This isn\u2019t a good sign for San Diego FC and its fans.<\/p>\n
The folks who run Major League Soccer were dumb enough to suspend Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t mess with Messi\u201d would seem an easy concept to adopt and apply, but the Inspector Clouseaus who lead MLS proved otherwise this week. They sidelined the one player who moves the MLS needle and plants the league\u2019s flag in soccer-obsessed countries abroad.<\/p>\n
Messi\u2019s crime was to skip the All-Star game Wednesday in hot Texas, setting up the old striker \u2014 he\u2019s 38 \u2014 to play Saturday in Miami\u2019s homefield showdown against FC Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
MLS commissioner Don Garber suspended Messi and teammate Jordi Alba for Saturday\u2019s game. In justiying the suspension, he hid behind a puny rulebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a long-standing policy regarding participation in the All-Star Game and we had to enforce it,\u201d he told The Athletic.<\/p>\n
Garber should\u2019ve seen this scenario coming long ago. The commissioner knew that Messi, now in his third MLS season, would have to work extra hard this summer. Messi, after all, led Inter Miami in the FIFA Club World Cup and the Concacaf Champions Cup. And Garber knew Messi would be named to the All-Star squad.<\/p>\n
The smart play, many months ago, would\u2019ve been to amend the All-Star game policy to create flexibility, such as allowing the commissioner to levy a stiff fine, either to the player or a team, in lieu of a suspension.<\/p>\n
Garber, seeing the bind created by a clogged soccer schedule, said he understands Messi\u2019s decision to skip the All-Star game. \u201cI can\u2019t argue with it whatsoever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s amazing how much soccer Messi has played this summer, given his age.<\/p>\n
Though he\u2019s ancient for a striker, Messi has logged every minute for Inter Miami during a nine-game stretch lasting 35 days, from the Club World Cup opener on June 14 to the club\u2019s final match July 19, reported USA Today.<\/p>\n
Once again giving the U.S. league a big lift, the Argentine enabled MLS to save face in the Club World Cup by leading Miami to a victory and two ties, where the other two MLS clubs went winless with one tie in their six matches combined.<\/p>\n
Because of Messi, three of Miami\u2019s four matches drew Club World Cup crowds exceeding 60,000. Also because of Messi, Inter Miami has played more games than any club in MLS with 34 matches across all competitions this season, per USA Today.<\/p>\n
The suspension left Messi \u201cextremely upset,\u201d said Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas, who labeled the punishment \u201cdraconian.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir reaction was exactly as expected of two competitive players who don\u2019t understand the decision, who don\u2019t understand why not attending an exhibition match leads directly to a suspension,\u201d Mas said, per ESPN.<\/p>\n
San Diegans \u2014 more so than fans in many other U.S. markets \u2014 can appreciate what a world-renowned soccer star can mean to an American soccer league.<\/p>\n
When Alex Morgan played for the San Diego Wave, the postmatch screams of hundreds of young girls who\u2019d descended to field level in quest of Morgan\u2019s autograph made other Wave players and coach Casey Stoney inaudible during on-field interviews.<\/p>\n
With Morgan on board, the fledgling Wave set numerous attendance records in the National Women\u2019s Soccer League. Without her, the team\u2019s average crowd size has dropped by more than 30% from its peak despite the club\u2019s extraordinary improvements on offense this year.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t mess with Messi.<\/p>\n
Pro tip to MLS\u2019 commish and the team owners he placated by suspending Messi: Bone up on your Emerson.<\/p>\n
A foolish consistency is indeed the hobgoblin of little minds, and makes America\u2019s top soccer league look small-time.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This isn\u2019t a good sign for San Diego FC and its fans. The folks who run Major League…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":95373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,3549,15520,7264,221,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-95372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-fc","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114922323233900978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}