MIAMI - This is not how it was supposed to go.
Inter Miami, blessed with the most expensive roster in Major League Soccer history, was coming off a record-setting 2024 season and expected to build on that success and win trophies this year.
Everyone assumed Lionel Messi and his teammates would deliver more magic, energize the fan base and boost season ticket sales ahead of the long-awaited 2026 opening of Miami Freedom Park. Club co-owner Jorge Mas promised “a trophy-laden 2025 season.”
It is still too early to panic, players say, but one-third of the season is over, and the team is laden with questions.
Why is Inter Miami mired in a monthlong slump and down to sixth place in the Eastern Conference heading into Saturday’s road game against first-place Philadelphia Union? Are the Big Four - Messi and longtime friends Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba - slipping? Has the rest of the league figured out how to beat them? How much of the blame should fall on first-year coach Javier Mascherano?
Miami has won just one of its past seven games, conceded 20 goals during that stretch and been mocked mercilessly on social media.
Orlando City, which won 3-0 on Miami’s home field Sunday night, rubbed it in on the club’s official social accounts. “Grit, not Glam,” read one post. “Florida is Purple,” read another.
There was a video of gleeful Orlando players dancing in the visitors’ locker room at Chase Stadium. And a photo of Orlando’s Martín Ojeda with the caption: “Florida’s best Argentine No. 10.”
Another Orlando post read: “Elegant in Triumph,” poking fun at Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, who last week responded to Minnesota United’s gloating post after their win over Miami, urging them to be “Elegant in Triumph.”
Inter Miami is the most hyped team in the league, so it’s no surprise that opponents and their fans snicker when Miami loses. (Never mind that Messi raises ticket prices and attendance wherever he goes, which benefits every team in the league.)
Meanwhile, Messi is not laughing - and neither are his fans, who range from depressed to outraged at the team’s current state. Messi has been visibly frustrated during the slump and left the past two games with yellow cards after arguments with referees.
In a rare postgame interview with Apple TV on Sunday night - his first of the season - Messi, when asked what was wrong with the team, criticized the referee and suggested MLS should do a better job vetting officials, but added that was not an excuse.
No, it’s not.
So what is the reason for Miami’s poor run of form?
The easiest thing to do is blame the head coach, post nasty things about him online and call for his firing. That happens in every sport, all over the world. Mascherano has said time and again over the past few weeks that he shoulders the blame for the team’s rut - which is what coaches typically say to protect their players.
But Inter Miami’s problems are not that simple, and Mascherano is not solely to blame. Let’s take a deeper look.
There is no question the team was doing better at this point last season under former coach Tata Martino, the runner-up for 2024 MLS Coach of the Year, who resigned abruptly for personal reasons two weeks after Miami’s first-round playoff exit.
Inter Miami was riding a five-game win streak in mid-May last year. Through 13 league games, the team had scored 35 goals and posted a plus-15 goal differential. By contrast, this year’s team has scored 24 goals with a plus-three differential.
Miami remained atop the East throughout 2024, even during Messi’s long injury absence, and won the Supporters’ Shield with the best regular-season record in MLS history before falling to Atlanta in the playoffs.
We may never know why Martino stepped away. He is a private, dignified man who always kept things close to the vest. Sources have suggested some players did not embrace his training methods, which were deemed “old school.” His lengthy scouting meetings were legendary - and worked in 2018, when he led Atlanta to the MLS Cup title.
Others say differences of opinion within the organization led to the departures of Martino and sporting director Chris Henderson. Both were replaced by people with close ties to Messi.
Mascherano, Messi’s longtime teammate with FC Barcelona and the Argentine national team, took over as coach.
Guillermo Hoyos, a Messi mentor since his teenage years, replaced Henderson as sporting director after being promoted from the club’s youth academy staff.
Mas said Messi was consulted during the coaching search, which lasted just a few days, and that club officials would be remiss not to seek the advice of arguably the greatest player of all time. A fair point.
That said, it is also vital to the club - and the league - that Messi remain happy. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner drives ticket prices, attendance, sponsorship deals and TV ratings. His No. 10 pink jersey is the top-selling Adidas shirt in the world.
So, while he is technically just a player, it is natural that team officials, coaches and teammates defer to Messi and seek his approval. This is his team.
The question is: How much authority can a coach have over a team built around an icon and his three closest friends? That surely must be difficult for Mascherano, 40, who is their peer and coaching his first professional team in a new country. Nicknamed “El Jefecito” (The Little Boss) during his playing career, Mascherano must now prove it is he - not Messi - who is in charge.
For example, would he be reluctant to bench Suárez, whose performance has dropped significantly since he was a Golden Boot finalist last year? Suárez has lost a step, is struggling to score and, in the loss to Orlando, completed just 62% of his passes - the lowest of all the starters.
Suárez and Messi paired up for many spectacular goals last season, and Messi likely trusts him more than other teammates after so many years. But MLS opponents are no longer star-struck. They have figured out how to neutralize and frustrate the duo by clogging their favorite spaces, resulting in turnovers that leave Miami vulnerable to counterattacks due to a lack of speed.
Mascherano has tinkered with different schemes and lineups in recent games but is still searching for the right formula. There is plenty of time for him to turn things around before the regular season ends in mid-October.
But there is a more pressing matter ahead. The FIFA Club World Cup kicks off June 14 at Hard Rock Stadium, and Inter Miami plays the opening match against Egyptian club Al Ahly, which is signing reinforcement players in anticipation of facing Messi and company. After that, Miami faces Portugal’s Porto and Brazil’s Palmeiras, hoping to advance from the group stage.
Mas said on the day of the draw: “I’m a proud Miamian, and we will show the world what we as a club and what Leo Messi has done, which is not just change the sport in America, but change the perception of American soccer around the world. The eyes of the world will be on that opening game against Al Ahly. Hundreds of millions of people will watch.”
The pressure is on. The clock is ticking. The fans are getting impatient.