Nathan Messer Has Unfinished Business in Portland
"That being said, I’ve loved Portland so much that I feel on my own timeline and I’ve enjoyed my time so far.”
Nathan Messer is coming off his best season as a pro and he will be returning to the club where he regained his form after a stint with Rhode Island FC. The winger was among a bevy of returning players that Portland Hearts of Pine announced before the calendar switched to 2026.
“To be honest, I always wanted to come back,” he told The Blazing Musket. “After a few months, I was like, ‘okay this is a place that I want to keep playing at’. After kind of the season I’ve had, there has been some interest here and there. I obviously do want to still go for as high as level as I can. That being said, I’ve loved Portland so much that I feel on my own timeline and I’ve enjoyed my time so far.”
Beyond the great atmosphere and rabid fanbase, Messer also still feels as though there is unfinished business. With Portland suffering a brutal extra-time stoppage-time elimination in the semi-finals, the winger wants to rid himself of the feeling that game left him with.
“I felt like, the way our season ended, it wasn’t time just yet to move on,” Messer said. “If I’m being honest with you, it was also very much the way we ended our season. I just think there was still a lot on the table for us to achieve, and the way we ended wasn’t really the way I would want to go out, especially for our fans. Anytime you don’t win the championship people will say, like, that’s not the way that they want to end it but I think in our scenario, it hurt even more just because we had two opportunities to win that game. One in extra time, being so close going all the way to the 120th minute without concedingand then losing it on PK’s. For me, it really felt like it wasn’t the end of that chapter.”
Messer came to Portland in need of a fresh start. At his previous stint with RIFC, he struggled to get playing time and for the most part, spent 2024 on the sidelines.
But then Bobby Murphy and Portland Hearts of Pines gave him a second chance.
“I owe so much of my career to Bobby,” Messer said. “It’s one thing to take a chance on me and sign me, but he played me so much. I really appreciate from the soccer standpoint, just how much he trusted me and also worked with me to to improve my game and to really allow my strengths to flourish on the field.”
Messer noted that the fullback position can be deployed in many formats, but Murphy utilized Messer in a way that best-suited the player. Additionally, he mentioned how the head coach cares about the players more for their human characteristics than their on-field abilities.
As is evident by the number of returning players and the performance of the club in its debut season, Portland’s players meshed well on and off the field. The right back highlighted how important a cohesive locker room can be to a club.
It can be even more important in a league such as USL League One when the travel is far from the luxury of a top-tier league. Portland had to travel across the country to play Spokane Velocity and will so again in 2025.
During long travel days, players could be found playing cards and finding otherways to help the time past. One story that stands out for Messer is when traveling to Spokane. The right back was sat next to Samuel Camacho, a defender no longer with Portland who had played in Europe.
“He was one of the guys I got along with really well,” Messer said. “We were on the flight, and about an hour and a half into the flight he takes off his headphones suddenly, and he goes ‘Nate how long is this fight?.’”
Messer than informed Camacho that it was a six-hour journey.
“What is this country?” Camacho replied.
“He had me laughing so hard,” Messer joked.
Looking ahead to 2026, Portland will be looking to get revenge and hopefully lift a trophy. While focused on the USL League One campaign, Hearts will also play in the U.S. Open Cup. Portland is joined by a bevy of New England clubs, including Messer’s former club, Vermont Green FC.
The right back would be excited at the prospect of getting to play his former club and believes it would be the best soccer atmopshere in the entire country.
“That would be the biggest game in U.S. Soccer,” Messer said. “I don’t think there’d be a better atmosphere in the game. I’m including the MLS man, I just don’t think in terms of community. I don’t think there would be a game where the community would be more involved than a Portland-Vermont game. I would love that, because I think that would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. No matter where I take my soccer career, that would be possibly the best game I ever played in terms of atmosphere. So I would really love for that to happen. Hopefully that can come to fruition this year. I’m so excited about the Open Cup.”