GOAT: Messi Is Officially The Most Decorated Player In The History Of Soccer, Single-Handedly Saved Leagues Cup And Made It Worth Watching

Alright so last night was the finals of the Leagues Cup, first ever club tournament between MLS and Liga MX teams. Really unless you were a diehard MLS fan you had no idea until Leo Messi started playing. You may have seen a game on, saw it was between Minnesota and LAFC or whatever only to find out it's not a MLS game. Good luck figuring that one out when you're not a soccer fan. 

Now all that said, hilarious for anyone to think this can be real:

[Source] - Garber also said that MLS would continue to be about more than just one player, even one as transcendent as Messi.

"It is about the foundation," he said. "It is about the core of what we are embedded into our community. It's not just about that great moment to see a special player.

"We've had so many great players in the history of our league. It's not just about that one player. It's about: How do you feel about your club and can that player give you something that might make it a little more special?"

Come on. Yeah, there's been Beckham and Henry and other great players. None like Messi. None like Messi coming off a World Cup win, going to a place like Miami and immediately coming in with this sort of success. There's no one else in the world like him and saying it's more than one player is crazy. The MLS needed someone like Messi to take the next jump. I'll give MLS credit. I worked in the league back in the late 2000s and was there for Beckham's first ever season. It's night and day compared to how much better the league is now. It's true that fans are showing up more and all that. But you still needed someone like Messi to help validate the league more. 

Back to last night's game. It was perfect. I say perfect because it was ideal for a tournament final in year 1. You had Messi scoring: 

You had this play the end of regulation, something I've never seen before: 

MLS at its best baby! USA! USA! Anyways, the game goes right into PKs after regulation, no extra time or anything like that. Naturally it was decided by a goalie duel, something we need more of. 

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Now Messi is the most decorated player in soccer. Not too shabby for a guy PSG fans were booing. They probably wouldnb't last a minute playing on artificial turf or spending a Thursday night in Cincinnati before going onto Kansas City. PSG's scared of the MLS is basically what I'm trying to say here.