Sunday, December 7

Double assist for De Paul and Allende for Inter Miami’s title

Lionel Messi is football. He is the king of football. There is no other way to explain it other than its impact on the sport of the ball and the 22 players on the pitch. This Saturday, in a Chase Stadium that, while not hell, seemed quite similar between the high temperature due to game time (2:30 p.m. local time) and the heat in the stands filled with 21,556 people, The world champion from Rosario has ticked another box in his illustrious career. The 3:1 is over Vancouver Whitecaps of Canada allowed him win the MLS Cupthe biggest title in the United States League, a pending account what he had promised the brothers Jorge and Jose Mas already David Beckhamthe owners of the club.

And why is it football? Because there is no other person who can be as important to a team as La Pulga. At 38 years old and in two and a half seasons, Messi transformed Inter Miami from last place to champions for the first time in its short history (the company was founded in 2018). There were two more titles in between: the League Cup in 2023 and the Supporter’s shield 2024 because he was the best of the regular season. And even Javier Mascherno was able to free himself from the stigma and become a champion for the first time as a coach.

It is also the Number 46 in Messi’s careerthere is no one who has won more in football than him and it will probably take a long time for them to equal or surpass him. And its implication is direct because it was He is the club’s all-time top goalscorer with 77 goals in 87 games and added 35 in 33 games this season in which he reached the heavens of the MLS, one of the few achievements missing among those available.

A certain instability can be noted, typical of a football player of his age or the contexts that this sport offers, but It’s enough to see his movements on the pitch, his interventions, those moments when he seems to be doing nothing but just gaining momentum..

This is also explained by the fact that in the 9th minute of a final, after touching a few balls, he creates a kind of “crazy” situation with his inseparable companion. Rodrigo DePaul in the middle of the field so that the “Motorcito” can watch the reborn race Tadeo Allendea fundamental piece of an Argentine striker with Baltasar Rodríguez and the tank Mateo “Toto” Silvetti Finishing for the middle, which Ocampo pushed into his own goal.

Of course, Uruguayan Luis Suárez hasn’t been in the starting XI for quite some time, in fact he didn’t make it to this final. And Messi is also partly responsible for the fact that the team goes beyond a long-standing personal friendship.

There is another Albiceleste who became important during the playoffs: the goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novemberor he was born in Los Angeles, California, but moved to Argentina at a young age and grew up playing soccer in Lanús. In the first half, he made a spectacular handball-style save, parrying Sabbi’s attempt that landed uncovered in the six-yard box. Shocking.

But back to the game, which changed completely in the second half when Vancouver dominated the action for the first time despite the German’s small intervention Thomas Müllerthe “black beast” for Messi, who this time left empty-handed and one defeat behind him in his first season in the MLS, where he arrived to retire.

That’s why he didn’t miss the draw with Ali Ahmed’s shot at the near post and that incredible double post situation after Sabbi’s left-footed shot that hit Messi from right to left and stopped hearts at Chase Stadium.

And with Messi accustoming us to the impossible, everyone knew his moment was missing. He had almost no intervention until he stole the wallet of Andrés Cubas, that midfielder who left Boca and became a Paraguayan citizen, who had driven him crazy when the national team lost in Asunción and also defeated him in this MLS. He appeared behind the number 20, with whom he had maintained a completely separate duel throughout the game, and played into space for De Paul, whom he defined as a center forward. Another assist for the top assistant in sports history. It was the 406th of his life. The number no longer matters.

Nor did the 38-year-old’s run down the right wing in the 92nd minute, which sent a fan divided into four groups into raptures, but who sang the entire repertoire of the Argentine stands. EITHER another helpthe 407, sings the ““arrorroro” with his chest to the ball, so that Allende closes the story. Luckily, there are at least three seasons left after the renewal. But Messi is already an MLS champion.

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