Inter Miami hasn’t won a game since May, so it’s not possible that they’ll be named the best team in Major League Soccer, but that was before Lionel Messi moved there.
Since signing with the Florida club last month, the Argentine great has gotten people excited about the team and US professional soccer in general, especially the many South Americans who live in Miami.
All of Inter’s regular season games are sold out, new seats are being built to make the stadium bigger, and soccer fans are in a good mood.
Just call it the Messi effect.
On Tuesday, when the World Cup champion’s plane landed near his new venue, some fans were there to meet him.
“We were waiting for you, Messi-ah,” signs said.
Fans were happy to be there and chant the name of their 36-year-old hero, even though they didn’t get to see him.
Ariel Gonzalez, 56, said, “I feel great because I know I’ll see him in an hour, next week, or 10 days if I don’t see him now.” “We’re always here and fully with him.”
Many people were surprised when Messi moved to Inter, even though the club said it had been in the works for a while. The Saudis also tried to sign the star player, and there was always a chance he would go back to his old team, FC Barcelona.
Fans of Inter are now counting down the days until his big start, which is likely to be on July 21 at the Leagues Cup, a tournament with teams from the US, Canada, and Mexico.
For Raul Patino, who moved to Florida from Argentina more than 20 years ago, Messi’s arrival marks “a before and after” in the history of soccer in the US.
“He is one of the best players in the world, just like Pelé and Maradona were,” the 44-year-old fan said.
“If you ask a kid what he wants to play in 10 years, he’ll say soccer. And he’ll do it because Messi will change all those kids’ lives.”
“Miami looks like Buenos Aires”—Messi hasn’t even set foot on the field yet, but he’s already messing up the business of soccer in the United States.
On the selling site TickPick, the cheapest tickets for his possible first game, which could be against Mexico’s Cruz Azul, have gone from $29 to $329, which is a 10-fold increase.
And he’ll be joined by some well-known people: Inter Miami has also signed Gerardo “Tata” Martino, who used to coach Argentina, and Sergio Busquets, a Spanish player who played with Messi at Barcelona.
In Miami’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood, the Messi craze has taken on different forms, like the huge portrait of Messi that his fellow Argentine Maximiliano Bagnasco is painting.
The artist has finished the first step, which is Messi’s happy face. He is still working on his body, which will be in the colors of his new team.
Bagnasco works slowly and carefully every morning while sitting under a cover to stay out of the hot sun.
“I painted a big Messi in Albania, and when I was there, it was confirmed that Messi was coming here,” he said. “Then, a lot of people I knew told me, ‘Now you have to paint him in Miami.'”
Nearby, Buenos Aires native Juan Tavoas is surprised by all the action.
The 38-year-old tourist says, “It’s kind of crazy how much Messi means to us Argentines.”
“He is now moving to Miami. There are Messi T-shirts in every store. Messi, Messi, Messi is all there is to say. This looks like Buenos Aires or Rosario.”
Still, the so-called “Messi mania” is just getting started.