Your Monday Kickoff: Do Messi, Busquets make Miami instant playoff contenders?

Busquets signs with Inter Miami

One day after Lionel Messi formally signed with Inter Miami CF, legendary defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets has also joined the Major League Soccer club. Busquets, announced Sunday as the Herons’ latest summer addition, is under contract through the 2025 MLS season. He will occupy a Designated Player spot for Inter Miami.

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We’re officially all the way to the All-Star Game presented by Target and Leagues Cup. We’re well over halfway into the season. Most teams have less than one-third of their games left. The season is practically done.

Which, of course, means we know absolutely nothing about any of these teams or this league. Gotta give it like two more months. Maybe more. We still have some thoughts and questions though. Let’s talk it out.

Messi, Martino, Busquets, Miami. Everyone is in place, Pub Subs made and distributed, and now it’s time for them to actually take the field. On Friday night they’ll host Liga MX’s Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup and a new era is set to begin in earnest. 

There’s not a ton to add that hasn’t already been said. As transformative as it will be for the league, it’s unclear how transformative it will be immediately for an Inter Miami team that has 18 points through 22 games. At least in the short term. Miami will obviously continue to bring in excellent players who are eager to play with Messi and for Tata. 

Just to rehash though, they’re going to need about 42-45 points to make the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs this year. And that’s just for one of the play-in game spots. They’ll at least need to be on a 2.0 points-per-game pace from here on out, and even that may not be enough. Only FC Cincinnati are averaging 2.0 points per game or better right now. Inter Miami are essentially going to have to transform into the second-best team in the league for the final 12 games. Sounds ominous, right? 

But if you break it down into a run of eight wins and four losses, it doesn’t seem totally implausible, does it? Not with Messi. Not with Busquets. And not with Miami potentially adding more reinforcements and maybe even returning a player or two from injury. 

Maybe even more important, the final 12 games aren’t exactly a gauntlet. Six of the 12 teams they’ll face are currently in eighth place or better. Half of their games are at home. And they play six-pointers with multiple Eastern Conference teams chasing one of the final playoff spots. Things are set up well all considered. 

It’s not just about making the playoffs, though. On Aug. 23 they’ll head to Cincinnati for the U.S. Open Cup semifinal. They’re two games away from a Concacaf Champions Cup spot with Messi on their side. Taking home the club’s first trophy would be big for the club. A chance at making a Champions Cup run will likely feel a lot more plausible after a full offseason of moves. And, most notably, there would be a chance to see the greatest player of all time have to deal with the most Concacaf-y Concacaf moments possible, and it would be hilarious and I’ve never wanted anything more. 

There’s still plenty to play for. I have no idea if they’ll actually get a chance to play for it. Either way, it will be the single most fascinating thing to ever happen. Not just in MLS, but like ever. In all of human history. Frankly, I can’t think of anything else.

I think we can safely say the bottom of the East is officially where the majority of the West has been for most of the year. Inter Miami have entered the Royal Rumble late in the game and brought a sledgehammer with them. They’re fully prepared to make this as cluttered and chaotic as possible now. Twelve matchdays from now, the dust will have to settle between seven to eight teams fighting for the last two playoff spots. Maybe some teams in the middle of the pack like Atlanta or Orlando fall back and join the fray. It’s possible to make this even more cluttered.

Just to lay it out real quick, you have NYCFC in 13th place (who have already made two additions in the Secondary Transfer Window, and likely more) on 26 points. Charlotte and the Red Bulls (underlying numbers champs 2023, hang the banner) are also on 26 points. CF Montréal are three points ahead of them and have all of their pieces back from the Gold Cup, plus Mahala Opoku. D.C. United and Chicago are both above the playoff line with 30 and 32 points, respectively, but are also D.C. United and Chicago. They’re never safe. The final stretch is going to be a horse race with tons of ebbs and changes from week to week. The bottom of the East might end even more cluttered than the entirety of the West. We’ve come a long way here in a short time.

Chicago are starting to do some heavy lifting when it comes to convincing skeptics like me they can get the job done this year. They’re playing good soccer and, most importantly, they’re earning results in close games. They’ve stopped blowing leads and have started to find ways to win.

After a stoppage-time winner this weekend against Toronto, they’ve picked up five wins in their last six games. They’ve launched themselves to eighth place in the East and are just three points behind Atlanta United with a game in hand. They’re six points behind third-place Nashville with a game in hand! Things are clicking right now. Especially defensively. Four of those six wins have been shutouts. Maybe, just maybe, they’re no longer potatoes. Maybe they’re finally eggs.

If we’re setting the line at somewhere around 42 points, they need just 10 points over their final 11 games to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017. I’m starting to believe.

Real Salt Lake's Luna named Player of the Matchday: Diego Luna has been named Player of the Matchday presented by Continental Tire for Matchday 26 of the 2023 MLS season, after scoring a brace in RSL’s 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls Saturday at America First Field.

Arsenal roster for 2023 MLS All-Star Game announced: Arsenal have revealed their superstar-laden traveling roster for the 2023 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, held July 19 at D.C. United’s Audi Field (8 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).

• Lionel Messi’s signing is a "dream come true" for Inter Miami owners David Beckham and Jorge Mas.
• Sergio Busquets said he’s thrilled to join Messi at Inter Miami.
• MLS WORKS All-Star Day of Service helped to address food insecurity in Washington, D.C.
• Charles Boehm took a look at the best young-player performers from Matchday 25 and 26.
• Take a look at the Matchday 26 Team of the Matchday presented by Audi.
• Voting for the AT&T 5G Goal of the Matchday for Matchday 26 is now open.

Good luck out there. Be wildly, impossibly famous.