Inter Miami 3-2 Sporting KC Live Postgame Show | Leo Campana scores twice to lead the team!

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We have Ashley Silvers here, also Austin Robilar coming to you live from Dry Pink Stadium. Two goals by Leo Campana. One penalty kick in the minute 25, then in the 45th minute. And Facu Farias scored the third one for Inter-Sporting KC. Saloy scored the first goal of the game after a calendar error. And then Pulido scored the 3-2. And it was stressful, but at the end, Inter-Miami got the three points. And they are very close to playoff spots because DC United just tied their game. We're going to go over everything that's going on right now with Inter-Miami. No Messy, no problem. What do you guys think? Ashley, welcome to our live post-game show. Well, I don't know if I would say no Messy, no problem, but I do think that overall it was a solid game plan from Tata Martino. I won't say that I called the lineup that it ended up being and that I was way closer than the other people on this podcast. I would never say that. But what I would say is that they went for people with legs and they went for people who were going to really press and try to make things interesting. And with Stefanelli and Robby Robinson, you got that. You got a lot of running and a lot of pressure, a lot of putting Casey on their back foot. Campana was immense. He did exactly what you want your number nine to do. And also Facundo Farias. I mean, he's a star. He's just phenomenal. And I'm excited to see what happens. But there were some rough spots for sure. But we got the win and it's another step closer to that playoff push. Cool, cool. Austin, it was a great game, an exciting game, a way more open game than what we expected, I guess, in the beginning. And Inter-Miami got the three points. I know you were not happy the last time you saw the team playing at home. So how do you feel now that they won this particular game? Yeah, no, I mean, it was, you know, it definitely was a little bit more open than I expected. That's for sure. You know, we did talk about and think collectively that SKC would try and take the game to Miami a little bit, you know, given the fact that they are missing a ton of their key players. But with the likes of Busquets there and Alba there to kind of calm down the side and take control when they needed to, kind of played into Miami's hands at times. And that's why they went on that three goal unanswered streak before Toledo ended up scoring the second. So yeah, I'm a little bit happier with the home performance. That's for sure. I know that it wasn't absolutely perfect, but for the most part, up until about the 80th minute, I can't say Miami took many wrong steps other than some individual errors. And I mean, you can start with the Drake calendar one. But really, I think as an overall collective performance, there weren't many holes. And I thought that, you know, offensively, there were times where they got into positions where shots should have been more efficient and effective. But in reality, they were getting into the spaces that were important. Campana making, you know, great runs into the box and getting found really, which is extremely important by Dixon Arroyo to draw the penalty. And then obviously, DeAndre Edlin on the byline to find him at the back post. So there were some really important decisions made by some of the attackers and for inter Miami. I thought that that was extremely important to show without Lionel Messi. And then defensively, too. I thought that they did a good job for the most part, cutting out sporting Kansas City. Drake calendar was tested at times, but in reality game from him very uncharacteristic. Right. I think if it was if it was a more normal performance from Drake, actually, then wouldn't be saying much about the defense. I think that, you know, the two goals granted Pulido's goal was a good goal, but in Miami was a little stretched out at the time. But the first one was extremely avoidable. And so if you really look at it, I thought that overall as a performance from the back line to the attackers kind of was a solid seven, eight out of 10 performance. And you got the result for it. And then I think that's what most people will be happy about without Yeah, I, you know, I think our midfield did a great job for, you know, really controlled the game. I'm so I seeing a lot of comments here about, you know, Fadi s fantastic. Let's talk a little bit about Robbie Robinson, because, you know, let me tell you something. And I know I'm in the minority. I really do. I think in that final third, he was, you know, he made some selfish decisions towards that, but he's a striker. And that's what most strikers are supposed to do. Like, I'm sorry, if it was, you know, other people, they would, they would have done probably the same thing. But the workload he put in and the effort him and Stefanielli both either side of the ball was fantastic. And, you know, he he did what he was asked to do, which was to make the team work and to make to make Casey uncomfortable. Obviously, in the end, I wish he made I wish he, you know, squared the ball to Campana to get that hat trick because Campana deserved it. But it's part of the game. And, you know, the players who don't normally start or play big minutes did exactly what was asked of them in this game, like they did, you know, I mean, I think if great Drake was shaky was very uncharacteristically shaky, if he wasn't, I could honestly have seen this being a three to one, maybe even four to one game, you know, I think that their number nine, whose name is escaping me had a fantastic goal, I think it could have been offsides, I think that that, you know, it was very close. But besides that, it was it was Drake calendar Pulido. It was Drake calendar mistakes. And it was like some shaky moments that was uncharacteristic of the overall performance and the overall game plan. A couple other people I want to talk about that I thought were fantastic. Like I said, Facundo Farias was immense. Carlos Arroyo, or not Carlos, I keep saying that Dixon Arroyo amazing job because what obviously Tata said to Busquets was yes, you have to have your defensive role. But you still need to be a playmaker and you need to be a little bit more more forward than I think he normally has been. And when he did, Dixon was always there on the back line to make sure to clean up the things in the in the back third. And so so yeah, I mean, they did what we needed to do. They need they won the game, they got three points at home, they gave Messi a reason to come back and you know, play and help us push. Yeah, you mentioned some interesting name. And if anybody listened to the pod earlier this week, the preview that we did, we all were in agreement and maybe I kind of forced you into the agreement that we were most excited for Facundo Farias. But I think it was a relatively correct decision from all fronts. And I think he shined, you know, he got the goal that maybe, you know, he wasn't, you know, shooting a ton. But when he did get that chance, he put it away. But more importantly, he was trying to do everything in terms of connecting the attack, he took on the responsibility of getting from the midfield to the front and getting the ball in and around the area, whether he had his back to go on his first touch and made that explosive turn, or he just dribbled as far as he could made the runs into space, I thought that he didn't necessarily play a flawless game. For the most part, he was extremely, extremely vital to a lot of the success that Miami had going forward. And I think that that plays into Miami's hands. When you think about a Lionel Messi, who I of course, is the greatest player on the planet, don't get me wrong. But we're now seeing these very small, small, small signs of him tiring out late in games when you have a guy like Facundo Farias, who's able to come on and make those adjustments. Tata Martino has players now to plug in play. And that was something that we talked about earlier on the pod in the first couple of weeks about how with these players coming together, the U-22s and all the DPs now, they have players up and down the depth chart that can come in and make impacts. And you saw that tonight, seven players out on international duty. Do not let that go understated. You had Krivstov, who played today, you had Ruiz and Ascona, who played last night. You had Messi, of course, who played, Joseph, who played, Robert Taylor, who played all in the last couple of days. And yet again, or yet, Miami are able to go ahead and get the job done and secure three points. And that was really, really important. It's not something that they did the last time they played at home with Messi on the pitch. So this was a really, really important result. And they didn't necessarily have to grind it out, but they did in that last 10 minutes after Pulido scored, it got a little bit shaky. And I saw some comments earlier talking about how those last 10 minutes felt like a lifetime. I don't know if you felt the same way, but sitting up here in the press box when I saw six added minutes, actually, let me tell you, I was like, oh, gosh. And then there was the weird yellow card on Jordi Alba that extended the time. And then there was a second ball thrown onto the pitch that added time. So we get into the 99th minute, and I'm just like, ref, blow the whistle, blow the whistle, blow the whistle. Let's secure the three points. And so I can talk about the three points all day. But the other result that was important, I think Alejandro mentioned, was that DC actually did end up drawing with San Jose. So I want to point that out. And with that said, where the table stands, and thank you for pulling it up, the best producer in the world, by the way, DC at ninth place, now six points above Inter Miami in 14. However, Miami have two games in hand, and they have games against New York City coming up, games against Charlotte FC coming up, games against Chicago coming up, where they can go ahead and jump them in the table. So it's going to get really, really crazy down the stretch. That result against Nashville, if they were able to get all three points, it would look a hell of a lot better. But they're still in a prime position to make the playoffs, actually. Yeah, I mean, look, there's been, so far since the MLS restart of regular season games, we've had, we've had three, three games, three, four, four, four, four, four Red Bulls. Yeah, you're right. You're right. We've gone three and one, you know, we're doing what we wanted to do. We said, we have the 12 games, we need to win at least nine. And so, you know, we're, we're definitely moving in the right direction. I think the game and get in Atlanta next weekend is going to be tough as nails. Two things I want to bring up. Number one, if not Leonel Messi, I think the most valuable player for into Miami of the last six weeks has been Kamal Miller. He has been phenomenal. He's been immense. He has covered ground like nobody else. We are so lucky that Canada did not schedule your national window because again, was being just fantastic. I mean, he's just blocking shots. He's making opposing forwards uncomfortable. Just every game he's like, he's playing all 90 minutes and he's just putting his whole body on the line. And it's been fantastic. Number two, our set piece and corner defense much better than it has improved. You're right today. It was, it was every single time I wasn't really like towards the end of the game, I wasn't as worried as I had been about corners in the past. Yeah. So those are my two, my two sort of things I wanted to mention, but yeah. What do you think about Kamal? I think another key, you know, and you're right about the recoveries and the way he covers ground, all of that, you know, can go and how you described it was great. But I think another key point with Kamal is his ability on the ball. A lot of times in this match, when Miami needed to control possession, him and Tomas Aviles look so comfortable, they were passing the ball in between each other, you know, and not every center back in MLS has that quality. And it's probably a quality that goes a little bit overlooked, but to be comfortable and have a guy like Jordi Alba alongside you, a guy like DeAndre Edlin on the opposite side that Aviles can connect with. And then at times, both Aviles and Kamal Miller able to strike the ball up to the middle and find whether it's Busquets or Farias who dropped in in between the lines. Those things are so, so important. I think that's another underrated part of Kamal Miller's game that we have yet to really appreciate on this show. So I'm really glad you brought him up and I wasn't really even focused. I'm going to be focused on talking about him, but you're, you're a hundred percent right. I think that he does deserve some flowers in what he's done. Can we, Ashley, can we, can we do Gianna a favor? Can we talk about Leonardo Campana? Yeah, I mean, I said it a little bit, but the performance tonight was a real striker's performance, right? I think that, you know, finding the spaces, making Dixon Arroyo play that pass in between the center backs to draw the penalty, to find the ability or to find the position at the back post when DeAndre Edlin was down at the byline to get up and put, put a, it wasn't really a thrashing header, but it was more than enough to get past the goalkeeper. Probably should have had a third, maybe even a fourth. If he was found a little bit more in the box, he was getting into some great, great positions. And that was something I've always prided with Leonardo Campana on this team. He has always been able to find positions. They got him the ball in those areas. How important is Leonardo Campana to this team going forward and why will he be starting over Joseph Martinez in the near future? You know, I think he 1000% deserves to start. My only thing is that I, because they're playing in Atlanta, Joseph may get the nod. If it was any other, any other game and any other place, I think it, I think it would be 100% Campana because he's in his form and he absolutely deserves it. I would only say you may see Joseph start because of, of being in Atlanta, but Campana doing exactly what you need a striker to do. We said it after the Cincinnati game in the semifinals, when he got the last minute header, we said it. When did he also get, he scored two goals. I don't think it was. I don't remember, but any regardless of what he does, what he's been doing is when he gets his opportunities in the final third, he's, he's converting them at a very Cincinnati, right. At a very high percentage and he's doing, he's having the strikers touch. It was a good penalty when he's, I think, been shaky with penalties in recent, you know what, especially when it's in, during the run of play, not, you know, shoot out, he's been shaky, but he stepped up. He put it on the line and yeah, he, he did a great strong penalty, his header, his core strength, and just his overall ability to, to get, to win those battles in the air. Fantastic. I think again, Dixon Arroyo, same thing, phenomenal. I think they both were trying to show Ecuador, you know, something to prove and putting their, their best foot forward that for the third goal. But you know what, what is the number one thing that they've been, that they've been trying to fix in world soccer this year, and that's delaying restarts. The number one thing on every single professional league and international play, the number one thing that they're trying to fix is delaying restarts. And so, you know why, if it happened the other way, would I be pissed? Yes. But that's, that's part of what the referees have been told to do is if they're, they're trying to have the game go quickly. He took it out of his, Busquets took it out of their defenders' hands when he was trying to delay the restart and he made the right play. And so that's just, you know, that's, that's when you're playing with one of the best number sixes to ever play the game. That's what's going to happen sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So first, first and foremost, I am not going to argue with you on starting lineups anymore. You literally, you spoke Robbie Robinson starting tonight into existence. And Stefanielli as well. I was so surprised. Now we didn't see Mota, which was something that we possibly talked about and there was some speculation, but Robbie Robinson and Stefanielli got their start. So you know what, if Joseph starts, I'm not, I just, I'm going to let it go. I don't know who's going to start. I can understand if there was ever a time where it's not based on run of form, based on situation. I can under, I could, I could see a world where Tata says Joseph is starting in his homecoming in Atlanta. Right. You know, but we can see. Yeah. And so actually I do have a couple of keynotes. Tata Martino is actually speaking right now as we are hosting this, this show. And Tata admitted that the first couple of minutes were not good. The Sporting Kansas City scored first. They, they, they weren't the best couple of minutes, but then he said that they played well. He also said that they probably should have went and scored a fourth goal and close the game out. And you know, the image of the last 10 minutes is not necessarily the reality of the game overall. He's very happy performance and it was an important game. And to have players that they had tonight, it was an important time to win an important game. He talked about Leonardo Campana being very good. And he said that they out on the wings. And he also did talk about what we just mentioned with abula's and come on Miller. It's actually their first time together playing in a backline of four. I think the only time there was backlines of four under Tata Kristoff was there. So he was satisfied in general. He is expressing a little bit of displeasure with what happened in the last 10 minutes and how they kind of buckled down a little bit and were able to really seal the game out. But at the end of the day, it seems like he's a little bit, he's pretty satisfied with, with them getting the job done. And I think rightfully so. I do want to mention that that boost gets past the party. Yes, that was a third goal. Brilliant. Sure. But the referee is, I think it's questionable for him to allow that because he wasn't even looking at the play. I don't really know how to interpret the rules of the game. I don't know what the rules of the game specifically are, but that if I was a sporting Kansas, if I was a sporting Kansas city fan, I would, I would be mad. I would be upset. And I think that the sporting Kansas city fans were upset. I can't really say rightfully. So because I don't know the rules of the game to that level, because that's probably some intricate thing that I don't even think FIFA understands because they just write rules for, for nothing anyway, but that was a very quick restart. Referee was barely looking, however, genius from Sergio boost gets. And I saw a tweet earlier from the soccer cool against part of the Dan Levitin network and talking about how, how well Sergio boost gets has adjusted to conch cap, which I thought was so funny because he really is showing that he could be a conch cap style player. He's always getting in tackles. He's always beefing with other players. He's always getting in the face of the referee. He's making those types of passes that just look genius, but are scrappy at the same time. So I've loved that from Sergio boost gets. And I said on Twitter that I thought it's one of his best traits since coming. He's really just adapted to the style that is played in MLS, whether it's a physical one, whether it's a scrappy one, whether it's a raunchy one, whatever you want to call it. I thought that was, it was a fantastic, fantastic idea from boost gets obviously happy. The referee allowed it and it allowed into Miami to, to get the three points right now. It was a bang, bang play. And like I said, if it was the other way around, I'd be pissed, but I appreciate the fact that they're really consciously trying to stop the delaying and restart. The game is moving so much faster and it's so much more enjoyable. You know, the ball was not in a dangerous position really for either team. It was near midfield, Kansas city player and deciding to fight it instead of he's a defender. He's a left back. What are you doing? Trying to fight and to try to get the ball in the final third, like you need to run back. And so it's a worked out in our favor, but yeah, like I, I, I agree with you that it was bang, bang and it's, it's, it worked for us and hopefully it continues. Tomas obvious. I think this wasn't, was not his best game for inter Miami. He seemed a little slow. He was doing a little bit of, of I think kind of like intense tackles when he didn't need to. And he was getting beat a few times. But again, like not everyone could be perfect. I also think Jordi Alba didn't have his best, best game either. But everyone else really stepped up and, and overall they did exactly what you needed to. And just one more thing on Busquets is that it doesn't really matter where you play. Like when you're one of the best to ever play your position, you know, put them in the Saudi league, put them in, uh, put them anywhere, put them in Brazil's, uh, prem league. It's the same thing. It's, it's, you know, he's greatness plays anywhere. So one thing I want to see what the reaction is in the comments. So for everybody watching, first of all, thank you very much for tuning into our post game show here on the five reasons sports network as part of messy and co. Um, but let us know so we can talk about this. Do you start Campana or do you start Joseph and try to be as unreactionary as possible taken to take everything into account? Is it Campana or is it Joseph? That should be the starting number nine four into Miami. We'll rally up some comments and we'll try and discuss what you guys think. And as you guys do that, uh, Tata is speaking about messy. Uh, he says that messy has not spoken with Tata and messy have not spoken with each other right now. It's not that urgent of a thing for them to be speaking anyway, still on international duty and we'll be going to play Bolivia in a couple of days time. Um, you know, he has confirmed that it's not, you know, to his knowledge, it's not an injury or anything that messy suffered, which is obviously really good news and news that we suspected given the quotes from Tata midweek and messy directly after the game himself. Um, and then really he says that with any Jersey with messy, it's the same since he started playing and that's kind of what we're going to expect when he comes back and they're going to have a real chance at a playoff push. And that's something that I was down on earlier on, but over the last couple of games, my word, have they turned it around? And I, and I think what's, what's a really key difference, Ashley. Um, and actually I do want to get to the Campana stuff really quickly. I am looking at star Campana, depending on the game, Campana, Campana, Campana, Campana, Campana, Campana, give a little bit of context. I mean, I would choose Campana too. Like I, what people don't maybe don't necessarily know if they're new to following inter-Miami and MLS is that Joseph Martinez played for Atlanta for five or six years. So a long time scored 97, 98 goals for Atlanta won an MLS cup for Atlanta. And so it's not just a regular opponent, regular team. Again, like I said, I think it should be Campana. I agree that from a deserving position, it should be, but that's important context for this particular match. Yeah, I definitely, definitely important context. I wonder what Tata is going to do. I hope that somebody in this press conference asks them that kind of question, or just we can get some word on Leonardo Campana because it's, it's really getting to a point. Now you look at the Cincinnati performance, you look at his substitute goal in the last match against LA FC, it's getting to a point now where he is the informed striker. Joseph hasn't started for Venezuela. He came on as a substitute, only had about 20 touches and wasn't really effective against Columbia. Don't know what they'll do with their next qualifying game, but we'll have to see whether or not he gets the nod from his national team manager, but he's going to come back on short rest. Miami now have an entire week to prepare for the Atlanta game, which is, this is now the actual, this is actually the first full time they'll have a week because they actually went from Sunday to Saturday. Now it's Saturday to Saturday. So now they have the full six days in between to prepare. And for a lot of those days, Joseph will be away from the team. So there's a lot of different variables going into this. It's going to be really tough to predict. I think everyone can agree that right now Campana is the informed striker. He probably has the most confidence out of anybody on the team. And this is even after not getting called up for his national team. He's definitely proving his worth to the club, to the front office. He's so handsome. So handsome. I'm sorry. He is just exactly what you want your striker to look like. Listen, I won't be commenting on Campana's looks, but I will say this. He's definitely not an ugly man. That is for sure. And you know, another thing too, when I look at the LAFC game, actually, and I look at this one, I talked about it a little bit, but the chances that into Miami were giving up were not necessarily few and far between, but they were not the chances that they were giving up against LAFC in the beginning parts of that game. Like, yes, Drake Callender had the spill. So it looked like a clear cut chance for the person who was on the rebound. But in reality, that shot came from 25 yards outside the box and he was getting ready to get closed down. He just happened to get it off. And I don't know if it was a knuckleball or what, why Drake Callender couldn't get the read on the catch on the handling. But at the end of the day, it doesn't happen. And then outside of the Pulido shot, Drake had to make a couple of saves in the last 10 minutes. But those middle 70 minutes, you saw nothing like you saw Buonga and Vela have for LAFC. And I think that that is a huge, huge improvement. You know, without a leader like Sergey Kristov there, with a back four of a you haven't seen before, as Tata Martino mentioned, that is a sign of improvement. And I think that for the rest of the MLS season, it's going to be extremely important to hold that kind of standard, especially away from home. Because of course, the LAFC game was away from home. And that's where you saw the chances and started off early. Other teams are going to have a ton of momentum against Miami. The home crowds are going to show out because Messi's going to be there. So nothing is really going to be playing into it to their advantage away from home. So they can secure a partnership between Abby Liz and Miller, or secure a trio between Kristoff Miller and abolition have it be as solid as it was tonight, or as solid as it was against Nashville, even though they give a couple chances, but really not that much, at least in the first 45 minutes against Nashville. That is a sign that they are improving. And that is something I want to see continue, because it'll give them the best chance to reach playoffs, they have to win games, especially at home, it got dicey at the end, dropping three points was really not, it should not have been allowed. It was not an option. It was not something that could be on the cards for them. And as it stands, they're six points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand. They don't play DC again, if I'm not mistaken, I don't think that they play them again. But yeah, because they played them home and early on, and they played them away right, right with when Tata came in. So I believe they're done against DC. But they're right there. They're right there. Every single point matters. All these defensive performances matters. And Tata really just has to get it right. And on every preview episode we're going to have going forward on every post game show we're going to have going forward. We're going to have questions about who should be starting where, what the lineup should look like in terms of tactics is should it be a back four should it be a back five. And right now I'm leaning a little bit more towards a back four with what we saw tonight. Yeah, I mean, look, Tata Martino is not doing a back five with the current roster he had tonight. We ain't seen a back five again to start. Probably not. Yeah. But yeah, I totally agree with you. I think that our defense has improved immensely. Even from week to week. The game plan tonight was great. It worked. And like I said, this was the first game where I felt really, really happy with the set piece defense and the corner defense. And that was really a huge Achilles heel for us. So to be able to have that improve, it's fantastic. And what did I wanted to say? Oh, DCM just made me laugh because wasn't it Wayne Rooney who said that he thinks Messi will have a more difficult time than people think getting into MLS, which is crazy because Rooney actually had a pretty successful time in MLS. He didn't propel, you know. And then the quality has gone up. The quality has gone up a lot in MLS, obviously since Wayne Rooney played. But to think that Messi wouldn't be successful just made me laugh. Even the ex-Inter Miami assistant manager, Jason Kreese, there's quotes of him in the past they would struggle. Players like Messi and Ronaldo would struggle. So, you know, take it with a grain of salt. But I think right now with where Miami stand and how... Actually, this is my question for you, actually. The performance that we saw tonight, you take away the Lionel Messi impact. Does the team that was put on the field put out that performance against the sporting Kansas City side that looked to be a little bit without the confidence that they have playing with Lionel Messi? Do you think that that was even plausible? Or is Messi having an impact even away from the team in a separate continent? I mean, 100%. I think that when you're the greatest player of all time, and right now arguably a top three player in the world, like I said, like if maybe Haaland or Mbappe, there aren't many players that you'd put in front of him right now in terms of who you'd want to play. I think that... And the commentator, the English commentator made a great point during the game that what was different for Inter Miami was that, you know, Messi attracts obviously a minimum of two to three opposing players around him at all times. And so when you don't have that in a game like this, everyone had to individually perform at a higher level. But like greatness rubs off on people. And, you know, they've had every single day of training they've had over the last six weeks, everything tactically Tata has installed, what Busquets and Alba, what Farias, what they have brought to this team in terms of tactical intelligence, making the right passes, being clean and crisp in your first touches. All of those things have translated to tonight's game. And like I said, without Messi and without what we've seen over the last six weeks, no, this would not have... I don't think this would have happened. But with, you know, the chips on the line, with not all of our stuff, with most of our starters out, everyone stepped up, they followed the game plan, and they performed what they needed to. And greatness brings that out in people. Oh, I don't hear you. Well... Sorry about that. There you go. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So right on cue, Campana sits down in the press conference, and the first thing he's asked about is winning without Lionel Messi. And he says, we knew we were going to feel it as in Messi's absence. And he says that Messi has given them a lot of confidence and they truly believe in themselves now. So right from the source, you can you can tell that the Messi effect is real. And I think that, you know, what Tony's saying here is very true. The team has won a trophy under very difficult circumstances. That does a lot for a team. Messi aside, I think that that is a very important note is that they have gone through such a rough stretch of games. It was what 11 games in 45 days. They're now hitting a stretch where they have time off in between match days, which is awesome. Yeah, I think that that is a really, really important thing right now. And it that won't be a luxury in the latter part of the season. Well, once we get to those October matches, you're not going to have that anymore. I think actually leading up to the US Open Cup final, you're really not going to have that anymore. You're not gonna have that luxury. So to get the points now while you are getting the rest is huge. The Atlanta game is huge. Messi coming back is huge. And you can really tell that this team is buzzing and confidence. They look more sure of themselves and they're playing a style you didn't ever see with players like Kamal Miller under Phil Neville, DeAndre Yedlin under Phil Neville, Dixon Arroyo under Phil Neville. I'm more referring to playing out of the back comfortably because they don't control possession all the time in the farthest third of the pitch or in the back half and they build slowly or they find a ball over the top to get through on goal. That's what Tata Martino has been known to do in past experiences as a manager. And he's brought it here despite the quality of player not really showing that it was there under previous regimes here at Inter Miami. So he's bringing a lot. Tata Martino himself, Messi are bringing a lot out of these players. And I think that there was another comment in here talking about Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba and how even though Jordi Alba didn't have his best game tonight, his impact is still felt because you can tell the quality is there. It's huge. And you see that with a lot of MLS teams when they get these type of players. The first one with Inter Miami was Gonzalo Higuain and when he, I mean even Blaisman, Tweedy really, but when Gonzalo Higuain came into the team and you saw a pass that he made that went across the field that you've never seen Inter Miami player make before, you can tell that the level of quality is really going to impact them going forward. And you see that now with Busquets, with Jordi, without Messi. And then with Facundo Farias. We've seen it at times with Diego Gomez. We've seen it at times with Tomas Avila. The guys that they've invested so much money into, it's absolutely paying off. And it's paying off maybe even more immediately than people thought. So quick. The turnaround is really like it can't interrupt. It really cannot be understated. Yes, we know Messi is the greatest of all time, but the impact he Busquets and Alba have had in such a short time is nothing short of remarkable. It is unbelievable this team, the way this team is playing. It is amazing, amazing ball. And what we just saw from the press conference from Leo Campana is that Lionel Messi congratulated the whole team in the WhatsApp group about their win, which is great to hear. And I'm glad he was watching and seeing his team perform. But the confidence he's bringing, I mean, we saw a couple comments about it. It's huge. It's immense. And it's the kind of things that like it takes you, it's going to be a really difficult stretch of games and not forget the opponent we're playing. It's about the atmosphere and the pressure of each game, right? Like the results that we need to do with the whole that Inter-Miami has dug itself into. So it's everyone's going to have to play at their A-level. And tonight's performance was a really good indicator of that. And Tata is going to have to continue to pick the right formations, the right lineups, the right tactical changes. And I mean, like I said, I'm not going to take all the credit for Stefanelli and Robinson. No, you should. You deserve it. But what I will say is what he did, which is what I was sort of alluding to during our preview, is that you needed players to stretch and to push and maybe not necessarily have the number one quality, but being able to hire out Casey and be able to create opportunities and chances for players with quality to make the finishing touches. And they did. Yeah, they absolutely did. That is 100% true. I want to get to a couple of questions in the chat right now. First, starting with Jorge, how many games have they won now? Twelve. I'm actually going to count live as it stands. They beat Cruz Azul, they beat Atlanta United, they beat Orlando. If you want to call the win against Dallas in penalties a win, we're going to call that a win. I want to call it a win. So in League Cup, you've got seven. One, two, three, four, five, six. Wait, one, two, three, four, five. Yeah, we've got seven wins in League Cup. One win in Open Cup, so that makes it eight. And then you have three more wins in MLS, which make it 11, and then a draw against Nashville. So 12 unbeaten. 12 unbeaten as it stands. They were actually, before Messi came, I believe nine or ten beaten, or winless. And three of those Messi didn't start or play. Messi didn't start or play. Yes, that is such a, that's another thing that's absolutely insane. And you talked about the pressure, Ashley. I think if I'm doing my numbers correctly, when Messi joined this team in July and was set for the July 21st debut against Cruz Azul, he was scheduled to play 21 games for Inter-Miami. Seven of those ended up being League Cup games, at the max anyway. Seven of those ended up being League Cup games. Two of those possibly ended up being U.S. Open Cup game, and they're going to get there. So you had a semi-final in U.S. Open Cup, now you have a final. You had the group stage games, and then every single knockout game, and the League Cup final. And then you were in a position in MLS where you had to win nine games out of 12 in order to have a chance at making the playoffs. So every single game is backed by pressure. Every single game, regardless of Messi's name, is backed by pressure because of the circumstances that they were put in because of the first half of the year. Good and bad. You know, Phil Neville got them to the semi-final of U.S. Open Cup, that was good. Neutral, they got to start League Cup on a fresh slate. Messi did what Messi does. And as for MLS, they were in a position so... I don't even know what the word for it is. Just the bottom of the barrel position, for them to be able to claw back out of it and not end up with the wooden spoon is remarkable in and of itself, but in reality, they are so close to a playoff push. And that puts even more pressure on these guys because the game against Atlanta is obviously an in-conference opponent. They're a little bit higher up on the table, but in reality, every MLS team is going to be playing on that day. They've honestly gotten almost every single result to fall in their favor. The only... I mean, other than San Jose beating D.C. tonight, I don't think there's another result that could have gone their way in the last three match days better for Inter-Miami. So everything is going their way, whether it's themselves or whether it's their opponents. It really feels like the story is being written and I don't think that anyone who's in this live room right now would disagree. It's 100% being written and I'm so curious to see what happens on Saturday and how the ball gets rolling with Messi back into the lineup. I just... I... Man, it's... It's all material. We'll be interested to see how that plays out. I mean, from all things considered, it seems that the plan is for Messi to play and to start. But yeah, I totally agree with you and, you know, the team, it's performing at such a high level and it's so fun to watch and it's everything that you, you know, that you could want. And so, yeah, I've been just so pleased with Inter-Miami. I've been pleased with the support. As someone just commented, was the stadium almost full? It was almost full. I mean, it had its ups and downs, but overall, it had a pretty good turnout, I would say. And look, I mean, part of having Lionel Messi is that people want to... want to watch Lionel Messi. I mean, that's... that's part of... that's part of the... the draw of it and I think it's fair and understandable. Yeah, so overall, I think my rating for the evening, my rating for the season so far, it's been awesome to watch and we're getting everything that we asked for, right? Like, this podcast isn't called Soccer & Co., it's called Messi & Co. and he's bringing to MLS and the world. It's been just... it's been spectacular. And when he's brought to all these players, it's amazing. They're going nuts. They feel the world is watching. He wasn't even on the pitch tonight and you feel his impact. That's kind of just how insane it is. I want to wrap up here with a couple other things that happened in the press conference. Campana was asked about not being selected to the Ecuadorian national team and he says first that he wants to thank everybody who supported him. He knows that he's at a great level right now and he'd rather not talk about Lotri, which is the Ecuadorian national team, and bother the team at all on what's going on because that's really up to the decision of the technical director and obviously I'm sure he wishes them well going on in qualifiers because he probably wants to play in 2026 and I think that if he keeps this level, he probably has a shot to be able to do that. So, very humble response and I think that that's the right response from Leonardo Campana. Just use it as motivation, keep your mouth shut, head down, support your guys, and wait for the next round of matches. And I think that that is the best thing for him to do. Ashley, you got any other thoughts before we wrap up here on the game, predictions from beforehand? Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm the greatest soccer mind of our generation because I was pretty close to the lineup. No, overall, like I said, they played fantastic. Leo Campana has played fantastic. Everyone really stepped up, obviously some rocky moments, but did exactly what they needed to do in this match. I hope Messi continues, you know, to rest and we'll see obviously how much he plays in the Bolivia game and then we'll be right back here, you know, next, towards the end of next week with our preview and things are heating up. They've won three out of four, unbeaten in four, you know, the race to get nine out of twelve. It's continuing on and, hey, this is what we're all here to see, right? Good to keep it going. Continuing it on and looking likely, I would say. I'd go as far as saying looking likely with the way that this team is playing with and without Messi. With all that said, Ashley, thank you so much. Alejandro in the background, thank you very much. For everybody watching here on the Five Reasons Sports Network YouTube channel, make sure you hit subscribe and turn the notifications on so you get all of our notifications for the live shows post-game right to your phone as little updates. And also, for all Messi & Co. content, we don't just do live shows, we do a weekly podcast or multi-weekly podcast, to be honest with you, English and in Spanish, bringing you all the coverage of Inter-Miami and specifically Lionel Messi on Messi & Co. And if you're more of a podcast person on Apple, on Spotify, on Google, whatever your favorite podcast platform is, type Messi in the search bar, look for the logo that you see up in the top right corner and make sure to follow the show, download the episodes and rate it. It would be awesome and such a pleasure for us if you guys could do that. One more thing. Shout out Coco Gauff, winner of the US Open, fantastic. Sorry, I just had to say it, talk about greatness. She's awesome. That's my one little plug. All right, that is the last plug of the show, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in and we will see you all next time when Messi takes the field against Atlanta United. See you guys.