Evander's brace in FC Cincinnati's dominant 3-0 win over Lionel Messi and visiting Inter Miami on Wednesday night reflected a performance that was more opportunistic than dominant.
The Brazilian actually had fewer touches than his star Argentine foe. And while he deserved credit for his anticipation on his second goal, it was a pretty basic error by Miami backup goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo that set up the simple finish.
Even so, you couldn't help coming away from the match thinking that just maybe Messi had finally found a worthwhile MLS nemesis.
For all the hindsight that now calls Messi the greatest living player on Earth, what made Messi's career with FC Barcelona so captivating was his longtime rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid.