![]() “It’s kind of reminiscent of Beckham when he came originally. “This is obviously the biggest signing that they’ve brought in,” said Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman, a U.S. ![]() toward the end of their careers, but landing a player still no worse than near the pinnacle of his game and just a few months removed from hoisting a World Cup is simply huge. Some of the game’s biggest names - Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Thierry Henry and Beckham himself - have come to the U.S. Messi’s decision to play in the U.S. might be the biggest boost ever for American soccer on the pro stage. Messi has won 10 La Liga titles and two Ligue 1 championships, seven Copa del Reys and three Club World Cups plus a Copa América and Olympic gold medal for Argentina.Īnd now he comes to MLS, and a team that is struggling - last place in the Eastern Conference, just a few days removed from the firing of coach Phil Neville (who was hand-picked by Beckham two years ago). He is a four-time Champions League winner and his 129 goals in the top club competition are second to Ronaldo’s 140. He has been to the absolute mountaintop of the game. He scored twice in last year’s World Cup final against France, a match that ended 3-3 with Argentina prevailing 4-2 on penalty kicks. In more than 17 years of representing Argentina on the international stage, he has scored 102 goals against 38 different national team opponents - 16 of those goals coming on U.S. Messi has more than 800 goals in his career for club and country, making him one of the greatest scorers in the sport’s history. At 35, Messi has nothing left to prove in the game and filled the only significant unchecked box on his resume back in December by leading Argentina to the World Cup title. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner - the trophy given annually to the world’s best player - makes his move after two years with Paris Saint-Germain. “Although work remains to finalize a formal agreement, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest soccer players of all time to our league.” “We are pleased that Lionel Messi has stated that he intends to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer this summer,” read a statement from MLS. Messi’s next matches are likely to be exhibitions with Argentina against Australia on June 15 at Beijing and at Indonesia in Jakarta four days later - and then his Inter Miami debut figures to be sometime in July. “After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, it was my turn to go to the league of the United States to live football in another way,” Messi said. He said in the interviews Wednesday that some final details still need to be worked out, but that he has made the call to “continue my path” in Miami. Going back to Barcelona, a storied franchise where he spent most of his career, was another possibility.īut in the end, he made the call that surprised many. It was widely believed that Messi eventually would choose to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, following longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo to a nation where some clubs now are funded by the state’s sovereign wealth fund. ![]() One of Inter Miami’s owners, Jorge Mas, tweeted out a photo of a darkly silhouetted Messi jersey shortly before the Argentinian great revealed his decision in interviews with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport. ![]() After months - years, even - of speculation, Messi on Wednesday finally revealed his decision to join a Miami franchise that has been led by another global soccer icon, David Beckham, since its inception but has yet to make any real splashes on the field. ![]()
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