Stop me when you know who I’m talking about: Superstar athlete joins Florida sports team as a free agent in highly publicized decision. No, I’m not talking about LeBron James. They’ve already won a ton in their career, and they’re looking for one last challenge. No, it’s not Tom Brady either. The club builds a “superteam” around the new star to maximize potential — I told you, it’s not Lebron or Brady so cut it out. Think soccer! Kaka? At least you’re getting closer, but this talent is in South Beach. One last hint: he plays for this weekend’s opponents. Yes! It’s Luis Suárez. Or Sergio Busquets. Or maybe Jordi Alba. Alright, fine, I’m talking about Lionel Messi.
Inter Miami makes their first-ever trip to Minnesota this Saturday, and while this matchup is full of intriguing storylines to cover, I couldn’t look past the obvious. Some of Miami’s star players have inspired the world through the beautiful game for over two decades now, and as a kid that grew up watching their magic, I can’t help but gear this week’s article toward their influence. With that in mind, clearly, I’m going to talk about… drumroll for dramatic effect… the roster construction strategy that our opponents have used to make their star men feel at home!
Am I really using this week’s Storylines to talk about roster construction? Oh, you betcha! And I’m going to love every second. Nerd out a little with me, please, and forgive any slight statistical errors I almost certainly made in the article to come. If I couldn’t find the stat I was looking for, I took to good old pen, paper, FBref, and my own (usually) trusty brainpower.
A Taste of Argentina
Across Major League Soccer — and world soccer, for that matter — Argentine players have made indelible marks on our beautiful game. From Diego Maradona’s World Cup legend to the more recent accomplishments of Messi, they’ve produced some of the best players in the history of the sport. Naturally, clubs across the world have long wanted a piece of that talent, and Argentine players have spread out all over the globe, including right here in Minnesota. They’re the defending World Cup champs; why not see if they can help bring some silverware to your club?
Just last season, , behind only Canadian (44) and American (332) players. Due to league roster rules, the number of foreign players a club can sign is limited, a common practice among world soccer leagues meant to emphasize the development of domestic talent. To build the best team within these restrictions, every club takes a different approach, and since joining the league in 2020, Miami’s strategy has been colored blue and white.
At the moment, Inter’s squad has 12 different nationalities represented. That’s slightly below the league average of 13.4 and well below the league high (Atlanta, Austin, and your Loons all have 17 nationalities listed). One look at the roster makeup tells you exactly why, though, as Miami is the only team in the entire league to have more players from a single foreign nation (eight Argentines) than domestic players (seven Americans). St. Louis is the only club that even comes close in that category, with seven Germans and nine Americans.
How have they done this, you ask? Well, some clever trades for , allowing them to bring a distinctly Albiceleste culture to South Beach. Between the players on the field and former Argentina international and Messi teammate Javier Mascherano as the new manager, and David Beckham’s club is by far the most Argentinian team in America. The connection runs so deep in Miami, in fact, that in 2023, the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (Argentina’s governing body for soccer) opened a new headquarters in Vice City. If that doesn’t make Miami’s Argentine soccer stars feel at home, I don’t know what will.
Blaugranas in Pink
As most soccer fans know, Messi’s legacy isn’t only blue and white; it’s got plenty of blue and garnet sprinkled into the legend. So, when building the perfect team to get the most out of their new star, Miami looked to take pieces from both sides of his illustrious career.
Between Mascherano, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Luis Suárez, Messi has four of his long-time teammates in Florida with him. Sure, they’re not the spring chickens that they were when they were tearing up La Liga and the UCL together back in Barcelona, but these veterans of the game have more than enough skill and experience to make up for the couple of steps that they’ve lost.
Better writers than me could wax lyrical about the playstyles of each of these former Barca men, but I figure you either already know how they play or you’re excited to see it for yourself; I won’t dwell too long. They revolutionized the sport together, bringing unique and wonderful approaches to their respective roles. They accomplished some truly impressive things in European soccer, lifting their fair share of trophies along the way, though Messi’s cabinet is the shiniest of the bunch.
During his time in Barcelona, Messi won a club record 35 trophies, including 10 league titles and four Champions League titles. This measly number doesn’t even include the Ballon d’Ors he won during his time there (7), crowning him as the best player in the world each year he won it. To put it plainly, he’s won nearly everything he possibly could, and some of the most important players from the teams he won with have joined him to keep up that trend in Miami. But has it worked out?
They’ve won Leagues Cup and a Supporters’ Shield in the last year and a half, and while that success would be met with nothing but celebration for most teams, it somehow still feels like a disappointment for this group. When historic names are scattered throughout your team sheet, you expect them to rewrite history, right? I won’t call their project a failure; it’s not. But, I think it’s worth wondering what would make this Miami team more than a fun footnote in Major League Soccer’s story 20 years from now.
After hitting a bit of a rough patch in Concacaf Champions Cup and suffering their first league defeat of the season, Miami’s road to recovery runs through Minnesota. While one regular-season game won’t make or break either side in this weekend’s matchup, it will be a very telling result. Can the Loons hang with one of the league’s most star-studded teams? Can Miami handle one of the Western Conference’s most dangerous counter-attacks? Saturday is going to be a big day at Allianz Field for both clubs, and I’m beyond excited to see how it shakes out.
