Messi’s Move to Inter Making revolution
Lionel Messi moves to Inter making revolution in the league, as he is about to make his move from PSG and joins Inter Milan by the end of this month.
David Beckham was confident about Milan’s need in a news star. He said, “I think Miami needs a star,” back in 2018 when his new major League scoccer was born. “Miami would expect us to bring in a star. That’s what we plan on doing.”
Five years later, with Inter Miami playing its fourth season, it has delivered the biggest star of them all. Arguably the greatest player of all time. The World Cup winner, Lionel Messi. Messi could be the one they chasing for building a foundation for the sport in US on three year time period before they co-host the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.
USA will be hosting 2024 Copa America, so Messi could be able to participate again in a international games. That could give a big moment for Messi at the end of his playing career. His age will be 36 by the time of tournament and hence he’ll be eliglble for his international game.
It remains Beckham, who joined LA Galaxy in 2007, and of Pele, who was drawn to the American soccer package at New York Cosmos in 1970s.The depth of influence Messi has will depend on whether his impact goes beyond the expectations.
On this occasion, Kylian Mbappe also made his mind on Leaving PSG and joining some another club.
Messi’s retirement on international career
Since Messi’s announcement about his retirement, it has featured regularly as a main story. No-one can overlook his records in world sports.
Cumulative ticket sales for their games from July to the end of the season which, unlike the European leagues, runs within a calendar year rather than across two, have seen an almost 28-fold increase since Messi’s announcement. Tickets for the NBA Finals in Miami last week cost less than those for Messi’s possible debut against Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup.
That can be difficult when there is no connection between the leagues at different levels across the country. There is no direct continuation from the NASL of Pele to the MLS of Beckham and Messi, and no link between MLS and the country’s other pro-soccer league, USL.
Neither is there promotion and relegation, though this is handy for Miami who currently sit bottom of the Eastern Conference before Messi’s arrival.
If Messi’s impact on the sport in the US is to go beyond the league in which he plays, MLS might have some benefits on running in the league.
Its rules and regulations have helped forge strong foundations than previous pro-soccer leagues. Messi’s arrival could encourage that.
It is like Beckham is bringing Messi to MLS to meet his own arrival effects in 2007which changed the game. To support Beckham vision, the rules are deliberated on the fianancial pays which gives three players can exceed cup salary.
MLS efforts on signing Messi
To compete with the billions on offer in Saudi Arabia club, MLS had to think outside the box. If Messi’s presence is to transcend the league and impact American soccer as a whole, MLS might have to think outside MLS.
Asking one player to change the landscape of a sport in a region so large and varied is an impossible task. Soccer is not unpopular in the United States, it just isn’t as religiously followed domestically as it is in most of the rest of the world.
Fans might obsessively follow the national team or a club from Europe or Mexico, but the structure of American club soccer on a national level doesn’t rouse the same mass intrigue or devotion. Pele or Messi increasing the popularity of soccer in the US is not the same as increasing the popularity of the domestic game.
America has its own sports and its own ‘football’ adapted from the same unruly 19th-century English games as association football. Overtaking them culturally is a huge task.
Even Pele couldn’t turn a nation of (American) football fans into a nation of soccer fans, though in some ways he and Beckham laid the groundwork for Messi to give it a go.
Messi’s arrival will mean higher attendances, global attention and increased awareness of MLS, but for the effects to be permanent in American soccer, something will need to be built at a local level on the ground on the back of this momentous, magic move.
