THere TV commercial it aired on Apple TV during MLS games for Lowe's hardware stores. Lionel Messi carefully places the soccer ball on the field, ready to take a free kick. He is surrounded by Lionel Messi and Lionel Messi. Coach Lionel Messi is gesturing on the touchline, assisted by Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi passes the ball to Lionel Messi, who passes it to Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi chests up and flies into the net, only to be surrounded by half a dozen more Lionel Messis (or is it Lionel Messi?).
Facing Inter Miami in the ongoing MLS playoffs must be more or less like living inside that ad. Heading into Saturday's Eastern Conference final against New York City FC, Messi had either scored or assisted on all 12 of Miami's goals in the postseason. Messi has destroyed the league this year, but he saved the real wildness for the playoffs.
Inter finally took care of their own business on Saturday. Messipendencia – The Argentine made just one assist in a stunning 5-1 win over New York.
They're so fun, this Miami team. It was fun to see Messi in his pomp, chasing the next trophy and dragging his stick until it gained enough speed. These MLS The playoffs, even though the favorites did well, were fun.
There were only four upsets – and only one among teams tied by more than one spot, when fifth-seeded New York FC beat top-seeded Philadelphia – but the bracket was full of drama, reversals of fortunes and cinematic climaxes.
Will a few more rounds of regular season games produce similar results from Messi or ignite the fireworks we've seen in MLS over the past few weeks? There is no placebo group here, but this is doubtful.
The Vancouver Whitecaps vs. LAFC Western Conference semi-final was an epic, tense affair with Heung Min Son's 95th minute free kick.
The Whitecaps were reduced to nine players in extra time due to a red card for defender Tristan Blackmon and an injury. But they survived LAFC, hitting both posts and the crossbar in one run to win on penalties.
Playoffs!
They are fun people and don't care about the genre of football they play. In the NWSL, Gotham defeated the Washington Spirit in the championship final. gorgeous Rose Lavelle finish from the edge of the box. This came only after Juan Carlos Amoros' team had already routed the No. 1 and 4 seeds. Gotham were the lowest-seeded team (8th) to ever win the title, breaking their own record set two years ago when they were seeded sixth.
It could be argued that Gotham being seeded so low was a fluke, given their continental title in the Concacaf W Champions Cup just six months earlier, injuries to key players and a four-game winless streak to end the regular season that saw them fall down the standings. But then, in the final seconds of quarterfinal overtime, they swept the Kansas City Current team that had destroyed the league in the regular season. Gotham, a team that had won just nine of its 26 regular-season games, beat the club that had set the record. And then they just went and knocked out the defending champion Orlando Pride with the winning goal in the 97th minute with their only shot on goal all game, advancing to the championship game.
Playoffs!
Was any or all of this fair? Of course not.
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But very exciting? If you're partial to any of the other teams, yes, absolutely.
And at the end of the day, the point of professional sports is entertainment; justice comes second.
Analyzing what makes sporting competition attractive, consultancy Twenty First Group once identified “quality, risk and connection” as the key ingredients of attractive competition. There will be more of them in playoff games than in regular season games. Of course, this is partly a self-fulfilling prophecy. As “Gotham” demonstrated, the standings can begin to resemble the entrance exam to a real tournament, reducing much of the season to qualifying competitions. But this benefits everyone except the hardcore fans: the action—the danger—is concentrated into far fewer games. The best games.
Purists are angry about the erosion of the straight league table, the type used to determine the champions of most of the world's top football leagues since their inception.
But this misses the point: some of the most popular soccer competitions are the World Cup; the UEFA Champions League and its smaller cousins ​​the Europa League and Conference League; Euro; Copa America – Much of its appeal is due to the fact that it is also largely a knockout round. At least in important games they exist. This is where all the good things happen: the theater, the delight and the pain.
With Vancouver's 3-1 win over 10-man San Diego in Saturday's other conference final, we'll have a Thomas Mueller-Lionel Messi final to atone for this messy year of our lord, 2025.
Playoffs forever.
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Leander Charlekens' book about the US men's national soccer team, The Long Game, will be published in spring 2026. You can pre-order here. He teaches at Marist University.
