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I wanted to let things sit for a bit before we made any assumptions, however, when you’re just that great of a player, assumptions are more foreshadows of what’s to come. When Messi was first coming to the MLS it was thought that we would have to wait some time before we really started to see an impact on the pitch, especially with the first match Messi would play in, him being on the bench for the first 55 mins of the game against Cruz Azul in the first Leagues Cup fixture. We really didn’t even know if we’d see Messi do much, but even from his first touch on the ball, and the help of being subbed in with Josef Martinez and longtime teammate at Barcelona Sergio Busquets, everything that went right, did. The passes seemed perfectly placed and Messi and Martinez seem to have a connection kind of reminiscent of Suarez and Messi in those MSN days. Messi had a shot or two off before in the 93rd minute he would go down right outside of the half circle of the box, a set piece specialist’s heaven. Alas, Messi kicks the free-kick, and Messi scores the free-kick, with a celebration that lasted probably around 10 minutes it seemed like cinema magic. What a way to make a debut right? However, was this a fluke or an actual foreshadow of what we’d see in Inter Miami going forward?

Well, about a week after we got to see Messi go against an MLS opponent, after seeing him be the reason Inter Miami got their first win in about 2 months, this time it was Atlanta United. However, in comparison Messi, Busquets, and Martinez would all start the game from the moment of kick-off. The dominance was certain, coincidentally Tata Martino’s old team, the impact was noticed from the 8th minute when Messi gets through on goal, puts it past Brad Guzan, hits the post, and gets the rebound on his right foot to make it 1-0 already. Less than 15 minutes later we get an amazing pass from Messi to Robbie Taylor who puts an incredible pass into the box where an eager Leo Messi is to slot the ball home for his 2nd of the night and 3rd goal in 2 games already. By halftime we saw Inter Miami leading 3-0 over Atlanta United, something we hadn’t seen for a very long time, but we were all wrong in even having an ounce of doubt of the amount or time it would take a player of Messi’s caliber to really show on a team that really wasn’t that great without him, no offense to the Inter Miami faithful. So, how will this team look going forward? Well this week we saw Jordi Alba officially signed and put the Barcelona experiment into continuity, but it seems like we might be seeing a front line of Taylor-Martinez-Messi while Busquets leads the midfield and Jordi will most likely work perfectly with this defense, than again it will be a bit sad to see the young Noah Allen be taken out of the lineup, but than again who knows maybe the formation moves him to midfield or even wing in certain games as a sub.

We know Inter Miami play Orlando City FC, a “Clasico” of sorts today, but the MLS season is far from over and will be interesting to see how their European recruits will fare, especially since its a very different schedule. I mean both Busquets and Messi got 2 weeks of rest before having to come to Miami to play, so will fatigue play a part, or will we continue to see Inter Miami perform their way up the rankings and show us exactly what we might be missing from them? As Mentioned, Inter Miami play Orlando City FC today August 2nd at 5pm pst/8 pm est on Apple TV.