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Put aside the glitz of Lionel Messi. It's time for Nashville SC to win a big one | Estes
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- Put aside the glitz of Lionel Messi. It's time for Nashville SC to win a big one | Estes
Nashville SC has never experienced anything like this. But it's not just that.
It's that it may never experience anything like this again.
Nothing the club could accomplish on the field – MLS Cup or otherwise – would be able to duplicate the excitement surrounding Saturday night's Leagues Cup Final against Inter Miami at GEODIS Park .
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Lionel Messi is why, of course. No explanation is required. You already know.
With Messi, there's a misconception out there that Inter Miami added the world's greatest player and most famous athlete. No, Major League Soccer added him. It's one thing to have Miami on the schedule. But when a midseason tournament starts with 47 North American teams and ends with Messi in Nashville of all places, that's another.
It's not an exhibition or a regular-season match. It's a cup final. The first cup final in Nashville SC 's history.
They didn't just hand this match to some neutral site. Our city's club earned the right to host this final.
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Winning the Leagues Cup would be massive for Nashville SC.
Hosting Messi to do it already is.
Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a goal in Inter Miami's Leagues Cup semifinal win against the Philadelphia Union.
It's found money.
A whole lot of found money, too, as evidenced by the exorbitant ticket prices . I've written this before, but for a city like Nashville, Messi's arrival taps into a deep vein that's best referred to as FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out.
If it's a happening, Nashville shows up. And this is a happening that just kind of happened.
I'd imagine a significant percentage of the people who'll shell out three or four figures to get in the gates Saturday night didn't know anything about the Leagues Cup when it started just a few weeks ago.
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They also might not understand that a preposterous number of things had to fall just right for this to happen. Starting with Messi agreeing to join Miami's struggling team – still in last place in the MLS standings, by the way – in the first place. He brought some talent with him and got there in time for the Leagues Cup and, voila, Miami is suddenly unbeatable.
But Nashville SC had to make it there, too.
It had to sneak past the group stage after losing a home game. Then it had to win a pair of shootouts, including one against Mexico 's Club América that Nashville actually lost before a referee's reprieve . Since then, though, Nashville has played inspired. A 5-0 drubbing of Minnesota United was followed by Tuesday's 2-0 semifinal victory over Mexican powerhouse Monterrey, which I'd rate as the best 180 minutes of soccer in the club's brief history.
By beating Monterrey after Miami had won the first semifinal in Philadelphia, Nashville SC stepped up and delivered the biggest moment of the year for our city's sports teams: A visit from mighty Messi.
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And a Messi in top form, no less. Maybe this will become a seniors tour for him, as it has other global stars who finished out careers in the MLS.
But Messi's U.S. arrival hasn't had a trace of that. Dude showed up in Miami meaning business. He has scored in each of his six Miami games for nine goals total. It's been a little bit like LeBron James deciding to go play overseas somewhere. He could join the worst team in the league and instantly make it one of the best.
Messi has done that in Miami.
You don't often see that in soccer. Don't often see Lionel Messi , either.
Yet in Nashville on Saturday night, we'll get to see him while the world watches from afar. The world won't be tuning in to watch the home team, but hey, that won't matter.
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What will matter locally is the unprecedented interest in the home team. This is demanding attention. In the past week, I've had a wider range of people mention Nashville SC to me than at any point in the club's existence.
Nashville SC is growing up before our eyes. It has been successful as an MLS expansion team (quite a bit more than Miami, actually, which also entered in 2020), but outside of loyal, die-hard supporters, Nashville SC hasn't quite progressed from being a fun attraction to a team in which a city is emotionally invested in its success.
Here's where that could change.
As much as people want to be there to watch an opposing player, I believe they'd like to say that they were there the night Nashville SC won its first trophy – and beat Lionel Messi to do it.
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Easier said than done, I'd say. But that's kind of the point, right?
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lionel Messi in Leagues Cup is big. A Nashville SC win would be bigger
