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The international roll call
Messi is certainly the biggest star MLS has had in its 30 seasons. But he’s hardly the first.
Jorge Campos, who went beyond the “keeper/sweeper” role into “keeper/striker,” was a massive attendance driver in the first couple of years of the league, dazzled in his colorful goalkeeping jerseys.
Bolivians Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno were the driving forces in DC United’s early year.
Lothar Matthäus was a bit less successful in his tenure with the league.
Hristo Stoichkov was the 1994 Ballon d’Or winner after lifting Bulgaria to the World Cup semifinals, and no one could doubt the fiery forward’s commitment to winning wherever he played.
The rules changed, literally, with the “Beckham rule,” which allowed teams a giant exception to the league’s cumbersome salary cap rules. The beneficiaries included … well, David Beckham, of course. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored at an absurd clip during his time with the LA Galaxy. Thierry Henry gave the New York Red Bulls some star power.
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Preamble
Messi. Müller. It’s a World Cup rematch in which someone will be the first World Cup champion to add an MLS Cup to that virtual-yet-very-real trophy case.
But look past the big names. These are two exceptional teams. As MLS has expanded, the talent pool has been stretched thin, but these two teams would easily hang with the old-school DC United dynasty or the strong LA Galaxy teams.
Save that for your video games, though, and enjoy this matchup.
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Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Luis Miguel Echegaray’s look back at Inter Miami’s road to the final.
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