The ball was going over the line. Surely. Definitely. Inter Miami would be behind. Lionel Messi’s chance at capturing the trophy he most wanted to win would be teetering on a knife’s edge. And perhaps most distressingly to Inter Miami, two retiring legends, Sergi Busquets and Jordi Alba, would be closing in on ignominious ends. They would have come to MLS to accompany Messi, their friend, but would end their time on the field as losers of a final, the type of game they so often won at club and international level.
All that ball had to do was cross the line. The Vancouver Whitecaps’ Emmanuel Sabbi had imbued it with a seeming destiny after a virtuoso run into the heart of the Inter Miami defense. His left-footed effort wrapped around the outstretched hand of Miami goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo. It smacked the inside of the far post. It bounced on the line.
And then it hit the inside of the other post, its spin bringing it unexpectedly to the foot of Inter Miami defender Maximiliano Falcón. The Uruguayan made a mess of his first touch, the ball ricocheting back towards the goal line as Sabbi went in for the rebound. With a desperate lunge, Falcón slid to knock the ball away, sending it careening off of Sabbi’s shin, and finally, incredibly, out of play.
Sabbi grabbed the net and kicked the advertising boards in frustration. Falcón celebrated just as hard as the delirious crowd in the South Florida heat. A game the Whitecaps had started to take by the scruff of the neck had turned around and barked.
“It’s the luck that you need to be champions,” Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano put it afterward.
A little more than 30 minutes later, with silver confetti strewn on the turf, Lionel Messi walked towards the luxury suites at field level here at Chase Stadium. That is where his children and family reside during Miami home games, right next to those of Alba, right next to those of Busquets, right next to those of Luis Suárez. An improvised in-stadium neighborhood where the players’ significant others and children mingle from suite to suite. Surrounded by photographers and with hundreds of Miami fans perched above, yelling congratulations and following their every move on video, the quartet of ex-Barcelona amigos nonetheless looked entirely at ease. Busquets posed for a picture with one of his sons. Alba soon joined with one of his own. Messi filtered in and out of all the suites, chasing his own sons as they made mock snow angels in the confetti. At one point, he looked up with Suárez and marvelled that the crowd was, indeed, watching them.
“Given what they’ve been – as players, both were among the greatest in history, each in his position, with the careers they had and the titles they won – it’s wonderful that they can retire with this MLS title,” Messi said afterward of Busquets and Alba. “I don’t think they’re fully aware yet of what they’re experiencing, of what it means to retire. Today something very beautiful ends for them, something to which they dedicated their whole lives. Now a new life begins for them. I wish them the very best, because they are two friends I care for deeply. I’m happy they can leave with this title.”
Only Busquets and Alba have announced their retirement, but Suárez too seems to potentially be one his way out – if not as a professional then perhaps as an Inter Miami player. The Uruguayan did not play in the MLS Cup final, with his relegation to the bench before the playoffs proving to be part of the spark that ignited a great run from Inter Miami down the stretch.
Alba and Busquets, too, had to evolve – and there were signs even in the final that the natural physical dropoff that happens at the end of every career had reached its end. Busquets failed often to be the outlet for the back four that had been his calling card, with Vancouver repeatedly causing dangerous turnovers in Miami’s own third, in spots where Busquets might otherwise have been. Alba, meanwhile, had a whale of a time dealing with Sabbi, whose double-post moment could so easily have swung the postgame mood to one of despair.
Yet both had bright moments, with Busquets remaining the incisive and intelligent passer he always was, and Alba continuing his seemingly telepathic connection with Messi throughout the season.
“We were kind of conscious that this moment was going to happen,” said Miami midfielder Yannick Bright, one of many young players in pink who have spoken repeatedly at the impact the pair had in raising their level as the Herons competed on five fronts through 58 games this regular season. “I had to stop walking in the locker room because I was getting really, really sad. Really emotional.”
It could have gone the other way, with just one degree of spin, or a tackle arriving a split-second too late.
“Honestly, it was insane,” Bright said. “Sometimes you need some luck.”
