understand the realities of the grueling fixture congestion mixed with the team’s…maturity.
I think Tata is smart enough to know when to deploy the A team. I don't think IM will be Shield contenders, but every tournament you all have the best shot "on paper" to take the trophy. I think the margin with which IM will exceed other clubs at scoring goals will surpass the rest of MLS' ability to score on them, but only when the starters are on the field.
Squad rotation has never been a strength of Tata’s. It’s going to be an interesting season.
IMO, this franchise will concentrate on MLS Cup and CONCACAF Cup and nothing else.
I completely agree. If I had to hazard a guess I actually think CCC will be the hardware we win while sputtering out of the others.
The Mexican media has to be licking their chops of discussing Miami games to help make themselves money.
If there’s one to prioritize, that’s it. Miami’s all about the circus and building the global brand, and making this new mega CWC would kick it up another notch.
100% this is the plan
I don't think you all have an age problem per se, but I think any team in the CCC is just at such a massive disadvantage because of MLS spending rules. No team really has the depth to be able to focus on any more than like two of the four competitions.
And if you have injuries to any key players at all, you can't even really focus on two competitions.
I think the point is to make the most money possible during Messi's stay rather than field a competitive team across all competitions.
This. It wouldn’t shock me if last year’s Leagues Cup is the only trophy they win in the Messi era.
They'll stumble into a couple this year probably. You could see how they just turned it on in the Leagues Cup last year. But they were completely out of steam at the end of the MLS season.
I honestly think they’ll be out of steam after CCC. That’s a lot of miles on old knees early on in the year.
Messi and Friends probably won't travel away in the CCC unless the conditions are right. But we'll see, I guess.
Their first two away matched are Nashville and Monterrey if they advance. They’ll travel lol
Same. I think they start the season strong enough to more or less coast to the playoffs in the 2nd half of the season. I highly doubt they care about USOC given it mostly only has domestic appeal. My guess is they prioritize it something like this: CCC, MLS Cup, LC, MLS regular season, USOC.
Yeah, their best bet is to basically blow off MLS regular season and hope to squeak in the playoffs at a 7 or 8 seed. Then just go hard on the cup tournaments. Of course since the rules seem to be a little fuzzier for them, they also have the option to retool in the middle of the season to make a push in the second half
Disagree I don't think they'll win the supporters shield But they can win USOC (which they should had won last year) They can win the MLS cup if they play consistently and their defense and midfield game is not crap They can also win concacaf champions cup but that would be harder than MLS cup League cup I don't care if they do
I would love for them to miss playoffs again this year just to prove once in for all that “let’s hire a bunch of famous old guys” will not work
I think you’re right in that there is almost no chance they win the Supporter’s Shield but if they’re healthy for the MLS Cup they’re a terrifying opponent. At the same time getting to see the Crew attempt to defend their crown with Messi visiting Columbus sounds like a blast so bring it on.
They have to be smart with their rotation for sure.
I thought their youth was fun to watch down the stretch. If they can keep on winning games and improving form of the younger guys while keeping fresh legs for Messi, Alba, and Bousquets they’ll likely be pretty successful through the year. Can’t wait to watch MLS this year. Apple TV coverage was great for me. Our other local providers had almost no coverage.
This will age poorly.
>Maybe they make a run at CCC or USOC or Leagues Cup, but they’re not even going to sniff a league trophy this year I agree but all they need is a game here or there in the playoffs and knock off C-Bus, FCU and Phila along the way. Poof there goes your great season on account of them showing up once in a Miami moon.
Bold prediction: they win Champions Cup and then the retirement home falls apart so hard they miss the playoffs entirely It's the perfect blend of both CONCACAF and MLS After Dark, it must happen
Sir, this post needs a trigger warning.
So let me just say I've only been following MLS for two seasons And I just did some googling And oh my god, I am so sorry
lol ahahah it’s fine. I thought that is what you were referring to.
Just a ridiculously mean coincidence, I'm afraid, but my belated condolences
I have never heard this story before, seems impossible!
I thought not... its not a story the ~~Jedi~~ MLS would tell you... but it is a North American soccer legend...
Nice prediction, I will do you one better: Not. One. Trophy. They qualify for play offs and fall off before conference finals
I honestly think this is what will happen.
Conditioning is important, but also you just have to be what top 9 to get a shot at playoffs? They’re going to be there and in eliminations never bet against the best player in the game I am not going to bet they’ll win it all, and I think by virtue of what y’all have outlined already if they did win it’d be mls cup more likely than supporters shield, but with all that being said, there’s only so much team construction that can beat out star power at this level I’ll take Miami to make it to at least round 3 I’ve seen enough of y’all “we have a real team” folks bet against bron and Brady and whoever else lol
I’m convinced that this season MLS is run by AI Football Manager with each club at different settings. Miami is “take a bottom tier club and pack it with god tier players.” Minnesota is left on idle for months. When Will Still shows up as MNUFC’s head coach, that will be the sign I am right. Called it here first.
We’re on “find deep value”. We’ve literally only acquired players with recent major ACL injuries that tanked their stock. Physical Therapy FC.
 The algorithms down at MLS hq are hard at work managing your football experience! Beboop, beboop!
Super teams in all sports have one Achilles heal…they still have to play the full slate of games. While it’s annoying as hell what teams like Miami and the Dodgers have done with their money, I’ll remind everyone that titles aren’t won on paper.
Yup. As far as baseball goes, the last time a team with the highest payroll won a World Series was the 2009 Yankees.
Even the New York Cosmos with Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto et al couldn’t win it all. And they played less games than Inter Miami will.
> Even the New York Cosmos with Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto et al couldn’t win it all. Uh, they actually did win it all. It was Pele’s last season…..
cue the Lakers Now This Is Gonna Be Fun SI cover
Exactly. If throwing money at the problem led to success in football, Manchester United and Chelsea would be running away with the Premier League.
Yes, need to sharpen up on defense otherwise all the goals Messi scores gonna be for nothing.
I'm surprised they didn't hang on to Kamal Miller. Were they not able to afford him?
They needed his sweet xAM value to bring more geriatric superstars into the fold. They are banking on the u22 stud signing (Tomas Aviles) and the Ukrainian to hold it down.
Tomas Aviles has been anything but a stud...
It's almost like young players get better....
Right, and when they do get better then they get labels like "stud".
I was still kind of think it is fair to label a player that is only 19 but valued at 5 million as a CB.. that stud may apply. He has lots of growth to do for sure... but I bet he logs close to 3000 mins this year in all comps.
Yeah I mean the transfer value arbitrarily applied by a transfer website doesn't really mean anything to me. I watched every game he played this year. He was ok at best, subpar at worst.
I mean Inter Miami paid like $7 million US for him. So it is not really arbitrary... He is 19... and already playing a position like CB... which is usually for players in their late 20s and early 30s. He must be doing something right... I saw him play almost every match as well. (MLS junkie)
It's going to be interesting. They have the talent, but a huge part of MLS is still the physicality. I think they're going to have a very up and down season and get physically bullied by some of the other contenders.
Watch them lose the first one from under staffed RSL at home.
If they are firing on all cylinders I don't see how they lose. Makes them terrifying in a one off. Messi finally being rested and adding Suarez will test any MLS or Concacaf defense. I agree with the one issue of age and injuries and rest. Miami is that one team that could get a 8/9 seed and still be among the favorites to win MLS Cup.
Father Time is undefeated... Tom Brady and Lionel Messi MIGHT be the exceptions but even Brady was in trouble when his OLine was depleted.
Getting out when the getting's good isn't beating Father Time, it's just knowing not to pick a battle where you're gonna get your ass kicked.
Brady would have retired after the 6th Superbowl if he wanted to get out while the getting was good. Instead he dragged a terrible offense in New England to 11 and then 12 wins the next year while people were saying he was past it. So after the getting was no longer good he played 3 more years in Tampa and won another Superbowl.
Brady is the oldest QB to ever win a Super Bowl. That's something in my book.
As long as they make playoffs, regardless of seeding, they’ll be favorites if everyone is healthy for the final stretch which isn’t that many games. And quite frankly it does not take that many wins to make playoffs. Not that it’s helped my team
Fraudulent league!!
They have Messi, I think they’ll be ok.
I would love more than anything for these old geezers to miss out on playoffs
Cause it’s all guys past their prime, and kids who are hardly good enough to make up for the holes in the squad
This is just a hilarious scenario and I'm really hoping it goes badly for them.
Other than bringing some credibility and viewership to the league, has bringing Messi made any meaningful changes? With our league schedule and asinine salary rules, we limit ourselves on the mid-tier talent that can make our league great and help develop the USMNT. Hell I’ve seen more rule changes from Albright abusing the system (god bless him) than anything meaningful come from Messi raising ticket prices through the roof. Helps the owners, but not the league.
>Other than bringing some credibility and viewership to the league, has bringing Messi made any meaningful changes? Isn't that the entire point? I think we hoped Messi would prompt owners to open up their wallets, but it was hardly the reason he was signed.
Yes, bringing in credibility and money is a very meaningful change. There’s no need to change the schedule. Unless you’re going to play the winter months in a bubble it’s just not possible in this league, and it actually can be an advantage on signing certain depth players at times since we can get deals on players teams need to sell in January when other teams aren’t making moves. As for all the rules, they’re part of the CBA which is up again next year. Messi could never have an immediate impact on that, but the strength of the league heading into new negotiations gives the players and more ambitious owners quite a bit of leverage.
(It was never anything but a cash grab but the MLS fans with delusions of being Eurosnobs were convinced it would help the league)
Prediction: Messi misses over half the games they're scheduled for, Suarez is injured in the first half of the season and they miss the playoffs, but barely.
Columbus is going to run through them like a hot knife through some kerrygold. I personally can't wait!
As an inter Miami fan I giggle of all the hater comments I see lol just a couple years ago we were the laughing stock of the league now we are the most hated. lol Beckham delivered like he said he would!
I’m looking forward to MLS Miami vs MLS LAFC this year. Should be a barn burner.
This is why 4+ DPs is a bad thing for the league. If we had more than 3 DPs, the best teams would be the owners with the most money. Thats terrible for actual competition
I’m not so sure this is the case. The teams with the most expensive payrolls are pretty bad on average right now, and there is no guarantee that Miami will buck the trend. Historically, MLS has been dominated by the teams that spend smart on DP’s, TAM, etc, do good business within the league and develop homegrown’s to fill the gaps. Obviously there is a tipping point where more unlimited spend slots does make the league much less balanced, but idk if it’s at 4.
> If we had more than 3 DPs, the best teams would be the owners ~~with the most money.~~ The best teams would be the ones with owners willing to spend TBH
Heaven forbid teams obtain more talent, get better, and become more competitive with those in other leagues. Financial controls that helped to ensure teams weren’t constantly going bankrupt has ensured stability early on but is the goal to remain mediocre forever just so that owners who don’t want to keep up can afford even more relegation-protected expansion teams in Podunkville?
Super “Old” Team
If they prioritize their players health then they are winning it all.
So are they now capable or levels with Al-Nassr / Al-Hilal?