It might not seem like it given their undefeated start to the new MLS campaign — Inter Miami’s four wins from five games gives them the best record in the 30-team league — but so far in 2025 the Herons are actually pacing themselves.
After setting a new regular-season points record a year ago, Lionel Messi & Co.’s goal isn’t to win another Supporters’ Shield. That’s one reason new Miami coach Javier Mascherano has barely relied on Messi to date, starting the 37-year-old twice and sitting out the living legend entirely for March matches against Charlotte FC and the Houston Dynamo.
Inter Miami has other priorities this season. The biggest is probably hoisting the MLS Cup in December. But a close second — if it’s second at all — is to establish itself as the best team in the North and Central America and Caribbean region by winning the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The next step toward that aim comes on Wednesday, when the Herons visit MLS rival LAFC in the first leg of their home-and-home, total-goals-wins quarterfinal series (kickoff at 11:30 p.m. ET on FS1).
“We’re at an important point of the competition,” Mascherano said on Tuesday. “If we manage to reach this stage, we would be among the four best of Concacaf. “For a club like Inter Miami that hasn’t existed for long, I think it would be a big step.”
Last year, Mexican power Monterrey eliminated Miami, which entered MLS as an expansion team in 2020, in the quarterfinals. Los Rayados took both games, advancing to the semis 5-2 on aggregate.
But that was the first experience in the competition for both Miami and for Messi and his former Barcelona running buddies Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suárez.
This time, Inter knows what to expect. They made quick work of Jamaican club Cavalier and another MLS side, Sporting Kansas City, to return to the last eight. And while LAFC presents a formidable challenge, facing a domestic foe and hosting the decisive second match in Ft. Lauderdale next week is far less daunting than having to beat a big-spending Liga MX team in an enormous, jam-packed, hostile stadium south of the border.
Make no mistake: MLS remains a colossal underdog in this tournament.
Just one top flight American or Canadian squad has claimed the Concacaf crown in the last two decades. The 2022 Seattle Sounders are the lone exception. Mexican clubs, on the other hand, have won 20 of the last 21 editions, making annual FIFA Club World Cup appearances as a reward.
It’s not a fair fight, though: MLS teams are hamstrung by the league’s strict salary and roster restrictions. Even ambitious and deep-pocketed operations like Miami and LAFC are allowed to spread their millions across only a handful of players. The rosters of Liga MX teams are less top-heavy but significantly deeper. MLS teams are slowly closing the gap; LAFC and Columbus were the losing finalists the last two years. But Mexico’s longstanding dominance in Concacaf speaks for itself.
So it’s not nothing that the all-MLS quarterfinal between Miami and LAFC guarantees at least one U.S.-based club in the final four. The other two remaining MLS reps have an uphill climb. Reigning MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy are in the midst of a historic championship hangover; after settling for a scoreless draw in Tuesday’s opener in Carson, they now must beat Tigres UNAL in Leon next week.
The Vancouver Whitecaps host Pumas in Canada on Wednesday [9:30 p.m. ET, FS2] but will also play the all-important second leg of the two-match set in Mexico. Mexico City-based giants Club America and Cruz Azul are vying for the other semifinal place.
Winning the Concacaf title would be a coup for any MLS team, though it’s of particular importance to Miami. Messi’s 2023 arrival instantly turned the club into a global brand, but owner Jorge Mas knows that winning — especially while the GOAT and friends are clad in hot pink — is what will keep them relevant.
Six months after cementing his legacy as the best ever by leading Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Messi almost single-footedly helped Miami win the inaugural League Cup. In 2024, Messi earned MLS MVP honors as the Herons put together the best regular season since MLS began in 1996. The year still ended in disappointment despite being gifted a berth in this summer’s expanded, U.S.-hosted Club World Cup by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, as Atlanta United stunned Miami in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
That failure seems to have Miami on a mission to win the league title this year. It’s clear that Mascherano intends to rest Messi as often as it takes to keep him fresh for postseason play in the fall.
Still, don’t underestimate how competitive Messi and his teammates are when it comes to the opportunity to win a continental title this spring. For World Cup and Champions League winners, last year’s 3-1 second-leg loss in Monterrey — where fans booed Messi’s every touch and cheered each time he was fouled — was embarrassing.
Sitting atop the Supporters Shield standings once again is nice, no doubt. Yet for Messi and Inter Miami, the 2025 season really begins in earnest on Wednesday night.
Sure enough, Mascherano confirmed on Tuesday that Messi — who came off the bench last weekend after missing a pair of World Cup qualifiers with a sore hip — will be available.
“I expect that Leo will be fit for tomorrow and that he can play.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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