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Lionel Messi is a superstar without peer in the world of sports; the greatest soccer player of his era and arguably the greatest of all time. He shocked the sporting world when he agreed to leave the top-flight European clubs he’d long played for to sign with Inter Miami CF, a perennial bottom-feeder in the rarely-relevant-on-the-world-stage Major League Soccer. In Messi Meets America, a slick documentary miniseries rolling out on Apple TV+, we follow Leo’s arrival in the United States and immediate impact on the team, the league, and the sport in general in America.
Opening Shot: Dramatic music swells, mixing with the excited din of a gathering crowd, as fans file into Inter Miami’s stadium for Lionel Messi’s introduction to Major League Soccer. A voiceover from Messi himself, in Spanish: “Soccer, you know. It became difficult. But I was always happy playing soccer and being able to have fun with what I liked when I was a kid. And today, I can keep doing it here… which was one of the reasons why I made the decision to enjoy again what I had lost.” He steps onto the field as the crowd roars.
The Gist: The first episode of this six-episode miniseries centers on Messi’s initial arrival in Miami–his first press conference, his first celebratory introduction to fans, his first Leagues Cup game with Inter Miami CF. There’s a few bits of actual on-pitch action, but this first episode is mostly about building context–about Messi’s motivations for coming to the US and the impact his decision has made. This context comes from interviews with Inter Miami CF’s owners, sports journalists, and–of course–Leo Messi himself.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There’s a sense of giddiness among many of the figures in Messi Meets America, a “I-can’t-quite-believe-he’s-actually-here” energy that reminds a good deal of reliving Michael Jordan’s unretirement in The Last Dance. It’s also got a smear of HBO’s Hard Knocks, as we spent a lot of time off the pitch getting ready for the big action.
Our Take: Have you ever watched a Major League Soccer game on television? You have? Great — don’t get mad at me for what I’m about to say: a lot of people haven’t. Yes, there are hugely passionate fans, and there’s no denying that the league has grown in prominence in its three decades of existence. Despite being around for a generation, though, it’s still largely overshadowed in the American sports-fan consciousness by the big dogs of football, baseball and basketball.
Apple has made a big bet on that changing.
A year ago, the tech giant signed a massive, 10-year exclusive deal to broadcast Major League Soccer games on Apple TV+, and they’re banking on the sport being second to none in the American consciousness soon. It’s important to view Messi Meets America in that context — this isn’t an objective sports documentary. It’s an advertisement for the league, an enticement for those still-indifferent masses to tune in and watch a game now that the sport’s biggest star has arrived.
The thing is, though… when you’ve got a subject like Messi, even an advertisement can be compelling. I mean, heck, Michael Jordan in a McDonald’s ad is still Michael Jordan, right?
It’s hard not to get swept up in the excitement over Messi’s arrival, which is packaged slickly here — we get glimpses of his first press conference, his first introduction to a stadium full of fans, and his first game — a Leagues Cup game against Mexican club Cruz Azul. It truly is a ground-shifting moment for Major League Soccer for Messi to have chosen to come, one that dwarfs even Inter Miami CF co-owner David Beckham’s similar move a decade and a half prior. Major League Soccer hasn’t been a destination for stars of Messi’s prominence — partly because there simply aren’t any.
The first episode touches on a thread that hopefully is explored in more depth in subsequent episodes — Messi’s reasoning for coming to Miami. He could’ve returned to his longtime home with FC Barcelona, or taken a reportedly massive deal to play in the Saudi Pro League like his former rival Cristiano Ronaldo. Instead, he opted to join a last-place club in a league few around the world would consider on par with titans like the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A or German Bundesliga.
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Messi hints that he hadn’t been enjoying the game in his last few years with Paris Saint-Germain, and that the pressures of being a global icon were overshadowing the sport itself. Some of his earliest experiences in the United States — he was spotted in a Miami-area Publix this summer doing his own grocery shopping, something that would be unfathomable for him in Europe — suggest that he might’ve found peace by stepping just slightly out of the spotlight. As high as expectations are among American fans, they can’t compare to the pressures of top club play in Europe, and he can have a chance to focus on his family and the joy of playing once again.
He arrives with a huge splash, of course — that first game against Cruz Azul comes down to a last-minute penalty kick, which Messi nails to seal a stunning victory. “The moment that he scored that goal, he ran over to his family,” Beckham notes. “That’s why people love him.”
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: After Messi leads Miami to a dominating 4-0 victory over Atlanta United in the second round of the Leagues Cup, it’s clear that he’s immediately turned around the fortunes of a team that was in last place in the league table when he arrived. Messi spouts a few respectful platitudes about the team gaining confidence against a strong opponent, but others don’t need to be so humble. As an exuberant announcer declares over a shot of Messi walking off the field victorious, “the Messi Show is here.”
Sleeper Star: Can you call David Beckham a sleeper star? Maybe only when Leo Messi’s around. The former superstar and co-owner of Inter Miami CF plays a large role in the first episode of Messi Meets America — both in reliving his team’s pursuit of Messi, and in relating it to his own experience as a major world soccer star deciding to play in the oft-ignored MLS. Beckham’s own decision, in 2007, to leave Real Madrid for LA Galaxy, laid the groundwork for the celebration Messi would be at the center of in Miami sixteen years later. “I can’t believe we achieved what we achieved,” Beckham reflects, seeming to genuinely mean it. “I can’t believe we have… not just the greatest player, but a player that is part of our club for the long term.”
Most Pilot-y Line: “There will always be, in football in America, a Before Messi, and an after Messi,” declares Jorge Mas, the managing owner of Inter Miami CF. He describes his long-held plans to bring the Argentine superstar to the often-ignored MLS.
“No one believed, but I always believed.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Yes, Messi Meets America is basically a slick advertisement for Major League Soccer on Apple TV+, but I’ll be darned if it isn’t a convincing one. It makes you want to go see Messi play — if you can get tickets.
Scott Hines, publisher of the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter, is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky.
