COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s a debut that has been months in the making but has twice been delayed. But on Wednesday night at Lower.com Field in Columbus, the player considered by many to be the greatest of his generation gets his first crack at a burgeoning juggernaut.
On paper, it’s just a Wednesday night regular season match in Major League Soccer between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and the Columbus Crew. But in some ways, it means much, much more. It’s a matchup featuring arguably the best soccer player of the 2000s against a team with a resume as good as any in North America lately.
The Crew have won four major trophies in the 2020s, including two MLS Cups, the 2021 Campeones Cup and the 2024 Leagues Cup. Wednesday’s match, however, won’t be Messi’s first in the state of Ohio. His Inter Miami team played at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati last season in a U.
S. Open Cup semifinal match vs. FC Cincinnati.
Inter Miami won in penalties, 3-3 (5-4). This will be Messi’s first Ohio match in MLS play, and the stakes could not be higher for both squads. The Crew sit in second place in the Eastern Conference, eight points behind Inter Miami, but with a match in hand.
They have three matches left this season after Wednesday, while Inter Miami has just two. So any hopes of the Crew staying alive in the race for the Supporters’ Shield, given to the best regular season team in MLS, along with home field throughout the playoffs, start with defeating Messi and Miami Wednesday nigh.