Inter Miami’s wildest dreams would climax in the summer of 2025, the last of Lionel Messi’s contract. They’d culminate on a shiny new stage, the Club World Cup, against and among European superpowers. They’d amplify Messi-mania, and lift American soccer to new heights, or at least that was the vision.
But they fizzled Wednesday night in the north of Mexico. Fantasies became frustration. Lofty ambitions all but disappeared a full 14 months shy of becoming reality. Messi and Miami got pummeled, 3-1, by Monterrey at a bumping Estadio BBVA; and lost in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals, 5-2 on aggregate.