Know Thy Enemy: Revolution vs Inter Miami Super Summer Soccer Spectacular Edition
Messi and Miami have highlighted a tremendous summer of soccer in the USA, or so a lot of people will say as they return to league play against the Revs.
Before I go into a semi-rant about the Club World Cup and next summer’s World Cup (we’re saving the Gold Cup for later in the week), I want to preface this by saying I am a frugal curmudgeon and would very rarely shell out hundreds of dollars for tickets to anything.
If you want to pay what I would consider a ridiculous amount of money to see Lionel Messi play against the Revs or PSG or Uruguay, you do you. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy those memories, use the rest of the tickets in that miniplan to come back to other games. That four game pack with the extra tickets for $20/game might level out the value of the Messi game and Orlando fireworks for you, there’s a lot of fun to be had at Gillette. I’ll be on the couch, or napping cause overnight shift rots my brain.
It warms my incredibly old soul that ticket prices for yesterday afternoon’s Chelsea-Fluminese Club World Cup semifinal at MetLife Stadium in NJ - site of next year’s FIFA World Cup Final - had a massive price drop in the days leading up to the game. For too long the powers that be in FIFA, CONCACAF (again we’ll get to that), and the USSF have thought that soccer fans in this country are a piggy bank to…exploit isn’t the right word, but certainly profit from.
Exorbitant ticket prices in Europe, from Champions League to the EPL to the Bundesliga, are generally met with disdain. Other American sports - NFL and NBA in particular - are not seen as a great value or are downright unaffordable in some markets to the normal sports sports fan. My lousy work number schedule aside, travelling to Philly for an Eagles game would mean shelling out several hundred dollars to sit very high up in the nosebleeds and deal with untold hours of traffic to get home. It’s just not the cost/life experience ratio I want to deal with even on a semi-annual basis.
MLS however is still a pretty good value, even with Messi in town tonight. Though I’d much rather go to the Orlando game the following weekend without those silly overinflated secondary market ticket prices. But at least the commuter line is running to Gillette tonight so that’s a plus. MetroNorth and the PATH to Yankee Stadium/Red Bull Arena has always been a win. Now if only we could get a Boston area stadium on the T.
There’s also a handful of teams - shoutout Atlanta and MBS, that specifically keep concession prices low as well. You’ll also hear me regularly tout minor/lower league teams as tremendous experiences on par or even better than the professional level and far better bang for the buck…and that’s not just me being nostalgic for my defunct independent baseball team. Love those Bluefish. Subscribe to TBM for Hartford Athletic, Rhode Island FC, Vermont Green FC, and Hearts of Pine content.
But what FIFA and the CWC organizers might be starting to figure out…not you USSF (wait your turn)… is that the extravagant market they think exists here may finally be dwindling. And not a moment too soon.
Playing soccer in the midst of stormy and hot summer afternoons doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and that’s not just from an attendance standpoint, it’s a disaster for the players too. Keeping Chelsea and Benfica in Charlotte for a two hour lightning delay after 85 minutes of play is a ludicrous decision for all involved from a safety standpoint let alone the timeframe. Player safety should be at the paramount of planning and decision making with spectator safety a close second.
I’m with pundit Rory Smith when he says FIFA matches should be catered to the home fans and not European audiences as the Chelsea semifinal was yesterday. Dealing with overseas time changes during the World Cup is a right of passage for U.S. based fans, and something the rest of the world should enjoy every couple of decades when we reset our own attendance record that we set with a 24 team field I might add.
Also FIFA we need a Japan/Korea redux or Australia/New Zealand as hosts in the near future when you realize you can have actual sold out stadiums in places and not have to fudge the numbers like you did in Qatar and probably will have to do in Saudi Arabia in 2034.
The world’s game should be accessible to the world, and reasonably priced on top of that. Let the corporate sponsors fit the bill at stadiums so fans can spend more as tourists on their own accord.
And let the kickoff times make sense for the home country, that’s why everyone else has the world television feed for. Otherwise the weather delays and hydration breaks are going to be completely out of hand next summer.
Now onto more important and local happenings. Say what you want about whatever shenanigans MLS and/or FIFA used to put Miami into the CWC field, they did reasonably well in that tournament, making the knockouts and going unbeaten in group play.
Messi did make the trip up north or so we believe but Miami is working on their latest salary cap violation…I mean summer signing in Rodrigo de Paul.
No this does not mean MLS is suddenly abandoning the salary cap to try and compete with PSG, stop it, all of you, with that nonsense. Yes we can complain about the league’s roster mechanisms being overcomplicated but the salary cap is a very necessary thing.
Anyway, enough of that, we need to catch up with our very busy friend Alex Windley of The Heron’s Nest because of that guy who is in town tonight. Be sure to check out their site their coverage including my thoughts on former Miami striker Leo Campana’s time with the Revs.
TBM: Okay, the Club World Cup might be half as cool as the North American SuperLiga, but did we learn anything from PSG blowing out Miami a week ago? How would you rate/grade the Heron's CWC experience/performance?
AW: I would say, despite the loss, Miami did well! They managed to become the first MLS side to beat a European team, which is a huge badge of honor. The PSG match went exactly how we all thought it would: a blowout, haha. But besides that, the team came back to MLS energized and ready to attack the second half of the season. I think we learned that, even though they'll have rough spots of form, when Messi is on the field, never count them out.
TBM: Inter Miami is heavily linked to Rodrigo de Paul from Atletico Madrid and Messi's Argentina teammate. How much is this rumored signing going to cost and can Miami do it under their current roster?
AW: Under the current roster, the only way the move will happen is if/or when a DP leaves the team. The lovely Michelle Kaufman at the Miami Herald reported that Jorge Mas was in Madrid recently trying to work out a deal to bring him this summer. Adding on, a lot of reports are implying that Busquets may be the odd one out here if this comes to fruition. But until I hear more, that's all we can run with at the moment. I still think that De Paul will ultimately end up signing in 2026 because of this. If he does end up signing this summer, somehow, I would love to see how they pulled it off.
TBM: I don't know if Messi is confirmed to play (stars are rightly known to avoid the turf monster) but what's the current Heron injury list?
AW: Right now, the only injuries Miami is dealing with are Ian Fray and Noah Allen. Everyone else who was injured is back to individual training or working with the full team again. As for Messi and the Barca boys, Javier Mascherano wasn't clear on whether they'd start or not! So, just like you, we all have to wait and see, haha.
TBM: Aside from that one backpass in Montreal, things went pretty well. With Miami having a few games in hand how quickly can they move up in the East standings and where do you think they'll be when the playoffs start?
AW: This group is extraordinarily determined to climb the table quickly. Mascherano's sole focus is getting Miami back to within the top 4 of the East. The schedule is absolutely brutal for them in July, though. Plus, with Leagues Cup approaching soon, games against teams like Montreal are must-win. How quickly can they do it? It's up to the squad to be able to play the best they can. Other than that, with the quality they have, I have strong faith they can get results.
Lineup/Scoreline predictions
Starting from the goalkeeper/backline going left to right, in a 4-4-2:
Goalkeeper: Ustari
Defense: Alba, Falcon, Aviles, Weigandt
Midfield: (Baltasar) Rodriguez, Busquets, Redondo, Picault
Attack: Messi, Suarez
Prediction? 3-2 Miami win. I think the Revs score a few on them!
Well, we are season members and fully intended to go tonight, but our 30 year old hot water heater had other ideas, so we made the only decision we could after dealing with the flood and new, unintended sauna, in our basement, and put our tickets on the exchange. Made enough to pay for some fun the next time we come to Gillette. I was very conservative compared to some of the other prices I saw out there, yikes!