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Plenty about Tuesday night’s contest in Fort Lauderdale was familiar. Conditions were muggy and warm. Fans at the venue was energetic. And in action, Messi along with Jordi Alba exchanged key passes during a 3-1 win for Miami. The win came against the Seattle side – the same team that defeated them in a contentious tournament decider just a fortnight ago – added an element of satisfaction. However, more significant factors are at play.

“This was vital to recapture winning emotions,” the team’s boss Mascherano stated to the media following the game.

Indeed, after the Seattle game and a following loss to Charlotte FC, Inter Miami experienced more than a pair of consecutive scoreless losses, and they were weakened due to injuries and bans. Suárez sat out due to an incident in the cup final, and the defender was suspended for a sending off against Charlotte FC. They fielded just 6 substitutes among the replacements that night; two came from 18-year-old youth players, plus one being 19-year-old Silvetti, newly acquired from Newell’s.

In spite of this, Inter Miami’s win moved them to fifth place in the Eastern Conference with forty-nine points earned – 8 behind the front-runners, Philadelphia. With 3 matches in hand, Inter Miami still have a chance at repeating last season’s accomplishment: ending up at the top of the East and securing the regular-season trophy, awarded to the club with the best regular-season record.

The main aim, though, is altogether distinct: win the postseason trophy.

The postseason championship has been the top-priority target for Inter Miami. One could make a case that claiming the continental championship is maybe of higher stature given its continental scope, or that the Shield is the award that closest mirrors domestic championships in the majority of other competitions around the globe. But MLS Cup is the prize that matters to the key people: the followers. From Atlanta’s tremendous victory in 2018 with Miguel Almirón and Martínez to Vela, Gareth Bale and the binational excitement surrounding Los Angeles FC in 2022, and even returning to DC United’s first-ever win in 1996, winning MLS Cup is an accomplishment that echoes across a club’s fanbase and history.

Of course, every league side craves that championship. The difference for Inter Miami is that the pressure are considerably more intense primarily because they have Messi. Boasting forty-six pieces of silverware to his name, nobody in the world of soccer holds a greater number of honors, and the pressure for him to capture MLS Cup is less on him and rather on the club collectively to earn a title to append to his list.

Due to his arrival and everything that has transpired since, Inter Miami are one of the biggest commercial attractions in the MLS, runner-up in worth to Los Angeles FC, according to the business publication. According to analytics company the firm, sign-ups to MLS’s streaming package on Apple’s service over increased twofold since Messi came the league, and commercial earnings rose 13% last year to $665m. Other clubs have likewise gained. SKC, as an instance, welcomed Inter Miami at the Kansas City Chiefs’ football stadium in 2024, attracting a team all-time high attendance of over seventy-two thousand. Furthermore, the team’s upcoming stadium, their new home, is planned to debut next year and exists hope that the superstar will still be present to guide them into their brand-new home.

“I previously said that my wish, my dream would be for the No 10 to open our new stadium in the spring,” Inter Miami owner Mas stated to the network this summer. “That is a choice that lies on Messi. We hope for Messi to conclude his playing days here.”

Yet as of now, there has been no official announcement about the extension. The prospect of unveiling the stadium as MLS Cup winners will surely be appealing to Messi, though. He experienced a similar scenario after finally capturing the 2022 World Cup, when he could have stepped away from the national team at age 34 but chose to continue playing for his nation so he could achieve that as a titleholder.

Inter Miami have achieved a great deal in the post-Messi arrival period, such as a points record in a Shield-winning season in 2024 and a run to the knockout stage in the Club World Cup, which featured a 2-1 victory over FC Porto, establishing them the first North American club to defeat a European side in official play.

MLS Cup, however, is an totally different type of tournament – the climax to playoffs that are a season separate from the rest, in which results from the league phase don’t mean much aside from determining the pairings. Inter Miami know this just like everyone, having lost in the first round the previous season in one of the biggest underdog victories in MLS history.

In the current campaign, Mascherano will understand that the superstar, now 38, is close to the conclusion of his playing days. The urgency to triumph with the Herons is growing pressing. Therefore some aspects will have to improve.

To optimize their odds of winning, the team must maintain a steadier approach, equally in the execution of the {game